Devastated :(

[timnem70]

Consider yourself lucky many have returned to a lot worse or even no live occupants.
If I were gone a single week and my wife had to care for my 2000 gal system it would
be real smelly when I returned, guaranteed. I would suggest since we know the ins and
outs of our system like no one else that next time you go out of town take a week of watching
your husband so that you can politely critique his routine.

Did you say 2000? Huh? Pics of that monster please. Bet it's incredible

 

[lolgranny]

Water change is your biggest option here.

I have a large system ~700gallons and go out of town frequently. I have a friend who doesn’t know a whole lot about it so when it comes to food do yourself a favor and make it dummy proof. Put it in a sample cup(I have some urine sample cups I use) I put the food in these cups and label them which day to feed them. I make a detailed list short and sweet so I don’t have issues.

I’ve been where you are before and know how you’re feeling. I lost a entire sps tank with 50+ colonies.

Keep your head up and get that water change done :)

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sorry to hear. reduce feeding portions and do gradual water changes approx. every 3-5 days for reduction of climbed levels. Additionally, add carbon for polishing of water and a mesh with nitrate/phosphate reducer in it into the path of moving water and see where youre at in 2 weeks. Should be a ig change and normalcy

 

[lolgranny]

Also- why not get a dosing pump so you don’t have to manually do it? Or ca reactor? Would take a whole lot of the headache out of things especially when you’re out of town for a week. I never chase numbers when I’m gone or have anyone test. Especially if they aren’t 100% in on the hobby.

 

[8251reefer]

I’m planning to go out of town in a couple of months for work, thanks for posting this. I was planning to just give her a couple of once overs on my tank maintenance and routine and what to do in the event some “emergency” happens and she has to do something... After hearing about this I think I will use the next couple of months before the trip to get her adequately familiar with her duties and responsibilities while I am away. Thanks again for posting and sorry for your tank suffering... I am sure your husband didn’t mean to mess anything up...

 

[Sppf121]

Oh man. So sorry to hear that. Very sad.

 

[gcrawford]

We vacation often and it is our practice to make sure our reef system is self sufficient for at least one week on its own. It can be done with automation, cameras, a controller and backup plans in case of an emergency. I do over-feed a little before leaving and have automatic feeding (sparingly) while away. Test your automation while at home and try to be hands off for a week to test the plan. You’ll be much more confident while away.

-g

 

[Reefsmoker]

Dang...That really stinks, sorry to hear =(

 

[crahan]

$.02 from both sides.... my SO loves to look at the tank (320g system) but simply doesn’t have the interest in the whys and hows of making it look good. That’s not on her. Glad to hear you didn’t castrate him for the situation.

My job can take me away for months at a time with little or no notice. I’ve “trained” and balanced my system to be pretty much self sufficient. I have fed zero food to the tank in 18 months. The herbivores eat algae and the carnivores eat pods. Mandarins and Wrasses, tangs and misc. All are fat, fat, fat. When I have to leave her only job is to keep the ATO resivior filled. Hard and soft coral behave with the light schedule and what gets scraped off the glass. I may not have the explosive growth some are looking for, but the coral are all happy too.

My point is to consider balancing the tank to be more idiot-proof.

 

[CanadianReefer]

Also- why not get a dosing pump so you don’t have to manually do it? Or ca reactor? Would take a whole lot of the headache out of things especially when you’re out of town for a week. I never chase numbers when I’m gone or have anyone test. Especially if they aren’t 100% in on the hobby.

Well, I do own dosers... but they are tucked away. My only other huge tank emergency was several years back. I started noticing corals and fish suddenly not doing well... turned out that my doser had malfunctioned and my alk was at 17. Took forever to fix and I lost a lot of coral and fish as a result.

I learned from this experience. I simply prefer to do it myself and test because I get lazy about the testing part when it's being automated and I don't want a repeat disaster... I switched from 2 part to the balling method (I follow the aquaforest program), test every few days and adjust the dose as necessary. It's almost like going old school - I used to do the zeovit system back in the day and had great results, so I like the idea of following a program.

I have been eyeing the KH Director for a while now though, which automates the testing as well and adjusts the dose accordingly... but I'm still leery that even at that price point, something may go wrong.

I get what you're saying - when I'm away, it's easier on the person taking care of my tank... but honestly I don't spend that much time on the task and it let's me have a great feel for the tank. For instance, now that I've lost a lot of SPS, I'll surely have to adjust the dose so I'll have a better handle on it.

My softie tank, on the other hand - beyond a weekly water change and dosing trace elements, I do nothing. There's something to be said of its simplicity.

