Was it really a "Tank Crash" and how did it happen? What does that mean?

[revhtree]

So let me preface this topic with a disclaimer that I am in no way making "light" of issues, problems and crashes that hobbyists have encountered.

I've seen many threads and posts over the years about hobbyists who's tanks had "crashed." Heck I've used the term myself before sadly. But many times I read about a tank crash I often wonder did it really crash, what does the owner mean by using the term crash and why did it happen. So I would like to hear from you!

So what is a "tank crash" and what does it mean to you? What justifies using the term? Is it a crash if it was initiated by lack of attention to the tank? Is it chemical? What is it to you?

image via this thread

 

[road_runner]

...

 

[Waynerock]

This guy has been known to crash a tank or two

 

[road_runner]

….

 

[DivingTheWorld]

I break it down into two types, Coral Crash and Tank Crash.

I consider it a Coral Crash when you have a majority of your corals die off, but the rest of the tank is fine (fish, shrimp, snails, etc.). This happened to me a couple years ago and it SUCKED!

IMO a Tank Crash is when everything dies off, corals, fish, snails. Thankfully, this has never happened to me.

As to what can cause either...so many things unfortunately!

 

[link81]

Mine was a complete crash, no questions.
Had a 90 going, no issues whatsoever. everyone was settles in and doing their thing. I had remote monitoring set up on the tank for the vitals, temp, ATO, lights, powerheads, return pump, ect.
Went on vacation for a few days, came back to a milky white tank that stank like rotting fish. everything was dead and melting. best i could figure in the aftermath was that the LTA i had, decided to move at the worst possible time, and got sucked into a powerhead. Prior to that he had been stable for quite some time (months) and he was rather large (12" disc fully open)

 

[luisgo]

The term crash is like when a plane hits the ground! A car crash I not just to hit the bumper with another car. Is something mayor. A tank crash is not one or two fish or corals that die. Is a major disaster no matter the reason.

 

[ca1ore]

I suppose everyone will have a different view of what constitutes a tank 'crash'. Ones propensity for personal drama will be a factor LOL. To me, a tank 'crash' is any sudden, rapid loss of livestock driven by a catastrophic environmental change. Introducing a new fish that has ich and losing the majority of your fish I would not consider a tank crash; some kind of contamination or water quality problem that causes a cascading loss of corals I would consider a tank crash (even if most fish survived). Clearly anything that precipitates a complete loss of coral and fish is a crash. I have only had the latter happen once in 30 plus years of reefing. A house boiler failure when I was on vacation dropped the tank temperature down below 50 degrees and everything was toast. I did have major coral losses about 15 years ago due to an out-of-control ATO - I'd consider that to be a crash. So for me, two!

 

[MnFish1]

So let me preface this topic with a disclaimer that I am in no way making "light" of issues, problems and crashes that hobbyists have encountered.

I've seen many threads and posts over the years about hobbyists who's tanks had "crashed." Heck I've used the term myself before sadly. But many times I read about a tank crash I often wonder did it really crash, what does the owner mean by using the term crash and why did it happen. So I would like to hear from you!

So what is a "tank crash" and what does it mean to you? What justifies using the term? Is it a crash if it was initiated by lack of attention to the tank? Is it chemical? What is it to you?

image via this thread

To me a 'tank crash' is anything that causes basically everything in the tank to die (for any reason).

If like that unfortunate guy whose GF poured soap into his tank - everything dies thats a 'tank crash'..... If your Doser goes crazy or your ATO etc etc - causes mass death - thats a 'tank crash' to me. Maybe I dont understand the question - but I've never heard of a 'tank crash' that didnt eventually have a 'cause'.

For me - it was a 6 hour power outage on a really hot day. That caused a 3-4 year old 2.5 foot carpet anemone to slowly (but not obviously) disintegrate from the inside out - by the time I realized what was happening - multiple fish were dying corals bleaching, etc. Despite 'normal' parameters. This eventually resulted in a nearly 100% wipeout of livestock in the tank.

 

[KrisReef]

Tank crashed into a building, no more building.

Tank crashed, water went everywhere.

“Tank crash” is not a well defined term, imo. The term is tossed about for various plague outbreaks with either or both fish and coral losses occurring at rates from 1 specimen to 1 complete system.

The term seems to be highly subjective and not all that useful because it can mean whatever the user decides it must mean.

If I were to say; “I had two tanks crash because of the earthquake”
That could mean any number of things. The two tanks literally crashed into one another, or loss of power created a negative cascade event that ruined both tanks parameters, or all the fish got scared and jumped out, et ct.

My child once turned down the knob on my chiller, and twice I’ve introduced Armageddon pests that devastated my system, and once I killed a tank full of livestock trying to move long distance.

Not sure if I’ve really had a tank crash, but I might have?

 

[fish farmer]

It is a catastrophic event for me.

Three day heat wave, me not at home, no A/C. Almost complete loss of all visible life, except for some bleached palys which I still have 15 years later.

Let's say one type of corals starts dropping off but all your zoas and other life are fine.... one of your parameters is out of whack or disease/parasite/ fish is messing with your corals....not a tank crash.

 

[WVNed]

Everything in the tank starts dying within a short time period. In a few hours 50% of everything gone. The first time it happened was a bare electrical conductor that apparently pumped copper into the water. The second time a heater cracked and burned in the sump. Fish, corals and inverts all die. The tank is now poisonous in some way to whats in it. Then the ammonia hits from the death.

