It’s 12 AM, you look into the tank...your worst fear?

[Biologic]

Losing sleep sucks, especially if your tank causes it. You look into your reef tank, your worse fear is....?

For me, it’s when I am 2 weeks without seeing a montipora eating nudibranch just eating away in my QT.

::gets out dip bucket and picks clean 10 frags::

 

[tinhorse]

Same as many...skimmer overflowing. I have since made modifications that have saved me a few times. I have a reef octopus 2000 hob and have drilled 2 holes into the collection cup and glued in tubes that feed back into the drain. If for some reason the skimmer goes crazy the water in the collection cup spills out of the tubs and back into the tank. Sure some skimate goes back to the tank, but better that than water all over the floor and electrical at the back of the tank

 

[Cajun_Reefer]

The $100 anemone going rogue and chilling at the corner of the tank.... and when I say corner, the corner without SALTWATER.

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Tang on Tang violence!

 

[ReefRxSWFL]

Tang on Tang violence!

A scene right from Mordor itself....

 

[Sarcazian]

Sorry about the blurry photos but I was a little frantic that morning, at 4:30am. I woke up for work and as I started downstairs I could smell the burnt electrical odor at the top of the stairs and heard the Ato sucking air. I opened the stand doors to find the stand full of water. About 4” of standing water inside the stand. Only thing lost where 3 power supplies. Still the worst thing to happen to me.

Wow, I agree water overflowing is also one of my concerns and why I got away from sumps and went AIO with my newest tank. I was able to tune overflows after the first disaster or two, but not worth it to me any longer.

Did the Tunze ATO actually fail on? I ask because BRS flaunts how they have never heard of a tunze 3155 failing on (continuing to pump past the sensor) and that seems like a tunze ATO pump.

 

[Sarcazian]

I was a state away and had the wife calling me that my heater controller alarm was going off. She was freaking out and had no idea how to fix it.

It sounds like she did not unplug it? My BRS heater controller seems to flash E3 or E5 a lot and needs to be unplugged. The wife gets ticked and her reaction is to unplug it - luckily, that controller hasn't been moved into the DT at this point.

 

[Pete_the_Puma]

I have young kids. Recently got a letter from RedSea that my Reefer 650 Peninsula needs some sort of reinforcement for the stand. Now I’m paranoid about the tank somehow toppling and crushing a 2 year old beneath 500lbs of glass and 140gal saltwater...

I know they are just being proactive and the risk of the stand failing is minimal to nil, but this got me paranoid for some reason. I foresee in the not too distant future building my own 100000% overengineered stand that cannot be toppled (call it the immovable object!) just for eternal peace of mind...

 

[gonzo620]

Wow, I agree water overflowing is also one of my concerns and why I got away from sumps and went AIO with my newest tank. I was able to tune overflows after the first disaster or two, but not worth it to me any longer.

Did the Tunze ATO actually fail on? I ask because BRS flaunts how they have never heard of a tunze 3155 failing on (continuing to pump past the sensor) and that seems like a tunze ATO pump.

It is a tunze3155 and it did not fail. This happened 2 years ago and the same ato is still running 6 years strong. I wanna say something got in the the frag tank drain and slowed the draining. But I don't really know.

 

[Ta2oodfreak]

I came home once to find my cat trapped in the terrarium and a tank full of dead lizards.
Only a matter of time before he figures out the lid on a tank and goes for a swim.

 

[josephxsxn]

Would be sad to lose my fish that are going on a half decade.

 

[ReeferMadness01]

I think a major leak. It would be the death of me lol

 

[Chumar]

Worst thing that scares me the most is what happened to my boss (who got me into the hobby). His tank caused an electrical fire - by the time he raced back from work, his whole house burned to the ground. He is no longer allowed to have a fish tank. Thankfully, family was safe. He admits to having had a "rat's nest" of wires and not taking all the precautions - keep it dry and organized down there!

 

[Hugh Mann]

Dead fish. Because they're fish, and they're dead, which sucks.

Second, leak. Because at least the fish are (probably) still alive.

 

[Hugh Mann]

A scene right from Mordor itself....

One does not simply swim into Mordor!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

#1, catastrophic leak

#2 nem walking about and into my gyre and nuking the whole thing.

I know that #2 SHOULD be #1 to some people but I'm 8 months into a forced remodel after a pipe in the wall busted and took out my kitchen. I'll restock a tank again before I live in a house with 5 people, 2 being teenagers and no kitchen for a year.

 

[nukemdanno]

Coming out to go to work at 4am to find that your timer malfunctioned and remained on all night with Kalk continuously being added...to the point the the 90gal DT looked like a giant vat of milk. You can't tell if anything is alive because you can't see 1 inch into the tank. When I turned the house lights on my butthead purple tang bumped the front glass looking at me like "Dad what the heck?" Late for work, mad scramble doing water changes. Amazingly we did not lose too much. The montis fared the best. There was some bleaching but everything healed overtime. Lost a few fish as well but most lived through this. The purple tang was renamed from just butthead to butthead the indestructible.

 

[DIAZ REEF]

Anything, absolutely anything happening to my holy grail torch. It took me months to convince my wife how good of an idea it would be. If anything happens I’ll be killed in under a second and glued to my rockscape.

 

[steakncheese]

Leaks. Had some power surges the other day, and lost almost 10 gallons. Found 5 of them later as the ceiling in my basement started dripping. Still trying to recover mentally. That was my freshwater tank, I don't even have water in my saltwater tank yet.

 

[ZoWhat]

It’s 12 AM, you look into the tank...your worst fear?

Not seeing any water in the tank....

 

[Karen00]

I have a friend that had a 90 gallon. Had an electrical issue during the day luckily while he was working. Tank started a fire burnt his two story house to the ground and lost everything on top of his tank. That was several years ago and won’t have as much as a goldfish bowl in his house now. If your new to this hobby make sure that you don’t have a fire waiting to happen. My worst fear is a tank fire at 12am while everyone is sleeping.

OMG, this is absolutely horrific and to me is the worst thing imaginable because it covers the gamut of terrifying aquarium related tragedies. I was never kept from sleep before because of my tanks but after reading this, tonight just might be the start of fitful sleeps at night and obsessive tank watching during the day!