Too much work, too many things on the schedule, and a list of personal requirements to boot. Throw that in the mix with an out of town business trip and last minute maintenance of filter cleaning, carbon and gfo replacement, and then refill the kalkwasser reactor, and well, the results were a crashed reef.
Saturday was busy reviewing a proposal for work and pushing to get it done and delivered by the afternoon - I was leaving for Montreal first thing Sunday morning for five days, and had a series of things to do before I left the house in the hands of my significant other. Managed to finish with work, finish the briefing slides, and begin aquarium maintenance. In the middle of refilling the mix for the kalkwasser reactor, the phone rings - some silly ... marketing company. Just enough for me to lose count of how much calcium hydroxide I've put in the mix, apparently. I finish with the maintenance and then quickly pack up to go to significant other's house for a bonfire/picnic with many friends and acquaintances in attendance (read: attendance expected).
Headed back to the house after 3-4 hours to finish packing and finish up a few light chores, printing out last minute instructions on dog care and fish feeding, and then pass out for a few hours to get up early and head to the airport.
Decide to take one last look at the aquaria before I step to the car, and the reef is milk white. Period. Can't see more than an inch or two in. I know exactly what happened at that moment, reach in and disconnect the kalk reactor/auto top off. Remove the fill line from the reactor to bypass and put it directly into the sump. I see my Purple Tang just barely hanging on, my Tomini was already upside down, and no sign of any of my other fish. My only cleaner shrimp was already gone as well.
I have no time, and head out trying to figure out what I could do to hand off this disaster to my significant other who is just expecting to feed the fish. Didn't come up with anything simple enough to execute other than to let everything settle out and remove the dead livestock.
So, after tonight's phone call back, I know realize that I have a Purple Tang, a Percula clown, and two "engineer gobies" that have somehow survived. My maxima (I've had for 4+ years), Derasa (6+ years) and purple Squamosa (over 10" and over 6 years as well) didn't make it. I'm betting all of the coral is done as well. She's going to try to remove the clams tonight if she can. I do have a number of hermit crabs that are doing pretty well, and a report of at least one peppermint shrimp that made it. Oh, and this was a 180 gallon reef (please note the use of the past tense).
There is a moral of sorts to this story. Do your aquarium maintenance. If you are leaving for a period of time and plan on performing your maintenance before you depart, make it the priority and hope everyone understands - then check your work, preferably using a checklist. If you are in the middle of something critical (I now consider working with calcium hydroxide critical), ignore the phone until you are finished - that's what the answering machine is for.
This truly is a great hobby, and I've had many years of enjoyment with it. I'm still planning on setting up the 300 DD I've moved into place for the remaining inhabitants, and hope that they can forgive me for the pain I've inadvertently caused. And I'm so sorry for the losses I've incurred. Please learn from my experience...
Cheers,
Ray...still in Montreal and dreading certain aspects of my return home.
Saturday was busy reviewing a proposal for work and pushing to get it done and delivered by the afternoon - I was leaving for Montreal first thing Sunday morning for five days, and had a series of things to do before I left the house in the hands of my significant other. Managed to finish with work, finish the briefing slides, and begin aquarium maintenance. In the middle of refilling the mix for the kalkwasser reactor, the phone rings - some silly ... marketing company. Just enough for me to lose count of how much calcium hydroxide I've put in the mix, apparently. I finish with the maintenance and then quickly pack up to go to significant other's house for a bonfire/picnic with many friends and acquaintances in attendance (read: attendance expected).
Headed back to the house after 3-4 hours to finish packing and finish up a few light chores, printing out last minute instructions on dog care and fish feeding, and then pass out for a few hours to get up early and head to the airport.
Decide to take one last look at the aquaria before I step to the car, and the reef is milk white. Period. Can't see more than an inch or two in. I know exactly what happened at that moment, reach in and disconnect the kalk reactor/auto top off. Remove the fill line from the reactor to bypass and put it directly into the sump. I see my Purple Tang just barely hanging on, my Tomini was already upside down, and no sign of any of my other fish. My only cleaner shrimp was already gone as well.
I have no time, and head out trying to figure out what I could do to hand off this disaster to my significant other who is just expecting to feed the fish. Didn't come up with anything simple enough to execute other than to let everything settle out and remove the dead livestock.
So, after tonight's phone call back, I know realize that I have a Purple Tang, a Percula clown, and two "engineer gobies" that have somehow survived. My maxima (I've had for 4+ years), Derasa (6+ years) and purple Squamosa (over 10" and over 6 years as well) didn't make it. I'm betting all of the coral is done as well. She's going to try to remove the clams tonight if she can. I do have a number of hermit crabs that are doing pretty well, and a report of at least one peppermint shrimp that made it. Oh, and this was a 180 gallon reef (please note the use of the past tense).
There is a moral of sorts to this story. Do your aquarium maintenance. If you are leaving for a period of time and plan on performing your maintenance before you depart, make it the priority and hope everyone understands - then check your work, preferably using a checklist. If you are in the middle of something critical (I now consider working with calcium hydroxide critical), ignore the phone until you are finished - that's what the answering machine is for.
This truly is a great hobby, and I've had many years of enjoyment with it. I'm still planning on setting up the 300 DD I've moved into place for the remaining inhabitants, and hope that they can forgive me for the pain I've inadvertently caused. And I'm so sorry for the losses I've incurred. Please learn from my experience...
Cheers,
Ray...still in Montreal and dreading certain aspects of my return home.
