What issue would you/have you torn down a tank over?

Have you ever torn down a tank over an issue you couldn't seem to beat?

  • Yes! I have. (Tell us about what issue you faced in the thread.)

    Votes: 225 26.0%
  • No. Thankfully, I haven't.

    Votes: 428 49.4%
  • Nope, but it almost happened. (Share your experience in the thread.)

    Votes: 67 7.7%
  • Not yet, but I'm almost there. (Tell us what you're dealing with.)

    Votes: 74 8.5%
  • If you reef long enough, this will eventually happen to you.

    Votes: 56 6.5%
  • Other

    Votes: 17 2.0%

  • Total voters
    867

Mistahman

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Nerves tore down a tank for pest. But…., I’m about to now! Aptasia!! Have a yellow dottyback that is a cold blooded killer. So that rules out the nudibranch and peppermint shrimp. 265 gallon lps/softie tank.
 

Pico bam

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Ive shut down 3 tanks now to mirkey water from bacterial blooms. Now I'm stuck in a high nitrate situation I dont know how I let it get this bad. One of my yellow tangs gets a blochy infection if I don't do frequent water changes. Dosing nopox isn't working so good because it causes a white slimy bacteria thats clogs everything. Just have to shut it down...

Edit: everything gets a uv sterilizer from now on.
 

xcountryx

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Back in 2014 I had dinos 3 or 4 times within a year span. I did lights out for weeks at a time. Losing coral each time I did. I came so close to just leaving the hobby, and i kinda did in a sense but wasnt the intentions. The last time i got dinos was right before the move to my house now. Plan was to set tanks back up once settled. Well I've been in my house now for almost 4 years and in that time frame I've sold some equipment and the 100 gallon. But that itch was always there. I missed just watching my tank.

So here i am again. In the process of a 40b build. And cant be happier.
 

54Dutchman

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Had my tank in a non-climate controlled building; experienced a heat wave that was slowly cooking my tank. Could not get a cooler in time to save the tank; so I tore it down and moved it to a climate controlled area and basically started over.
 

damsels are not mean

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1. What issue have you torn down a tank over?
Parvocaulis parvulus. SLow growing and pretty but if you ignore it, it will imbed deeply in all calcium surfaces. Nothing I had or tried ate it. Maybe tangs would like it but the tank was too small for tangs.

snail1.jpg


2. What did you decide to do, and how has that worked for you since?

Inhabitants were healthy but all the rock had to go to a dark place. Fragged everthing and it's in my frag tank awaiting my next build plan. Still have a few frags sprouting this stuff and the only solution has been to chip the rock away beyond the root. Over all it has worked out great.
Looks cool. Does it spread through the water as spores or just spread like soft corals?

Also wondering if anybody else has seen this and what eats it. I'd put it in a tank if there were a predator for it I could stock.
 

Reefen

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yes I had to tear down a 120 gallon tank about 15yrs ago, rocks where being moved fish where disapearing, coral was being eating and not just the tissue also the skeleton, turned out I had a 12 inch worm doing all the damage
 

shwareefer

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Looks cool. Does it spread through the water as spores or just spread like soft corals?

Also wondering if anybody else has seen this and what eats it. I'd put it in a tank if there were a predator for it I could stock.
It spreads the same way as acetabularia ( parvocaulis is a new classification for a portion of specimens previously classed acetabularia), the head goes all fuzzy and releases gametes into the water. I have a money cowrie that ate all the heads off a patch one day and then never touched it again. I don't recommend intentionally adding this stuff to an aquarium - unless it's a macro algae only tank of course.

My avatar was a true acetabularia that used to show up once a year and disappear till next year. Much bigger head but it never reproduced for what ever reason. Only one, once a year.
 

fish farmer

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I have yet to tear my tank down. But it would be for discoma mushrooms. I feel they will eventually win and cover everything. Pulling out separate rocks is not an option without completely upsetting the whole tank and cleaning every surface. If I get to that point I might as well rebuild with new rock and rethink a different system or get out of the hobby.
 

Frithton

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Got lazy and what was a small group of mushrooms took over the tank. Took each rock out and soaked them in RODI water which caused them to release. It was in a tall acrylic so scratched the dickens out of it moving the rock. Broke it down and moved everything over to a new 65 gal.bwith lower sides. My shoulders appreciated that.
 

Zarabyte

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Yes , Sisters kids kept throwing in coper coins in my boi filter each time they came for a visit. Nobody knew untill one day everyting died . Still did not know why untill I tore down the 300 liter under over flow 11 chamber bio filter and removed 3 kg coper coins inbetween the bio media.
 

ClownSchool

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Alright! Let's have a new question of the day! Thanks to @Latte for this one!

