180 build from scratch!

[michika]

Yes, the sump is all glass.

I am actually thankful I don't have to deal with the smell actually. The smell is the hands down worst part of this. The smell from the clams, which by the way were the gigas, and my 8" derasa, was STILL lingering this morning.

Tonight when I get home we will decide if the tank inhabitants need to go elsewhere temporarily or if its okay for them to stay. A couple of fantastic locals have offered me tank space for my fish, corals, and clams. I am so appreciative of the offers, it means a lot!

There is some good news though! The skimmer pulled out A LOT of crap yesterday, and I got a text message this morning that it is performing fantastically today. It had to be cleaned once yesterday, and will probably require a cleaning today as well. I am really pleased with my skimmer's performance overall.

I spent my lunch looking at all the tanks that have inspired me, and I am going to stay in the hobby. I probably will not rebuild my 180g to the point it was before the move, I will instead get it back to working order, make my fish, clams, and corals happy, and then go back to enjoying it. I want my usual Friday afternoon backs, sitting by the tank, drinking some nice cold beer, and just unwinding.

We are going to go ahead with the big tank, but nothing huge until we get the 180g back up and running.

 

[jnarowe]

I wonder if it was the silicone. I know another Canuck that had the exact same thing happen with silicone.

 

[psteeleb]

glad to hear your not giving up

I actually think you are on to something with the amount of live rock. With your bio load to live rock ratio you were fine for status quo as indicated by the health of you system. But toss in a couple events that could overload the live rocks bacteria's capacity and you can quickly have significant events that may never register on a test depending on when taken.

In this case you both moved the system and ha a heater failure, both can stress a system, either could have caused it but I suspect it got a lot worse due to the sequence of events

Moving a tank will always cause some die off. Exposing aerobics, sponges etc. and die off will also happen just by changing exposure to light flow etc. So you were already in a system stress event. Now add to that the cold probably killed off a bunch of bacteria or at least hampered the repopulation of it (understanding that stuff dies off and is repopulated all the time). And add in a low live rock to bio load ratio and now the series of events that one would hope could be covered by shear volume, can’t.

 

[maroun.c]

great you're not quitting
Are you sure the silicon you used for the tank was aquarium safe?

 

[michika]

That is a great point, and I think you hit it bang on.

I am picking up extra carbon tomorrow, a piece or two of live rock, and I am strongly considering buying some of that bacteria stuff.

The silicone we used is the same stuff used on the 180g. Different tube obviously, but it makes me wonder now that you've brought it up. I'll put in a call to the place we bought it from, and see if they've had any similar reports.

 

[maroun.c]

what exactly did you loose so far?
don't know if carbon would cut it as those silicons could contain antifiungicides... to avoide rotting and who knows what that is made of. do you have any other spare tank you could put stuff in? then tkae out the tank and either thouroughly rinse it or reaseal it with a layer of dedicated aquarium Silicon. Den braven makes a special silicon for tanks. costs a bit (8 usd per tube around here) but then gives you piece of mind and seems to be stronger than regular Silicon.

 

[michika]

Someone just made a beautiful offer to us, and I am so appreciative of everyone who has offered comments, help, etc. I also want to give a huge shout out to my super awesome LFS, Red Coral. Kevin was up there today and they pledged to help us get all of our same fish again.

I spoke to Kevin just now and he says there has been no change since last night, and that the death seems to have stopped. I am really hoping that things are turning around.

 

[jnarowe]

yeah, Stevetheplumb about lost everything and we finally figured out it was the silicone he used.

 

[melev]

I'm glad to hear you are getting some local support to help get things back on track.

 

[michika]

I remember Steve. Too bad he isn't on RC anymore.

I am really thankful for the local support too!

 

[jnarowe]

well, you are a roller derby chick for God's sake.

 

[michika]

Well Murphy just can't leave me alone this week.

