Help my tank got completely wiped out :(

[DavidinGA]

Wow sorry to hear!

I would definitely not run a gfci again next time!

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

You would be better off just removing anything that died, keep sand and rock in the tank and just do a really big water change (like 50-75%) after the tank stops stinking. Better to just remove the elevated nitrates and phosphates from the crash and keep an established bacteria population than to dry it out and start from scratch.

If you are lucky you might have a few corals make it through even if they look terrible now.

I have already drained it and have the rock drying out. So should I let the rock dry out and this will kill off the zoas and green star polyps and other coral that are still stuck to the rock? Also I am going to remove the sand get fresh sand hose it out and clean it. I’ll get some bacteria boosters and cycle boosters that’s what I did last time and it worked pretty well other than that I don’t use any additives besides calcium alkalinity and magnesium. Plus copepods when it’s time.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

I have already drained it and have the rock drying out. So should I let the rock dry out and this will kill off the zoas and green star polyps and other coral that are still stuck to the rock? Also I am going to remove the sand get fresh sand hose it out and clean it. I’ll get some bacteria boosters and cycle boosters that’s what I did last time and it worked pretty well other than that I don’t use any additives besides calcium alkalinity and magnesium. Plus copepods when it’s time.

If you've already drained it, you are going to want to bleach and/or acid wash the rock. New sand, don't reuse existing. Anything that had palys that might be the "button polyp" kind just toss the whole rock.

Cure and cycle if you use bacteria boosters (I like to mix at least 2 brands for bio-diversity sake) would be real good in 4-6 weeks. If you give it a week or two to make sure the tank stup looks all good, then start quarantining your first arrival, the tank will definitely be ready when QT is done.

 

[Tamberav]

Thank you all! I understand now thanks for the advise and tips. I have had a reef tank for 3 years went on vacation and got a horrible call from the person taking care of it that everything was dead. I found out it was my protein skimmer i plugged it in and it didn’t turn on. Sad this tripped the whole system and shut it off I could have gone a couple days without a protein skimmer just sucks it tripped the system and killed a couple thousand dollars of coral and fish…

Really sorry

amazon sells cameras for like 20 bucks you can plug in and stream to your phone. I do this when I am out of town.

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

If you've already drained it, you are going to want to bleach and/or acid wash the rock. New sand, don't reuse existing. Anything that had palys that might be the "button polyp" kind just toss the whole rock.

Cure and cycle if you use bacteria boosters (I like to mix at least 2 brands for bio-diversity sake) would be real good in 4-6 weeks. If you give it a week or two to make sure the tank stup looks all good, then start quarantining your first arrival, the tank will definitely be ready when QT is done.

wouldn’t the bleach/acid bath be in the rock and the hurt my water after i’ve done all that? Also I never quartined my fish just acclimated them and they were fine, dipped coral and it was fine.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

wouldn’t the bleach/acid bath be in the rock and the hurt my water after i’ve done all that? Also I never quartined my fish just acclimated them and they were fine, dipped coral and it was fine.

Air drying in the sun gets the bleach out. BRS has a good video on the subject. You can also put the rocks in a bucket with a lot of tap water conditioner to be extra sure and use chlorine test strips to verify.

You are definitely gonna want to quarantine second time around. I had a crash that was almost as bad as what you just experienced because what appeared to be a perfectly healthy mandarin goby at the LFS had marine velvet. Killed all but 2 of my fish in 3 days and the resulting ammonia spike killed 3/4 of my coral. Had to treat my remaining fish in a copper QT for 72 days with a fallow tank.

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

Air drying in the sun gets the bleach out. BRS has a good video on the subject. You can also put the rocks in a bucket with a lot of tap water conditioner to be extra sure and use chlorine test strips to verify.

You are definitely gonna want to quarantine second time around. I had a crash that was almost as bad as what you just experienced because what appeared to be a perfectly healthy mandarin goby at the LFS had marine velvet. Killed all but 2 of my fish in 3 days and the resulting ammonia spike killed 3/4 of my coral. Had to treat my remaining fish in a copper QT for 72 days with a fallow tank.

Okay thank you, I am not really familiar with the whole quarantining technique. What do I need to do/ have? Also should I do this with every fish even small cheap little chromis? I was going to start off with that. Also, after adding the bacteria booster and stuff I got fish about 3 days after adding it and they all did fine. Coral I got about a month. What would you recommend or any others feel free to chime in!

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

After my similar crash (also a GFCI tripping flow and heat from a failed heater), I invested in a UPS for my apex to alert me of this kind of problem. Mine is set to alert me for all kinds of things, but for this issue specifically I have alerts set to tell me if the power is lost to any specific energy bar or to the entire tank. If that happens I can run home, have my wife help, or ask the neighbor who also has a reef tank to investigate.