 

[bearclawws]

Have you tried an algae scrubber to keep the nitrates and phosphates in check the natural way? Once you have the scrubber, no need to buy algae, no need to by stuff to dose or reactors to fill and stuff to keep them filled. You can feed the algae grown to herbivores. When running at night, because the lights on, helps balance the day/night PH swing, water clarity is better and a cleaner main display from algae including hair algae because the natural algae that automatically grows on the scrubber feeds on those nutrients. Natures way of removing them from the sea. I don't work for them but this is a link to some. They have ones you can hang on glass, or one that submerges in the sump, or if limited on room, one that sits on top of sump or outside of sump and my favorite is the one that floats on top of the water in my sumps on my 400 gallon, it keeps the light contained so it doesn't cause algae to grow everywhere the light would shine like when one grows cheato in a refuge and its quiet. Sorry to hear that happened to you. I get sick losing one thing, to lose so much at one time is depressing but don't give up.

 

[Daltrey]

$.02 from both sides.... my SO loves to look at the tank (320g system) but simply doesn’t have the interest in the whys and hows of making it look good. That’s not on her. Glad to hear you didn’t castrate him for the situation.

My job can take me away for months at a time with little or no notice. I’ve “trained” and balanced my system to be pretty much self sufficient. I have fed zero food to the tank in 18 months. The herbivores eat algae and the carnivores eat pods. Mandarins and Wrasses, tangs and misc. All are fat, fat, fat. When I have to leave her only job is to keep the ATO resivior filled. Hard and soft coral behave with the light schedule and what gets scraped off the glass. I may not have the explosive growth some are looking for, but the coral are all happy too.

My point is to consider balancing the tank to be more idiot-proof.

That sounds like exactly what I am trying to accomplish. It would be awesome if you created a build thread and shared your experience with the rest of us.

 

[CanadianReefer]

Have you tried an algae scrubber to keep the nitrates and phosphates in check the natural way? Once you have the scrubber, no need to buy algae, no need to by stuff to dose or reactors to fill and stuff to keep them filled. You can feed the algae grown to herbivores. When running at night, because the lights on, helps balance the day/night PH swing, water clarity is better and a cleaner main display from algae including hair algae because the natural algae that automatically grows on the scrubber feeds on those nutrients. Natures way of removing them from the sea. I don't work for them but this is a link to some. They have ones you can hang on glass, or one that submerges in the sump, or if limited on room, one that sits on top of sump or outside of sump and my favorite is the one that floats on top of the water in my sumps on my 400 gallon, it keeps the light contained so it doesn't cause algae to grow everywhere the light would shine like when one grows cheato in a refuge and its quiet. Sorry to hear that happened to you. I get sick losing one thing, to lose so much at one time is depressing but don't give up.

I contemplated an algae scrubber - they are easy to make and not expensive to buy either. However, I ultimately went with a huge refugium. The sump on my tank is 80g so I built it in such a way that if I wanted to, I could easily convert to triton.

It has served me well. I have miracle mud, sand, chaeto and dragon's breath going and it is loaded with pods. I have many fish that depend on the pods as a food source so a large refugium gives them a great spot to reproduce.

Hopefully it will help with the nutrient reduction... and I do the light at night trick too - great for pH stability for sure!!

If all else fails, I do have a korallin biodenitrator. I've never used it - it's sat in the box for a few years. It's a backup for moments like this, but since things can go awry until they are tuned in, and since they can reduce things too quickly, it will be my last resort.

You know- the funny thing is (and knock on wood) - despite the nitrate and phosphate levels, I'm not seeing any nuisance algae in the tank. My tank looks pretty clean. I haven't had to clean the glass since I've got home even, come to think about it. Now that's strange!!

I took a powerhead to the rocks as one of you had suggested and tried stirring things up - there wasn't much to write home about in terms of detritus or food waste. I use 2 250 gyres - honestly one of the best purchases I've ever made. Fantastic water movement!

Other than continuous water changes and (maybe) the denitrator, there isn't much else I can do... It will come down eventually:)

I haven't carbon dosed in a while, but I used to use the red sea Nopox. I guess that's something else I could try if I don't see results, but you're right, natural is always better...

 

[aquaman33431]

sorry for your loss I know it hits hard when you lose finned loved ones....I had a gold flake in my QT for 3 weeks and then it took a turn for the worse.

