Tank Crash

warpdrvr · Jun 30, 2020

Hello, just looking for some assistance. I unplugged my return pump last nite when I fed my fish. Forgot to turn it back on. This morning I wake up to every fish dead on the bottom. I know it was my fault as I've been unplugging and plugging it back in for a couple of weeks now since I upgraded my lights and my return pump was connected to them so had a feed button. I don't know what to do now other than obviously remove the fish. Snails all seem fine and I haven't seen my pistol or fire shrimp yet so dunno how they are. Corals are all still alive it seems so I need to salvage what I can. Am I looking at just a major water change or what? I don't know what to do.

Thanks

tehmadreefer · Jun 30, 2020

Take out the dead stuff, make sure there is no amonia and either restock or get out of the hobby. Everything essentially suffocated and since it was only hours and not days, fortunately for you nothing had a chance to decay.

sixline · Jun 30, 2020

Ugh. Sorry to hear.

Yes, remove the fish, do a 30% water change.

Maybe set a timer for 10 minutes on your cellphone every time you're about to start feeding?

warpdrvr · Jun 30, 2020

tehmadreefer said:
Take out the dead stuff, make sure there is no amonia and either restock or get out of the hobby. Everything essentially suffocated and since it was only hours and not days, fortunately for you nothing had a chance to decay.

I'm not getting out of the hobby. Will do a water change, check the ammonia and nitrate levels and restock. I have a goby in my QT now so guess he will be the first one.

sixline · Jun 30, 2020

tehmadreefer said:
Take out the dead stuff, make sure there is no amonia and either restock or get out of the hobby. Everything essentially suffocated and since it was only hours and not days, fortunately for you nothing had a chance to decay.

This is probably a better answer. Test for ammonia if you can. It may not have had time to spike as much as I assumed it did.

warpdrvr · Jun 30, 2020

sixline said:
Ugh. Sorry to hear.

Yes, remove the fish, do a 30% water change.

Maybe set a timer for 10 minutes on your cellphone every time you're about to start feeding?

That's not a bad idea. I think I'm gonna buy a new pump that is controllable now. Had planned to do it but hadn't gotten around to it yet.

brandon429 · Jun 30, 2020

you should deep clean your tank, sand rocks and all new water

most wont do that/sounds crazy but I dont recommend crazy stuff, i only recommend what makes nanos run for a very very long time. Starting clean is ideal for your challenge reef, and it will skip the cycle fully if you clean it like we do in our deep clean threads.

partial clean= some degree of water changed

true clean: tank is taken apart, sand cleaned, rock cleaned, all new water, reassembled, all corals and animals skip the cycle and the tank continues as if

warpdrvr · Jun 30, 2020

So what do I do with the inverts? The shrimp, crabs, snails, anemone all survived. As did my corals.
I've tested the water, ammonia is <.15 and the nitrate is maybe a little high at 10ppm. But I don't have any SPS and everything I see and read says that's ok for softies and LPS which is what I have.

Sleeping Giant · Jun 30, 2020

warpdrvr said:
So what do I do with the inverts? The shrimp, crabs, snails, anemone all survived. As did my corals.
I've tested the water, ammonia is <.15 and the nitrate is maybe a little high at 10ppm. But I don't have any SPS and everything I see and read says that's ok for softies and LPS which is what I have.

WC, keep your stuff in there, turn on return pump and remove all the dead...I don't understand why a full breakdown of the aquarium is needed, it's not like you added a bottle of cupermine to the tank.

brandon429 · Jun 30, 2020

because that resets the tank/all tanks for max lifespan its not a harming event, its a clean start event:

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

that method is what we run to move tanks, upgrade them, recover from crashes, or in the case of the 1st example link of 300, for prevention/proaction on a 120 gallon system (he rip cleans a perfectly running large mixed coral and fish reef) this smaller reef crash here will be easy to clean n restart, like we do there above.

tehmadreefer · Jun 30, 2020

brandon429 said:
you should deep clean your tank, sand rocks and all new water

most wont do that/sounds crazy but I dont recommend crazy stuff, i only recommend what makes nanos run for a very very long time. Starting clean is ideal for your challenge reef, and it will skip the cycle fully if you clean it like we do in our deep clean threads.

partial clean= some degree of water changed

true clean: tank is taken apart, sand cleaned, rock cleaned, all new water, reassembled, all corals and animals skip the cycle and the tank continues as if

No need for all that...

tehmadreefer · Jun 30, 2020

warpdrvr said:
So what do I do with the inverts? The shrimp, crabs, snails, anemone all survived. As did my corals.
I've tested the water, ammonia is <.15 and the nitrate is maybe a little high at 10ppm. But I don't have any SPS and everything I see and read says that's ok for softies and LPS which is what I have.

keep them in. Most likely they will be fine.

Sleeping Giant · Jun 30, 2020

brandon429 said:
because that resets the tank/all tanks for max lifespan its not a harming event, its a clean start event:

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

that method is what we run to move tanks, upgrade them, recover from crashes, or in the case of the 1st example link of 300, for prevention/proaction on a 120 gallon system (he rip cleans a perfectly running large mixed coral and fish reef) this smaller reef crash here will be easy to clean n restart, like we do there above.

IMO, Seems like a bit much for just having the return off overnight, and some parished fish

brandon429 · Jun 30, 2020

warpdrvr · Jun 30, 2020

Thank you for all the advice. I have consulted with a family member who has done salt for years and my LFS and they both said do a 30% change and a couple days another one. I am doing that, ordering a new pump that I can control and starting with a couple of clowns to see how that goes. If I still have issues, I will tear down tank. Again, thank for all the help.

andrewey · Jul 1, 2020

warpdrvr said:
Thank you for all the advice. I have consulted with a family member who has done salt for years and my LFS and they both said do a 30% change and a couple days another one. I am doing that, ordering a new pump that I can control and starting with a couple of clowns to see how that goes. If I still have issues, I will tear down tank. Again, thank for all the help.

I think you have a very sound plan and you're on the right track. I'm really sorry about the loss of your fish. If you still run into issues, feel free to post here. I suspect once your tank has enough time to process any residual ammonia and you've performed the water changes, your tank will be ready for fish again. It sounds like you've learned from this experience and will take steps to prevent this in the future

I'm glad you didn't tear down your tank or the other silly suggestion you received.

warpdrvr · Jul 1, 2020

andrewey said:
I think you have a very sound plan and you're on the right track. I'm really sorry about the loss of your fish. If you still run into issues, feel free to post here. I suspect once your tank has enough time to process any residual ammonia and you've performed the water changes, your tank will be ready for fish again. It sounds like you've learned from this experience and will take steps to prevent this in the future I'm glad you didn't tear down your tank or the other silly suggestion you received.

Thanks for the encouragement. The new pump is ordered and should be here Monday. Doing a 30% today and another one one on Friday. I will get a couple of clowns from my LFS on Friday as well and see how it goes. As my brother in law said, I've been fully initiated now into the reefing hobby. I was actually surprised I didn't have any fish losses before now. I consider myself lucky in that regard, it was just my stupidity that resulted in this mess.

andrewey · Jul 1, 2020

Honestly, we've all been there. Whether it's forgetting to turn a pump back on, turn off the RODI, etc. All that matters is that you learn from your mistakes and grow as a reefer. Whenever I run into one of these issues, I try and fix not only that problem, but design mechanisms by which I can avoid other issues- like a sort of global wake up call. Just make to test your ammonia right before the new clowns to be on the safe side, otherwise best of luck and happy reefing!