help. tank dying!

[swimfest]

2 days ago my wavemaker broke. Time for a new one. So yesterday I removed the wavemaker and put in two old powerheads just to keep circulation going. Unfortunately when pulling out the wavemaker a chord was left inside of the tank plugged into the wall for about 20 minutes. The water was cloudy this morning and now all the corals are dying. What happened and what should I do?

 

[JackoChang]

I would say w/c, run some carbon. Do you happen to have a grounding probe?

 

[swimfest]

unfortunatley i dont have a grounding probe. Do you think that current would have killed my corals?

 

[JackoChang]

Can you post a pics?

 

[swimfest]

unfortunately not haha i feel like its so out of the blue.

 

[JackoChang]

I recommended w/c and carbon because it'll get rid of the excess nutrients/toxins being released. You could do a series of w/c over the next week and see where you're at, also this would reduce the shock to your corals. How old is your tank? What are your params as of now?

 

[steveb]

I'm really surprised you didn't trip a breaker - You should get a GFCI installed or buy a cord that has one from a hardware store. You could have electrocuted yourself in addition to the animals in your tank. Like JackoChang said water changes and activated carbon filtering are about all you can do right now.

 

[OceanMinded]

same thing happened to me and most of my SPS died.

 

[PR_Reefers]

sorry for your loss bro!!!:sad:....something similar happened to a lfs where I live by... he lost all his SPS only fish most LPS and softies survived....

btw I would recommend couple LARGE water changes before you start restocking again

 

[swimfest]

my softies and sps are dying but my lps look good its wierd. i put carbon on there and am making water for a change. Gonna do about 50 gallons. The system is 300

 

[skinz78]

I agree I would do a large water change, run lots of carbon and change it daily. Keep doing large water changes every day for a few and as you see it get back to normal start skipping days.

 

[chappy]

not to be a jerk but
this is why everybody should have 3 or 4 poly filters laying in there stand
not saying they would have saved your tank
but the would have started pulling nasties out right away and bought you a little time
i am very sorry this happened to you and hope this turns out to be not a total loss

 

[swimfest]

Thanks guys! i was gonna reaquascape in two weeks anyways so i guess nows a good time :(

 

[nixer]

I'm really surprised you didn't trip a breaker - You should get a GFCI installed or buy a cord that has one from a hardware store. You could have electrocuted yourself in addition to the animals in your tank. Like JackoChang said water changes and activated carbon filtering are about all you can do right now.

actually with both wires shorted a gfci wouldnt of done squat! this is a common misconception of gfci.

 

[KSzegi]

2 days ago my wavemaker broke. Time for a new one. So yesterday I removed the wavemaker and put in two old powerheads just to keep circulation going. Unfortunately when pulling out the wavemaker a chord was left inside of the tank plugged into the wall for about 20 minutes. The water was cloudy this morning and now all the corals are dying. What happened and what should I do?

I had something very similar happen to me on my 180, though it wasn't for a full 20 minutes of shock therapy, only about 5..... I immediately put a poly filter in, changed to fresh carbon and did a water change. I continued pretty large water changes - did 40 gallon changes every day for 4 days - and then did about 20 gallon changes every other day for another three times. I didn't lose any lps but did lose a couple small clams and a few of the sps. Most of the sps lost almost all their color but ended up coming back within a month. Good Luck!!

 

[CJO]

unfortunatley i dont have a grounding probe. Do you think that current would have killed my corals?

It definitely could have. Please do some water changes as quickly as you can. Also, as others have said run fresh carbon if you have it.

CJ

 

[steveb]

actually with both wires shorted a gfci wouldnt of done squat! this is a common misconception of gfci.

Sorry was assuming using a grounding probe w/GFCI.


But even w/out one why didn't his breaker trip? - a direct short between hot and neutral should have caused the breaker to trip (at least it did the last time I stuck a paper clip in an outlet). Unless the water in the tank had a enough resistance so that the breaker didn't see a short.