Have you had a crash?

[archie1709]

If you had a reef for at least one year or more, Have you had a crash?

1. Yes
2. No
3. Not Yet but I think I am heading there
4. I've had it for a long time and I never had a crash ever
   [/list=1]

 

[mc-cro]

yes, once, after having all my stuff in temporary holding tanks for over 6 months, my top off system overdosed kalk, which caused a precipitation, the precip settled on my impellar and locked my circulation pump. When the pump shut down, the top holding tank drained down about 4 inches(siphon breaks too low). Several of my larger colonies spent atleast 6-8 hrs out of the water, and everything else just sat in stagnet water with calcium
covering everything. I knew something was up when I walked down stairs that morning and something smelled funny.....dyeing corals!!! Lost several corals after that crash.

 

[ACBlinky]

My 65g is less than a year old, but I just lost a coral and had another bleach because the heater stuck on and heated the tank to 89F. Two days after getting the temperature under control I lost my sixline, presumably from stress due to the temperature changes. Not sure if that counts as a crash, but I sure hope it's the worst disaster I have to face for a while.

 

[Carman34L]

Minor crash after heater mishap/lack of water changes

I am guilty on both counts

 

[Sk8r]

I had one early on in the first reef tank---a big anemone got into the overflow teeth, and everything went south. After that, I gave up on all but the smallest anemones and had much less trouble. Caribbean bristleworm came into the lfses, grew to be a major mess, still no crash. I finally sold the tank when we moved in 2000, and we're just starting up again.

 

[hisc1ay]

I had a crash last summer when a few things went wrong. The primary problem I think was the topoff that I got from the tap. The first time I EVER got my topoff from a tap. I was at my parents' for a month, and their water has a low pH (problem 1) which causes the copper in the pipes to leach into the water (problem 2, the biggest...I should have known because the sink and tub has copper discoloration). Problem 3 was that the A/C was broken and my tank was upstairs. It got around 85 (middle of summer in Virginia). One day I noticed my corals pretty much dying...the water got real cloudy...it was bad. The Xenia was the only thing that died, thankfully, but it also came back after a few weeks.

-j

 

[atzak]

I'm too supersticious to answer your poll, sorry

 

[archie1709]

Atzak, I understand. I don't want to jynx your tank either. Especially the 210 reef. Hehehe. Just kidding.

It looks like yes and no is almost split in the middle. It almost seems like there are one in two chances that a reefer's tank will crash. That is very very very unfortunate.

What are your suspects in the crash? Share some details.

 

[Perureef]

i had a crash and a half.

two summers ago i went to Atlantic City for 4 days, and left the tank in the care of my cousin, who was suppose to take care of top off and keep the tank cool by turning on the AC and fans, if needed (summers in north jersey can get hot). well on the last day he forgot, and when i arrive the tank was at 91F. EVERYTHING, but one hermit, one false percula clown (who's still with me today) and one green chromis (also still with me) was killed. the nutrient release was so massive that it took 3 months for the tank to recover

the half crash was entirely my fault. this happened about two months ago. for some reason the pH got very low, but i was out of my normal stuff, so i bought something new since it was the only thing i could find at the time. being fearful, i only used 1/4 the recommended dose, and planned to add an additional dose the following day. well the stuff never really dissolve, even in a jar of RO water, but i figured this wouldnt be too serious. my mistake. the fine powder i suspect irritated my corals, and it ended up killing about 6 specimens, including a bunch of pom-pom xenia. the algae blooms are just about under control now, and everything appears to be back in order

I learned my lessons, and hope never to repeat my blunders

 

[chem-e]

When I was away on a trip for a couple of weeks, my anenome died in my tank. My buddy was feeding it and topping it off every once in a while. That's about all he did as he doesn't know anything about SW tanks. When I came home, the tank was a mat of hair algae and I lost just about everything.

From now on, if my anenome ever splits again, I don't plan on keeping the second one.