Reef 911: Tank Emergencies and Who Do You Call?

Where do you go in case of a real reef tank emergency?

  • Me, myself and I

    Votes: 315 42.6%
  • Local Friend

    Votes: 79 10.7%
  • Reef2Reef

    Votes: 290 39.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 56 7.6%

  • Total voters
    740

revhtree

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There will always be problems and issues when maintaining a living, breathing coral reef in your house but sometimes they can be disastrous if you don't get quick help! So let's talk about that today with a couple of questions for you.

1. Who do call, where do you go when you have a true tank emergency?

2. What's the biggest tank emergency you've ever had?

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Crabs McJones

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Can the vote allow multiple answers? I usually call @HotRocks or call upon the #reefsquad if it's not an immediate emergency. If it's something that requires attention NOW! I call my uncle Jeremy who lives across town from me. He's been reefing since the early 2000's and is always a great help when I need it :)
 

Hemmdog

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I usually post on R2R; while waiting for responses I call my LFS owner and get the-run-around as to why he can’t come over and help me, so I end up figuring it out myself with the help of you lovely people who throw advice my way.

I’ve had my biocube stock stand explode which made the tank fall and flood my living room.
I’ve gone through velvet
I’ve had an 18 1/2 hour power outtage
I’ve had my drain on a durso completely clogged and couldn’t figure it out for a few hours while the water was millimeters from spilling out of the top in my 90.
I’m sure there’s more, bad luck has always had a way of finding me.
 

MrWheelock

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I come to R2R. Best place I have found hands down for on the spot holy crap advice.

I had a seal leak on my original 75 and R2R was the place to go for info on how to quickly save and transfer everything to the new 75 I have now.
 

Peace River

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I use all of the approaches listed on the poll. I will reach out to R2R, friends, and do a lot of research myself.
 

flsalty

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The things I consider a tank emergency usually involve equipment failure of some kind. Nobody is going to help me with that.

My biggest emergency was a cracked 29 gallon tank. Funny story behind that, but it didn't leak. I hurried up and put the fish into other tanks and emptied it out. As I was getting the fish out I kept expecting the water to just come pouring out lol.
 

Johniejumbo

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I keep a backup 20g healthy with a small cuc just in case my 40g does something funky. But really I don’t call on anyone for tank emergencies. I have an evacuation plan in place in case of tank failure. (Lesson learned the hard way). And I keep battery powered air pumps in case of extended power failure. Oh, and a bottle of Prime, just because it’s good to have on hand. If I have time to research a problem I don’t really consider it an emergency.
 

ca1ore

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Depends ….. If I am home and it's a true emergency then me; if I'm away and it's a true emergency then I have a fellow reefer 'on call' (I am that for him also). If it's just about resolving problems, then lots of different resources to call upon.

I've had two tank crashes in my reefing career … both before I had a controller. One was a runaway ATO that I was able to mostly contain; the other was a house heating failure while I was on vacation that I did not discover until I returned home by which time most of the tank was dead.
 

Ruben's Reef

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Definitely will come to R2R where I learn all that I know about reefing. As a matter of fact, I had an emergency about a week ago that I ask for the Reefsquad for help when I accidently set the dosing pump wrong and dumped half bottle of ATI Essentials bottle 1 and all the corals was closing losing two cleaners shrimps. The response was fast. Thanks God for the advised I received from a few members everything went back to normal.
 

JCTReefer

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Me, Myself, and I and Reef2Reef!!! We work as a team... LOL;)

Last emergency was me waking up to a tank that I could barely make out the rock work.. Wife got mad at me and dumped 2 years worth of New Life spectrum pellets in the tank. The living room smelled of ammonia. Bacterial bloom from h*ll ... She had no idea what damage she had done.
I was very angry to say the least. On top of that my 65 gallon Ro/DI reservoir only had 10 gallons left in it. And we all know how long it takes to make water. Added enough prime to neutralize the ammonia first thing. And then I rushed to Walmart and bought 50 gallons of RO water. Not the RO/DI I usually use, but better than nothing.. Looked like I was planning for a nuclear apocalypse. I got some very strange looks as I filled my basket with every gallon jug they had. People were staring as I was checking out. The cashier didn't know what to think.. Rushed back home, made up 60 gallons of fresh SW. Mixed it about an hour until clear. Not ideal, but didn't have a choice. Temp matched and Specific gravity. Siphoned out every bit of food I could see. Performed a 100% WC and added 2 big bottles of Bio Spira. Enough to treat 140 gallons I believe. Ammonia tested 4ppm Prior to the water change. Of course this was total ammonia. NH3 + NH4.
I found a nifty little calculator online to figure out how much free ammonia I likely had.
Within 24 hours the Bio Spira was able to process all of it. I love Bio Spira!! I lost my Royal Gramma :(, but all other livestock, survived amazingly... This is what the tank looked like. And this is how it usually looks.
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pasquale petrovia

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What I cant handle I come here. This place is awesome. Not the LFS sales pitch, only fellow hobbyist with good intent. Glad I joined. Thanks all
 

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  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 42 48.8%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 45 52.3%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 19 22.1%
  • None.

    Votes: 22 25.6%
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