So we came back this afternoon to a stinky house. We had a pump go into catastrophic failure mode on the 180g. It pumped out all but 3" of water onto our floor. Our MHs then proceeded to cook everything not in those 3" of water. The spilt water thankfully went down our floor drain, which was able to handle the load.

So the fish, all of which survived, along with a few clams, and a even fewer number of SPS went to a friend's house until we can get this under control.

I am really just crushed at this point. There is nothing left to say, or even do right now. I am beyond frustrated, angry, and annoyed with things.

 

[melev]

I'm so sorry to hear about this ongoing series of events. How was the pump able to draw so much water out of the main system? Hang in there, somehow.

 

[psteeleb]

ouch again - this is sounding like a bad dream. hope you wake up soon

 

[maroun.c]

Verry sorry to hear about all this.
I really can't understand why when things start to go bad they just don't stop. I guess it's good that your remaining fish and corals are housed elswhere now as that gives you more liberty in the move and gives you one less thing to worry about currently.
Hoping you're move will be finished shortly and that your tank will be setup and running very shortly.
On a side note this is giving me the freaks thinking that I have a very potential move mid next year maybe.

 

[michika]

I think, from what I understand, the tank drained because the return hose somehow fell deeper into the tank, and created a siphon. It was secured up about 2" below the water surface. I am really unsure how it made such a huge mess and caused such a huge diaster. I can't really ask Kevin about it because he gets really upset and angry over it. I think he feels responsible in some way.

The best I can guess is that something created a siphon and it just went downhill from there.

So aside from the tank itself we think the following may be permanently damaged;
- nitrate probe
- pH probe
- ORP probe
- temp probe
- koralia 1 (the emergency airation pump)
- The mag 12? return pump <--- it started it all
- one of the skimmer pumps that ran dry
- the ozonizer, and associated air pump
- the chiller, which was one the floor about 6 feet away
- the ranco temperature controller for the chiller
- an open bag of nori that was on its side and got soaked

The good news here is that the smell seems to be leaving the house. I'm still working on getting everything washed down; floors, bottles, etc. but I'm sure I'll get it done soon.

 

[michika]

I got an update this morning, the fish and the clams made it through the night. One SPS colony was toast, and the rest seem to be holding on.

By tonight almost everything should be back in working order. I'm thinking we are going to have to re-cycle our tank. That being said is there any benefit in dosing a tank carbon sources when it is first cycling? Any drawbacks? Everything I've read and seen are all about established tanks.

 

[psteeleb]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13543891#post13543891 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by michika
That being said is there any benefit in dosing a tank carbon sources when it is first cycling? Any drawbacks? Everything I've read and seen are all about established tanks.

I would think it would be fine, and even beneficial if you have concerns about contaminants. At worst, the carbon will absorb some organics that could otherwise feed the bacteria, thus slow down the cycle some, but I would think it would be minimal.

EDIT - I misunderstood your question, I was thinking you were planning on using carbon as in GFO, not as a bacteria feed supliment.

 

[melev]

Like vodka? You'd probably have to ask Genetics since he's more up on that subject.

Sorry to hear about the reverse siphon. In the future, no matter how temporary, drill some anti-siphon holes in the plumbing and secure it so the siphon break will protect your reeflings.

 

[michika]

Yes, I was mostly thinking about Vodka. I will go ask Genetics and see what he says.

Sadly there were 3 anti-siphon holes, and again, courtesy of Mr. Murphy, 1 plugged with algae, 1 plugged with a snail shell, and one that was empty when we found it. I took a good long hard look this morning after I got home at how to improve things going forwards. After that incident where I flooded the floor by not fully closing the gate valve, I am paranoid about floods. Murphy has been around a lot lately.

I also dropped my security key card and key fob down the elevator shaft this morning. Somehow it was perfectly positioned in its fall to fall down the 1" wide crack between the floor and car. Murphy is everywhere today I tell you! Everywhere! :lol: