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Tank crash depression...someone...anyone...help
- Thread starter ReeferMadness80G
- Start date
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That's a hard pill to swallow. I've had to move 3 times in the past year and 1/2. I've had AEFW, monti eating nudis, tank literally over run with aiptasia, just treated my system for bryopsis and lost two very nice colonies. I bleached all my acros due to a lack of nutrients and killed all but two fish over the winter because I put them all in QT for treatment and the tank got way too cold over night, (heater switched off and never back on).
Still today I've got 13 very fat and happy fish. About 50 corals that have good color and growth. Still I've spent far more on equipment than livestock. I'm a gadget junky.
Still today I've got 13 very fat and happy fish. About 50 corals that have good color and growth. Still I've spent far more on equipment than livestock. I'm a gadget junky.
Update me dude.
carlson
Well-Known Member
That sucks dude. I'm still in the process of getting my tank ready for successfully keepings sps long term and I'm trying to take advantage of all the available things you can get to keep things like that from happening. I'm going to invest in a seneye monitor and maybe even an apex fusion this round. Your tank looked great though! Better than most nanos that I see!I was browsing through threads the other day and I came across a post "..one tank crash can make someone leave the hobby for good..", I skimmed by it and thought, my tank crashed before and I got through it! Over the last 7-8 months I've developed a pretty successful SPS dominated nano tank, I had beautiful coralline algae encrusting and several of my sticks were really starting to color up and encrust the rock, I was so proud and started to finally regain confidence in my reef keeping abilities. I had several frags in racks stuck to the glass and really needed a new rock to stick them too, I had a section in my tank that would look great for a home for a good chunk of live rock and my frags. So I set off in search of the perfect piece of LR, I know my system was crazy sensitive due to its size and contents so I wanted to be very picky about the place I would purchase this rock from. I traveled an hour away to a very reputable fish and coral store that we all know and love! They steered me towards a piece of Man Made rock, it was perfect! I stared at it for awhile and decided I'd take it home, longer story short I glued all my frags to it and it looked great!
If I dare say, I was finally happy with the way my tank looked and could start to sit back and enjoy watching it grow after almost a year of hard work!
After about 3 days I could tell something was wrong, my red setosa which is normally a deep red was starting to look almost translucent and pink! I tested my water and ALK SPIKE from 8.5 to 11-12 was the only thing different than my normal parameters. The next day, my red monti was doing the same, the next day greens and vivid blues were all muted paled versions of themselves. So I did a water change and now it would seem everything is back to normal as far as water parameters go. However I've suffered great loss in colors in 85% of my sps but the whole tank has taken a hard hit .
Months and months of hard work gone down the drain, I feel like giving up and smashing my tank. It's crazy how depressed this has made me, everything I worked for is gone, money spent, time spent GONE!
Please I need someone to make me feel like I still have a fighting chance.
KJAG
Rogue
Gnarly. What brand of heater?
Velcro
2500 Club Member
My brain: "Please don't be finnex titanium. Please don't be finnex titanium"
KJAG
Rogue
Right? (Have the same heater)
Switched to Finnex from Jager long ago.
OP
OP
ReeferMadness80G
Valuable Member
Thank you! Nano reefs are drama queens, something little happens and they blow it way out of proportion! Good luck on your build and thank you for the kind words!
OP
OP
ReeferMadness80G
Valuable Member
I'm hopefully optimistic, things still continuing to lose color daily, however still have some PE in a few pieces. This rock has not only caused a Alk spike but has definitely spiked my NO3 as well. I'll be doing a 50% WC tomorrow. Really no point in taking the rock out bc I have frags glued to it and I think any more stress and they'll all die within a few hours. I'm trying to be patient and work on stability while letting my macro and skimmer fight the No3
you have another tank?
Mind still blown on the rock man.
I dunno. Id be SOO tempted to yank that rock.
alanbetiger
Active Member
Couple of years ago I had a 29 Biocube that I had a clam, SPS, LPS in and ran Purigen. Thought I'd save some cash by recharging the Purigen with bleach. Something went wrong when I put it back in (yes I read the instructions) that the water went literally solid white. All to save $20 on a new Purigen...There was a friggin blizzard in the tank within seconds. Could not see the rock in a 29 gallon tank. Thought all was lost, everthing was angry and bright white. Everything was off the charts on testing. Fastforward 2 months and everything except for one frag had bounced back. It'll take awhile but as long as you still see some polyps extending there's hope.
OP
OP
ReeferMadness80G
Valuable Member
No, no other tank. Trust me, I am tempted but I figure the worst is over.
