My tank is crashing again... who else has had a tank crash?

[Prestigereef]

Who's had a tank crash and how did you get over it?

 

[Savo]

Sorry about the bad news. You did get 1 more subscriber to your youtube

 

[Prestigereef]

Welcome to the team

 

[cancun]

Wow! Do you know what caused it!? Did you loose any fish?

 

[roberthu526]

I had a few crashes in the last three years. But now I am back in the game again.

 

[ZoWhat]

If my tank hit 85+ degrees, you bet your (blank) I'd be dumping ice from my freezer in the sump regardless what was in the frozen tap water....tap water can be quickly fixed with dechlorinator that you should have in your 911 bag of tricks

Best practices is during the Summer to always have a frozen gallon milk jug filled with RO water at hand to float in sump if temp jumps unexpectedly. I actually have two milk jugs frozen on hand as I type this.

During the Winter I always have a power inverter on hand if power goes out during snow storm to power my heaters......Or if armageddon happens... a plan to fill a 3gal cooking pot of saltwater pulled from the tank to heat near my fireplace, if tank temp drops. Not sure if 180-200 degrees of 3g of SW would keep a tank warm a couple hrs at a time.....but I'll go down fighting

Guess I overplan for chaos bc $2k worth of corals is in the balance



.

 

[Brianstone575]

I’ve had several crashes over the years usually after I’ve moved the tank long distance. When something goes wrong, it seems to cause an avalanche.
Soft corals and anemones got too big in my old tank, and the tank was teetering in the brink of disaster. The pair of sebea clownfish that spawned. The haden’s Anemones decided to spawn at the same time. Crash.
Hope you can return your tank to good health soon.

 

[cancun]

If my tank hit 85+ degrees, you bet your (blank) I'd be dumping ice from my freezer in the sump regardless what was in the frozen tap water....tap water can be quickly fixed with dechlorinator that you should have in your 911 bag of tricks

IKR! I would be running around with my hair on fire!

 

[vetteguy53081]

Never good news but had two and both due to tank leaks and not an actual crash. My attitude is - I will not let a leak kick me in the butt and reset the tank after repair.

 

[tiggs]

Sorry to hear, it's never an easy thing to deal with. My big tank crash was during Hurricane Sandy. I had most of the typical power outage disaster supplies including ice bags, battery powered air pump, UPS for single pump, and generator. Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to get gas immediately following Sandy in my area and with power being out 7-8 days straight, it was too much for my tank. Surprisingly, I was able to keep my fish alive by rapidly hand-stirring water every half hour for 5 minutes straight (including using an old school wind up alarm clock to wake myself up every 30 minutes to repeat the process), but my corals were absolutely toast.

 

[Katrina71]

Been there. Will be there again someday.

 

[KenO]

I just went through a tank crash. ALK went up, not sure why, my NO3 and PO4 levels were low. Recipe for disaster. Then because of the die off, my ammonia levels spiked. Kinda like driving downhill real fast and no brakes. I was doing 100% water changes and removing things that were dying. In the end I was happy with what I was able to save. All the SPS and anemones were toast, but I was able to save most of my fish and softies. It’s not easy.

 

[JV17]

Tank just crashed last week. Only had 3 fish and they all died, but my softies and clam seem to be fine.

 

[Bacon505]

My previous tank had 5 crashed the last year. The one just happened this april was a total lost along with 22 of my fishes. So dont feel too bad about yours.

 

[jduong916]

Real sorry for your loss.

A milk gallon of frozen water does wonders if you really need to get your temp down without a chiller.

 

[Prestigereef]

It's so good to see everyone sharing their experiences because when people read this thread they will see its not only them... as we are only a small hobby (especially in the Uk) its isolating at times and can feel like its only us whos affected

 

[lilbalways]

Just had a crash due to a storm that came through and the house was hit by lightning. Lost attic fans, the a/c and a few more items. Have a generator but with the surge and electrical items getting fried it was a total loss. Did water changes daily for a week and everything else I could possibly do to save it. 120 gallon reef with lots of coral several fish and inverts. I was able to save most of the fish and gave them to a local police officer that was working on a new tank. Going to have to start completely over. Decided to get rid of this tank and at some point get an all in one system to setup and start over. Will have to wait, have to get the house back in order first.

 

[TetoCCB]

Two near crashes... The first was during vacation... My tank sitter overfed the tank, fouling the water... I only lost one LPS...

The second was weather related... 36 hours without power... No losses, but everything suffered...

It was stressful, but I never considered giving up...

I’m considering backup power options for the house and my tank...

 

[Bunnee911]

Crashed mine when I removed my deep sand bed.
Caught the fish real quick and in a bucket they went.
My only corals at the time were mushrooms. You can’t kill them.

Now do a huge water change.

 

[BestMomEver]

My 300 crashed when an urchin in the sump ate the plastic coating off an electrical cord. The copper in the wires killed everything in days. Got the fish out in time but the corals were toast. Lost everything in a five year old reef... too many SPS to count, softies, LPS, CUC....all of it.