Other things that can help for this specific situation are

- using multiple electrical circuits for the tank and splitting flow evenly between them.
- getting a battery backup or UPS for your wavemakers.
- using an aquarium controllers loss of communication heartbeat function (If my apex loses connection to the network for 30 minutes in a row, I get a text and can send someone to investigate)

What do you mean by UPS what is that? Also how would I set up a battery backup?

 

[damsels are not mean]

Now debating on selling the rest or starting over :/ If I start over what would everyone’s advise be? Should I clean the tank get the sand out, get new sand, let the rock dry out, and the coral that is still on there (like zoas and gsp) dry out? Then get a new protein skimmer new sand stick the dry rock in let it cycle etc and become live rock again? Like i said lesson learned just sucks it had to nuke the whole tank and I appreciate the advise like a apex system or something that monitors everything. But as to what I just said about starting over is that how I should go about it or what you you guys recommend?

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the system. Anything that's alive you can keep.

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the system. Anything that's alive you can keep.

Everything is dead, I just have rock with some old coral sitting outside “stuck” to them wondering if I should let it air dry out or what to do?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Okay thank you, I am not really familiar with the whole quarantining technique. What do I need to do/ have? Also should I do this with every fish even small cheap little chromis? I was going to start off with that. Also, after adding the bacteria booster and stuff I got fish about 3 days after adding it and they all did fine. Coral I got about a month. What would you recommend or any others feel free to chime in!

This has some good info on how to quarantine and what you need.

Thread 'Current Quarantine Protocol' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/current-quarantine-protocol.825055/

 

[ZombieEngineer]

What do you mean by UPS what is that? Also how would I set up a battery backup?

Uninterruptable power supply. It is basically a battery backup that gives you AC power you can plug a normal plug into. If it loses power it generates AC from its internal battery backup.

Super common for use with PCs. I use the cyberpower 1500VA model they sell at best buy on my tank and it will give me 8 hours of flow at 1% to keep the tank going until I can get power back.

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

Uninterruptable power supply. It is basically a battery backup that gives you AC power you can plug a normal plug into. If it loses power it generates AC from its internal battery backup.

Super common for use with PCs. I use the cyberpower 1500VA model they sell at best buy on my tank and it will give me 8 hours of flow at 1% to keep the tank going until I can get power back.

Thanks for both replies! So you said I can find a video on how to bleach on BRS? Do you know how long i should soak it? how much bleach? If I should use with water from rodi or garden hose water? and how long to let it dry out after bleach?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Thanks for both replies! So you said I can find a video on how to bleach on BRS? Do you know how long i should soak it? how much bleach? If I should use with water from rodi or garden hose water? and how long to let it dry out after bleach?

10-20% bleach with tap water in a brute trashcan or other large container. I leave mine for 2-3 days with a powerhead.

After that I dump, spray down with a hose and let air dry on my patio from morning to evening. Back in the container with 100ml of tap water conditioner overnight. Check chlorine test strip in the morning. If zero, dump and dry. If measurable, repeat the tap water conditioner.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Bleach Curing Dry Rock for a Saltwater Reef Tank - BRStv Reef FAQs

There are three main methods for curing live rock for a saltwater reef tank: natural, bleach and acid. Our focus today is using bleach for curing dry rock and we answer three direct questions. 1. What is a bleach cure? 2. When is it appropriate to bleach cure rock? 3. How to do

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[damsels are not mean]

Everything is dead, I just have rock with some old coral sitting outside “stuck” to them wondering if I should let it air dry out or what to do?

Air dry why? If you're starting over it's easier with live rock and if you're selling its worth more wet.

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

Bleach Curing Dry Rock for a Saltwater Reef Tank - BRStv Reef FAQs

There are three main methods for curing live rock for a saltwater reef tank: natural, bleach and acid. Our focus today is using bleach for curing dry rock and we answer three direct questions. 1. What is a bleach cure? 2. When is it appropriate to bleach cure rock? 3. How to do

www.bulkreefsupply.com

appreciate it!

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

Air dry why? If you're starting over it's easier with live rock and if you're selling its worth more wet.

Then the rock would be covered with dead coral like for example i have a rock covered in purple that was my green star polyps. Wouldn’t it hurt the water to put dead coral plus eventually i won’t be able to put other coral over top of it would I?

 

[Brucealmighty]

Sorry to hear about your loss, I had an anenome walk into the external cannister filter intake pipe one night and had exactly the same looking water as you do in your picture.

 

[Kolby’s Reef]

Also how long does it take for live rock to “dry out” I was only going to soak a few and give them a bleach bath the rest could i put in rodi water and salt at 1.025 salinity and keep it alive?? does it need to be certain temp? any flow?