It was a cheap aquatop.
Sorry to hear man 
I went through a similar Alk spike and it took maybe 3 months of stable parameters for color to start coming back. I lost a few high end zoas and almost lost a few large sps colonies. Kinda crazy that a piece of rock would cause this kind of instability..I'd assume that a NO3 spike would be expected but not Alk.
I went through a similar Alk spike and it took maybe 3 months of stable parameters for color to start coming back. I lost a few high end zoas and almost lost a few large sps colonies. Kinda crazy that a piece of rock would cause this kind of instability..I'd assume that a NO3 spike would be expected but not Alk.
I have a 65g tank. First time trying salt. I bought 35 lbs of rock. After about 3 weeks the brown had gone away and tank was crystal. Thought i needed more rock so added just 10 more lbs. 2 days later the brown was all over the tank again. I almost dumped everything and started a planted freshwater tank. But i struggled thru looking at a ugly tank for another 2 weeks then finally added fish. My tank had water in it for 7 weeks before i bought one fish. Tank is 7 months old and looks really nice. Im happy i stuck with it
needbiggertanks
Well-Known Member
My 20 Gallon in particular has been through a few small lossess/close calls
1st loss = 4 (including 2 Picasso clowns) fish to velvet, Had to go 72 days fallow
2nd loss = kids flipped on the timer that was hooked up to the LED while I was away, stayed on 100%. My wife never noticed because the tank is in the front room. I came home 2 weeks later, all corals seriously looked dead (purple and green fungia plate, 5 headed Duncan, 9 headed hammer, 6 head aussie, red and green trachy, and 4 head frogspawn, favia, a green and a pink birdsnest), 5-8 weeks later they were mostly looking normal.
3rd loss = found 40$ skunk cleaner shrimp cut in half in my powerhead (literally found him stuck in there torn in half)
4th frustration = was gone for 2 months, GHA breakout. I was home for 9 days and did all I could to get it under control, not really sure how it has been since I left last week.
Aaaannnnd 5th = (sorry if forgot) Lossed 2 clams during a 9 day hurricane evacuation that had a power outage.
But still hanging in because, well, we have to because we love it...right?
1st loss = 4 (including 2 Picasso clowns) fish to velvet, Had to go 72 days fallow
2nd loss = kids flipped on the timer that was hooked up to the LED while I was away, stayed on 100%. My wife never noticed because the tank is in the front room. I came home 2 weeks later, all corals seriously looked dead (purple and green fungia plate, 5 headed Duncan, 9 headed hammer, 6 head aussie, red and green trachy, and 4 head frogspawn, favia, a green and a pink birdsnest), 5-8 weeks later they were mostly looking normal.
3rd loss = found 40$ skunk cleaner shrimp cut in half in my powerhead (literally found him stuck in there torn in half)
4th frustration = was gone for 2 months, GHA breakout. I was home for 9 days and did all I could to get it under control, not really sure how it has been since I left last week.
Aaaannnnd 5th = (sorry if forgot) Lossed 2 clams during a 9 day hurricane evacuation that had a power outage.
But still hanging in because, well, we have to because we love it...right?
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Ubergroover
Engineer by day, Musician/golfer/reefer by night
I feel your pain. I had been out of the hobby for 10 years or so. As everyone here knows once this hobby is part of you it never leaves you. So I picked up a 75 g tank and off I go. Everything great. come home one day and my wife decided to surprise me with fish.. Petco horror...I could not be mad her heart is gold, so it is what it is. the fish had velvet wiped out the tank. I almost gave up. Hard work and all that money shot. But with the picture of a pristine reef tank in my mind tugging at me, I got up drained it, cleaned the entire system, let it dry for two weeks and started over. What does not destroy our passion makes us a better reef keeper!
OP
OP
ReeferMadness80G
Valuable Member
These are side by sides of how the tank currently looks vs how it looked before the crash
the third picture is the heartbreaker to me. You can really see all the color I had going on. I've got some nice acros waiting for me at my coral farmers place. They're waiting on me, I hope to be able to bring them home in a month or so. Did a 50% change today and nitrates are at 5ppm (normal) a couple hours after water change. Going to test again before I goto bed. Phosphate was < .25
Alk was at 7dkh
Again, thank you guys for helping me when I was down! Your stories have truly made me feel like I could keep going!
Alk was at 7dkh
Again, thank you guys for helping me when I was down! Your stories have truly made me feel like I could keep going!
Rick.45cal
2500 Club Member
This "man made" rock, I'm guessing it's made of portland cement, which is why your alkalinity shot up through the roof.
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