Don't give up it will return to its former glory:)

 

[Keith 210 reef]

So sorry. Your are so right not to take it out on your husband. Good for you! You get extra credit points for that. I have always found while leaving a tank in someone’s care, you have to make an incredibly detailed instruction sheet so there is no way it can get misinterpreted. We all know the difference between small and large shrimp, but the rest of the world sees frozen cubes and they all look the same.
Good luck getting your tanks back. You will. Give your husband another chance with really detailed instructions and you will see the difference

 

[a-mused]

As much as my wife of nearly 20 years loves looking at our tanks, I never leave anything to chance. Prior to leaving, I prepare small ziplock (like for crafts) bags, labeled with the day and tank. I prepare each bag according to the needs of the tank and the usual feedings. Then I staple the bags for each day (was three tanks, now two) together. She knows how to turn off the return pump and put the powerheads into feed mode. So what she does is turns off the returns, sets the powerheads to feed mode, then just opens the right bag and tosses in the frozen block. The same could be done for refrigerated bags. That way I have complete assurance that the right dosing of Reef Energy A+B is done, along with ReefRoids, any frozen food, and even trace elements, if I'll be gone long enough. The dosers and ATOs (topped off right before I leave) take care of the parameters and I do a water & media change the day before I head out. Thankfully I'm not a road warrior, so she only needs to do this a couple times a year. In fact, the system works so well and left her fascinated by my original tank that upon returning from one trip, she asked for a nano for the nightstand on her side of the bed!

It takes a huge burden off her, knowing she can't overfeed, mis-dose, or otherwise over-do anything. She gets to enjoy watching the fish and corals, concern-free. Hopefully something like this can help you out in the future!

 

[a-mused]

FWIW, you're an awesome wife, coming here to vent, knowing he did truly mean well. He probably feels like he really let you down. That you're not haranguing him for his good will efforts is a really comforting thing, looking at it from his perspective. Too bad more relationships aren't as healthy as yours. :(

 

[stevieduk]

I had to go out of town for 3 weeks because of a family emergency, so I left my hubby in charge of taking care of the aquarium. He usually helps out when I do regular maintenance etc., so between that and the fact that he had called several times to get the "honey do" list, I thought my aquariums would be okay.

He tried very hard, but I just returned to find out that things have gone to ****. He forgot the cylopods in the food mix, so my filefish died (it was the only thing he would eat). I had a beautiful copperband in QT that was destined for my softie tank - he was eating when I left (small mysis) but the hubby kept feeding him jumbo mysis (it was a small juvenile fish) which he couldn't eat... He starved to death :( my nitrates were at 0.2 and my phosphates at .05 a few days before I left - even after I cleaned the sump, cleaned the skimmer, changed all the filters and did a 45g water change, my nitrates still tested at 40 and my phosphates at .88. I've lost most of my SPS by the looks of it, save perhaps 5 of them... as for my softie tank, my nitrates are past 80 and although most of the corals and all of the fish/inverts look okay, my zoanthids have all closed up. Sigh.

... but there's more... my freshwater tank also suffered. I did a 50% water change, siphoned the substrate and cleaned the filters... my nitrates are still at 80 and 2 of my fish have disappeared.

How much food does it take to increase my nitrates and phosphates by this much?? Not only did he overfeed and not use the right foods, but an entire large bottle of reef roids is completely gone. So I ask how often he was feeding the corals... once every day or two... OMG :O

Since I can't yell at the hubby whatsoever (he thought he was doing a good job) I figured I'd come on here to vent... it's amazing how quickly downhill something can go when you aren't there to keep an eye on it :( :( :(

I'm going to have to do many water changes to fix these issues... I hate to do it to my reef since stability is key, but I can't afford to keep the nitrates this high for too long... now it's a matter of finding the balance... maybe a 45g water change every 2-3 days till I see better numbers??

life is s##t and then you die. YOU TEST FOR NITRATES IN A FRESH WATER TANK ???????????????????????????????????

 

[nashorn]

I'm like what the heck ?? Dad how did u feed in a week food that should last 6mo.
But I say "Thanks for watching the tank""love u"

 

[CanadianReefer]

FWIW, you're an awesome wife, coming here to vent, knowing he did truly mean well. He probably feels like he really let you down. That you're not haranguing him for his good will efforts is a really comforting thing, looking at it from his perspective. Too bad more relationships aren't as healthy as yours. :(

He is a pretty awesome husband and has really helped out over the years despite it not being his hobby. He built my current fish room, is planning on expanding it, and will be building a stand cover over the next few months... and he feels really bad for the goof up. He didn't know he was doing a bad thing at all and has been helping me with all the water changes.

I am a lucky girl :)