 

[themcnertney]

I think a tank crash is something that happens to your tank that literally kills everything and kills everything very quickly. This can include mechanical, physical and chemical.

 

[MnFish1]

I think a tank crash is something that happens to your tank that literally kills everything and kills everything very quickly. This can include mechanical, physical and chemical.

I was not really aware that people used it to mean other than this...

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I’m a young one and I have been doing reefs since hs and I’m mid 20s now. A tank crash is when you basically have to start over with all live stock. Usually people switch the rock and sand and then clean and bleach their tank and equipment. This is never a good time or per say to take lightly and sadly it can happen very easily. Even small simple mistakes can be root for disasters. There are those who simply go on vacation and of course something fails.

I personally have never had a tank crash, however I lost 90% of my fish and corals when I did a tank move. My 125 was very healthy and going well, I broke it down and had my lfs keep and take care of my fish and corals, long enough for me to move to my new house and cycle my new 240 tank. Need to say I lost almost all my fish, and virtually all of my coral. I never saw anything die so either it was sold or it died but it was painful. Luckily for me, they are pretty honest, and when I purchased new live sand and water they discounted it and same with new fish and corals they did replace some of them.

So my lesson learned is err never move houses lol or move your tank lol. Now we all know that’s not realistic but at times sure wish it was.

 

[alton]

Tank Crash: When Cleaning people come in on a Saturday to clean versus Sunday and splash water on your power Strip causing everything to stop. And by Monday morning the tank is white and all but one fish is dead and you lose $1,000 worth of SPS and fish. I now have two cameras to watch my tank! FYI I have been keeping a tank in my offices since 1996? Oh yea a picture

 

[brandon429]

we have developed a method to never cause a crash when relocating tanks, 23 pages at 100% outcomes:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

we can prevent the types of crashes associated with detritus upwelling, which is pretty much any loss involving the physical relocation or deep access of an existing aquarium for any reason, such as upgrades downgrades moves and transfers, and the most fun is invasion control for cyano

there are disease losses, cascade events which might cause loss down the chain when a large fish dies but there's also a subsection of crashes caused SOLELY by how you handle an aquarium when its on the table for surgery, or being moved. how you handle it causes or doesn't cause a crash

the examples of skip cycle tank moves will never stop, we'll be out to page 100 one day. the sure way to avoid a crash when moving an aquarium is to deeply clean it while its taken apart, the #1 fear people have makes the tank the safest upon transfer

gotta love when the opposite of what the masses think is the true thing, that's fun. of course tanks get moved without the deep clean, but that's where you collect your loss outcome examples...run a 23 page thread of not cleaning tanks during moves see what the results are/dead tanks on page 2

we collect crash causes there as well. A few of them are old tanks, a powerhead dislodges, aims down, pipes the mud bed all over the tank, and everything dies bc that happened while on vacation. We turn out aquariums that will not die if that happens inside that thread above, where goes detritus goes the crash when dealing with losses associated with any form of physical disturbance

I will also add that the typical detrital loading people keep in deep sand beds commands more oxygen than all your fish added up and doubled. the bacteria those support constitute a biological oxygen demand sink which is absolutely a horrible liability for any aquarium prone to power outages for any reason. I state this from conducting BOD sample tests routinely in wastewater labs, we have directly linked sludge and its ability to command oxygen vs a no sludge condition, its undebatable for those who run the actual tests.

When your tank is cruising calm on time life support, with all power out, the cleaner system commands less oxygen / lets the animals have more/ and lives longer than the delicate old system all pent up with waste and billions of competing aerobes.

to have a clean sandbed is less crash risk than the typical hands-off type sandbed.

Guess how much trouble we have moving bare bottom systems between homes...not much. you can move those without cleaning since they're low detritus anyway.

So do little harmless grains of sand cause the need for a 23 page thread, or whats in between em?

 

[siggy]

Crash | Definition of Crash by Merriam-Webster

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crash 1a : to break violently and noisily : smash. b : to damage (an airplane) in landing. 2a : to cause to make a loud noise crash the cymbals together. b : to force (one's way) through with loud crashing noises. 3 : to enter or attend without invitation or without paying crash the party.
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crash - Urban Dictionary

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crash Top definition ... Get a crash mug for your mate Riley. 2 ... "those guys crashed the party at my girlfriend's house, but they brought booze and dope so we let them ...

Crash | Definition of Crash at Dictionary.com

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/crash Crash definition, to make a loud, clattering noise, as of something dashed to pieces. See more.


Definition of crash and burn


US, informal
: to fail completely The company crashed and burned after only two years in business.

 

[Hemmdog]

I had a 17 1/2 hour power outage a few days ago with 95+ degree temps. I still have 5 of 16 fish, lost 3 acros, and my water was very cloudy until this morning. Hopefully things are on the mend. I don’t think I had a full ‘crash’ but it was definitely ‘crashing’ .
Brandon might be on to something about the cleaner systems lasting longer with no oxygen. Everything in my newer and cleaner bare bottom 40b was perfectly fine.

 

[brandon429]

I didn’t want to hit like since there’s stress on the line so dang sorry about that outage I bet you will be able to save it

Since I only work with tiny reefs the impacts of detritus really stood out as feedback was collected from other keepers (and the speed of crashes in packed small volumes) I know there are successful tanks incorporating detritus, but they’re also in fine balance depending on that stratification to remain in order to keep things safe. detritus yes/no will be an enduring controversy in reefing bc it’s also marine snow feed as well.