Everything dead.

[Banjer1982]

Damn spell check. Hantivirus=haven't

 

[Myvirtue]

wow that sucks im sorry bro

 

[tibob32]

is all the equipment in good working order? A busted pump could have leaked some lubricant in the water

 

[nuccadoc]

Unless it was a really large snail that died I wouldn't think it would cause a crash like you experienced.

 

[Banjer1982]

Well my scenario I'm using is a snail died and caused the ammonia to spike killing almost everything. Only thing that lived is an emerald crab. I check my tank everyday but how easy is it to look at a snail setting somewhere and not think something of it. But anyways everything is gone now and looking forward what should I do to get things back up and going? Should I just do a complete water change and have to cycle it again or just change most of the water and start restocking? Any suggestions?

 

[Banjer1982]

I'm gonna check my pump tomorrow and see if it's ok. It was pumping because I turned it off. Dunno if it will still pump if it's cracked because I've never experienced that.

 

[nuccadoc]

I would do a complete water change just to be on the safe side. Wait for the parameters to settle back down and start restocking. Reef tank correct?

 

[nuccadoc]

Good luck!

 

[Banjer1982]

Mainly a FOWLR. I only had 1 coral. It'll probably die. I have it in a holding tank for now

 

[Jason S]

Any metal clamps, screws, pipes, bolts, Bobby pins, etc? The orange color could be rust.

Just a thought.

 

[Fishamatank]

1 dead snail didn't do it....

 

[MoneyGone]

We had a powerhead seal go bad in a tank at my work that leaked into the tank turned dark and almost everything died.

Take your powerhead out and see if it is leaking a light brown fluid. There is oil in the powerhead and it might have leaked. Left the office one night came back in the next morning and it was brown water and smelled aweful and lots of dead fish/coral.

FYI powerhead was still running when it was taken out of the tank.

 

[outy]

pull everything out and wash it saltwater including the sandbed.

your tank is filled with the nasty stuff right now and it all needs to be cleaned.

As fas as a snail i dought it, 34 is small but it should have made through a snail death if the rest was healthy.

34g is suseptable to temp changes on a fast basis

equipment failure

or something large died but even then in 13 hours theres not that much decay yet.

time for you to investigate, good luck on the rebuild

 

[b2d2t]

what about a cracked heater?

 

[njdevilsfan]

could be the tanic acids used to stain your stand
do you think a pump or hose came unattached and hit the bottom of the top of your stand and back into the sump?

 

[Raggamuffin]

sorry for your loss, and a complete redo from start sounds like the order today. Toss the sand put rock in a rubbermaid for a month... talking complete redo since you can not pin point a source. if you DO end up 100% positive you found the reason then there may be other options.

 

[pledosophy]

Well my scenario I'm using is a snail died and caused the ammonia to spike killing almost everything. /QUOTE]

Did you have any snails the size of a volley ball?

 

[Toddrtrex]

The color is really throwing me off, and I have a feeling that figuring that out will go a long ways toward finding the root cause.

About a year ago I have some stray voltage and my orange/red digi bleached out, while the tank didn't color, the skimmer sure did (( this was a 75, so it could have been diluted.
This is what the skimmer cup looked like,

For reference, normal skimmate for my tank,

 

[bnb180]

I had a similar problem b4. I came home and a majority of my corals were dying. Over 3 days, more and more coral died. My tank was full of corals and I lost over 50%. I ran carbon and did massive water changes. I had a 180 gallon tank so that was a lot of work. Never figured out what happened, until one day (months later) I rearranged my sump and found a broken heater. Sorry to hear about your lost, good luck on your new setup.

 

[sslak]

My money is on broken equipment. Orange coloration sounds like rust or some other chemical reaction taking place in the tank.

Check all your heaters/pumps/powerheads, even the skimmer pump etc. Just because they are working doesn't mean they aren't leaking voltage or rust or something into the tank.