It seems that the reef hobby has advanced to the point that most issues can generally be dealt with or at least managed. However, we still see threads regularly where some of the pests and problems we face can ultimately lead to a tank tear down (or worse, someone completely calling it quits). Dealing with some of the things we face can be a long and arduous road. What has been your story?

1. What issue have you torn down a tank over?
2. What did you decide to do, and how has that worked for you since?


OR

3. Alternatively, if you haven't had to tear a tank down, what issue do you think would put you there?


@Bacon505's beautiful reef! His reef was featured as our Reef of the Month in November 2021!
qotd.jpeg
I couldn’t beat time or money. Having three tanks consumed all my free time.
Without the money for three automated systems, a way to network all three tanks onto a single system, or find enough time to maintain their needs, it was no longer an enjoyable hobby. It was a time- and attention-sucking chore. Especially, with smaller tanks.
Everything from prepping water changes, to daily chemical dosing and feeding, it was too much.
Now, I can enjoy one tank while I save my money, time and energy to plan for a future tank.
 

cokeeffe03

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My first reef was a 29g and I learned the hard way what aiptasia, unchecked xenia and red planaria can do to a tank. Now I inspect, dip, quarantine EVERYTHING for a month, and dip again, as well as research before buying. I do like to add in a bit of Florida live rock from time to time but it gets a 3 month qt with a 6 line and a pair of peppermint shrimp.
 

N.Sreefer

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Only tank I ever tore down decided to tear itself down for me while I was at work. Came home to 75 gallons that made it from the top floor to the living room.. Lost most of the equipment all of the coral/fish. But that was a good excuse to get a bigger tank.
 

Ksturg

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I have torn down a tank due to using live rock and having hundreds of bristleworms. The got so big that I literally watched them catch and eat a fish. It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen. I even used a trap and the trap was filled every night but there was just too many. This was back in the early 90’s when there wasn’t this thing called the internet or R2R to have forums. I had to wing it as my lfs really wasn’t a help and only stocked very little in saltwater.
 

Just Jared

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Don’t get me wrong, my desire is to have a beautiful, flawless and thriving tank. I do however enjoy recovering from our common pitfalls or mistakes. I enjoy the challenge and the learning experience from correcting a mistake. That, to me, is far more valuable than just having the knowledge. I’ve fought many challenges but I still enjoy the hobby and everything that comes with it even if it is defeating sometimes. Just about every mistake was clearly on me, most weren’t made again.
 

Fishfreak2009

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I ended up completely redoing my old 380 gallon at one point. Fish were all doing really well and suddenly everything developed horrible red sores and died within 72 hrs. All fish had been quarantined for 8 weeks with no symptoms of anything, and after the last addition (a 6" asfur angel), all the fish dropped like flies. Naturally this caused an ammonia spike, even with me doing huge water changes trying to save the fish and inverts, and this caused all the inverts to all die, including the 12' zebra ribbon worm (Baseodiscus mexicanus), who then nuked everything (released some kind of toxin that turned the whole tank purple). Ended up sending a dead fish out for bacterial culture and sensitivity testing, and it had some aggressive strain of Vibrio bacteria.

Reset the tank by adding 10 gallons of bleach to disinfect everything. Let it run with the bleach in the tank for 48 hours, then drained it all, refilled it with freshwater, drained it again, then sold all the dry rock and equipment. Ended up running it as a freshwater tank for a bit, then moved and had to sell the tank.
 

ying yang

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Been thinking on this since seen thread yesterday and think only reasons I would tear a tank down is if had to move and couldn't get aquarium in new place.

If my health got back to how it used to be up until 1.5 years ago of only able to walk 5 metres due to back problems ,had 2 freshwater tanks still set up but only needed do water change once every 2- 3 months and freshwater tanks very low compared to My reef tank so
would struggle on maintenance on reef tank as can only just about reach sandbed now with ladders etc.

If for some reason ran out all money and couldn't look after reef tank and my fishy friends suffered.

Not sure but could be a possibility if some pest just killed everything I put in whether that be fish or corals and even if removed fish and medicated or removed corals but coral pest didn't starve to death then starting over could be a viable option but from what I can gather most pests can be eradicated or " managed " so dont know answer on this one yet as not happenned but only new to saltwater so plenty of time for me yet ha ha
 

NASAGeek

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Bought some coral from a random person online and got vermetid snails. Tank looked like spiders had covered the rocks every day. Ugly. Water change did nothing. No helpful info online. Bumblebee snails did nothing. I gave up and started over with two small tanks: evo 13.5 and a 40 breeder. Sticking to only buying from well known sources now.
 
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