I hear that eventually, every tank will crash...

[Sshannon]

So far it hasn't happened to me. But I hear the horror stories where it comes out of nowhere. Mostly from people with a deep sandbed that don't vacuum it regularly. Thoughts?

 

[G Santana]

Maintenance maintenance maintenance, things crash we hobbyists get lax!!!

 

[Razorp]

I've only had one and it was due to a 4 day power outage and super low temps. Boy was it a disaster. Only had one survivor, a flame tail goby. We now call him the gladiator lol

As far as a crash for no apparent reason i have been fortunate thus far. I have a pretty shallow sand bed, a sand sifting starfish, and several sifting snails. So I don't see that being an issue. The thing I worry about are people cleaning around my office tank or spraying for bugs with aerosols, and bad water coming from the city. I did just majorly upgrade my RODI unit though.

 

[tehmadreefer]

What “hear” is from back in the old days. Doesn’t happen anymore due to advances in the hobby.

 

[DaneGer21]

IMO, a tank will never crash if taken care of, but then again I’ve gone a long time without maintenance on past tanks and they have never “crashed”. Not even sure what a “crashed tank” is to be honest…13+yrs in the hobby and I’ve never met anyone personally who’s lost a tank other than on here. Now, that’s all beside the point of failed equipment causing it.

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

Not had a crash in 15+ years of reefkeeping. I’m not special, actually kinda dumb in some instances but i’m obsessed with my fish and coral and closely look at everything at least once a day to make sure all is well. This is the key. Knowing your tank and taking quick action if something looks off.

 

[Tamberav]

They can crash from mother nature (Texas freeze, hurricanes, extended power outages... etc) and perhaps failed equipment when you are on vacation or trying to spray pesticide in the house but generally it is difficult to crash a tank.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I feel like I’ve learned a lot of the lessons the hard way. I’ve had tanks crash with too low magnesium before I knew that two part was really a 3 part.
I’ve had tanks crash with too high phosphates, then again with too low phosphates.
the coral loss is hard to move on from but I’ve never lost everything all at once. The worst and fastest killing was the high phosphates and high nitrates after removing my algae scrubber. Lost a lot of good pieces then, every sps gone in a matter of two-three days.

 

[terraincognita]

Everyone reading title:

Everyone responding:

Me:

In all fairness that's like saying "every car will eventually stop working"

Sure if you do nothing.

Pretty sure the first few model T's still around and kept up run fine.


Edit:

HUH.... I guess you could actually take the example of a car in reverse.

The newer it is the more maintenance with tanks, and the opposite with cars.

New car change oil, replace windshield wiper fluid, etc etc.

Old Car, replace engines, suspensions, transmissions, upgrade things, check it monthly.

New tank, constant tinkering, adjusting dosing, new placement of corals, biodiversity expanding, more water changes, filter changes, etc.

Old tank, Re-fill dosing, change filtration, feed.

 

[rusgum]

The lifetime of the system depends on its maintenance

 

[Jekyl]

So far it hasn't happened to me. But I hear the horror stories where it comes out of nowhere. Mostly from people with a deep sandbed that don't vacuum it regularly. Thoughts?

Starting out with my RUGF system everyone told me it wouldn't last a year. That undergravel systems were nitrate factories and it wasn't a good idea. Here I am over 3 years later with a system I don't even really do water changes on running fantastic. I do maybe a 20% water change every 3 months or so. Only because I feel like it. I dose to maintain parameters however my nitrate and phosphate are steady where I want them. I don't use a sump either.

 

[MaxTremors]

Only time it ever happened to me in my 20+ years is when I was on a long vacation and the person tank sitting was thoroughly incompetent.

 

[CourtNjoeZreef]

Starting out with my RUGF system everyone told me it wouldn't last a year. That undergravel systems were nitrate factories and it wasn't a good idea. Here I am over 3 years later with a system I don't even really do water changes on running fantastic. I do maybe a 20% water change every 3 months or so. Only because I feel like it. I dose to maintain parameters however my nitrate and phosphate are steady where I want them. I don't use a sump either.

I have a reverse Undergravel system in all my fresh water tanks. #whatdetritus? will probably do the same on my forever build reef tank. It really has no downside in reverse. pushes water through the sand bed and dislodges most of the detritus anddddd prevents more from settling. Keep me in the loop on anything that might pop up on yours!

 

[Jekyl]

I have a reverse Undergravel system in all my fresh water tanks. #whatdetritus? will probably do the same on my forever build reef tank. It really has no downside in reverse. pushes water through the sand bed and dislodges most of the detritus anddddd prevents more from settling. Keep me in the loop on anything that might pop up on yours!

I wouldn't use sand. It will clog things. I used crushed coral.

 

[fragit]

Power outage for 6 days in October in Maine will do it. Battery back up only lasted 14 hours. I now have a generator.

 

[fish farmer]

IMO, a tank will never crash if taken care of, but then again I’ve gone a long time without maintenance on past tanks and they have never “crashed”. Not even sure what a “crashed tank” is to be honest…13+yrs in the hobby and I’ve never met anyone personally who’s lost a tank other than on here. Now, that’s all beside the point of failed equipment causing it.

I let my current tank get away from me around 2012 it had been downsized in 2010, heavy in, not much out, GHA was crazy, aiptasia, etc. Phosphate was chronically high. I wasn't doing much calcium dosing.

I lost all my LPS and most zoas that I had for 2 to 3 years. Softies were fine, nepthia was the size of my hand (in a 29 gallon tank), mushrooms running wild. The same mushrooms survived a heat wave crash in 2002 along with brown palys. Some of the rock in that tank is from 2000.

I cleaned the tank up and have the same softies, LPS growing well and a couple of montis are encrusting this past year. My clownfish are 14 years old.

 

[WVNed]

Since 2007
3 crashes
Exploded heater while we were at work. Burned in sump
Puppy ate power wire to AC pump in the sump. Copper into tank
2 week vacation. Person watching the dogs didn't put a drop of the make up water left sitting by the tank in it.
Pump sucked air, heater burned out after it was exposed at the top enough. No heat or flow far several days.

 

[Cool tangs]

Hmm i dont think so if proper maintanance is performed.

It depends how you define crash.

Swings yes, some corals more sensitive to others.

Potential leaks from really old tanks needing a reseal maybe.

Ive not had a tank long enough to say, longest tank i had was over 4 years.

I cant imagine a tank just "crashing" for no reason depending on what you mean by crash

 

[brandon429]

barring hardware failures and poisoning events, there's a biological means of preventing a crash and it will make any reef tank live indefinitely with no limited biological lifepan. its how we keep pickle jar reefs alive for twenty years etc.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/old-tank-syndrome-is-vanquished-in-reefing-now.801247/

keeping detritus out of a system keeps it ageless, that's the whole proof on file.

even if detritus-keeping folks disagree, that's based on their tank and we're basing claims on other people's work. We can specifically make anyone's reef permanently ageless if you'll evacuate vs store up detritus, even though this claim greatly angers detritus-storers there's a difference between what's repeatable and what's ideal and what is linkable using examples other than the writer's tanks. what works for the public is the hidden secret sauce.

 

[robert teseo]

once during sandy, house flooded, filled tanks with cold bay water, and power out for weeks.