Help!!! 240g Sps Catastrophe!!!!!

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your water main is made of flexible pvc?

most piping in homes are some sort of metal, seeing as though the pvc will not last nearly as long..
 
I'm sorry to hear about your tank.

You mentioned not having enough water on hand, and using tap water in a pinch. Steve Weast did the same thing and almost killed his entire reef. Unsure that it was the tap water or the de-chlorinator, but one or both killed the majority of his livestock.

I would immediately get some Polyfilter (the actual real product, not some likeness thereof), and run it in your baffles. It will change color based on what it is pulling out of the water.

When you lack water, the best thing you can do is run to the grocery store or Walmart and buy as much distilled water as you can get your hands on. It will cost you about .59 per gallon, but it is completely safe and works when you are otherwise stuck.

Another thing to do when you lack water is to focus on the display only, and take the sump out of the equation.

You'll want to dose the tank with Seachem's Prime (reef safe), which will lock up ammonia and nitrate, and is a de-clorinator too.

Test for ammonia immediately though. Your tank will definitely cycle.

If a coral is definitely sloughing off tissue (turkey baster will make this obvious), pull it out so it doesn't add to the decay factor in your reef. Any live tissue is a good sign, and hope that it will recover in time.

You did a great job bring salinity and temperature up in the past 6 hours.

SpaFlex can indeed be glued, but it also must be supported if it is a lengthy section. It is important to use the right glue, and that the fittings are the correct kind. Many people try to use waste line fittings that have a 1/2" deep socket, but should have used the normal fittings that a 1" deep socket to glue into. The deeper socket is designed to handle pressure, while the shallower socket is for drain water that usually doesn't have much pressure behind it.
 
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There is just no way I have time to buy that much RO water. 500 gallons? seriously. I bought the entire stock of my LFS' salt supply, 400 gallons, and of course, I was almost out myself. I think it's too late for all the SPS corals. They are all white when I blow on them. Some (like the montipora and millepora) still have colors, but I really cant see any meat/polyps on any SPS.

I am more frightened of losing my prize achilles tang. All my fish seem to have lived to this point, bar a few chromis and maybe the watchman gobie.

I did lose both urchins (inverts die first I'm told.) I had very few snails because of dinoflagellates I had a ways back. All my pepermints shrimps are obviosly gone. (24).
 
I feel for you with the amount of loss you are taking. In retrospect would you have done anything different?

There seems to be a common bit of advice that you chose not to do which would have probably been my first instinct. Instead of worrying about 500g of water, salt, temp, alkalinity and what not. I still cant understand why you didnt collect prized corals and the fish and put them in a holding tub with fresh salt water.

Just my .02 hope everything turns out ok.
 
Here is the current status of the tank - tell me if you think anything may live or not. most corals are colored a bit, but i see no meat or polyps on them after blowing w/ a baster.

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1451.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1452.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1453.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>


<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1454.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>


here's some perspective on what i lost.
<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1286.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1289.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>

<img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q151/zachtos/New%20Tank/IMG_1292.jpg" border="0" height="600" width="800"></img>
 
It would have taken me too long to make tub of water, heat it up and add salt... then collect frags off my favorite colonies and gather a few of my favorite fishes (all of them). I only had enough time to do so much... did I mention I had a panic attack and could barely breath for almost 20 minutes?
 
No doubt about that. That's the biggest problem, trying to think calmly in a disaster.

Quite a few of the corals you pictures have color, so don't count them out yet. The only ones I would pull out would be the ones that are melting with tissue blowing off completely, peeling off in sheets like a bad sunburn.
 
I could not have made it through without some reef friends that came by. I couldn't even think straight... I wasn't sure if I just wanted to call it a loss, drain it and leave the hobby, or try to save it...

My skimmer has pulled out about 10 GALLONS of slime so far.

I don't know what to say about the tap water issue. It was leaking into the tank, so it's already in there for who knows how many hours.

I also had to deal with work, calling and trying to solve that, and did I mention there was 2 inches of water in my basement from the flood?

yeah, I've had the worst @%#$ day of my life. I'm going to go finally eat something.

I'm not sure what to do long term here. My tank will re-cycle now? All my fish will die from the cycle? I'm at a loss. So all the corals that survive will not be able to make it through the cycle that MAY happen? All the bacteria and copepods die from hypo salinity?

Soooo many things i've never researched because i never expected a crash, quite like this one atleast. this is the worst... hot, then cold, and hypo salinity... what worse? bleach in the tank?

They all seemed to slime up bad and have big slimy waves come off when blown on... My frags seem to have color, but it looks like just a pale coloration on a skeleton, not a thick coat of meaty flesh like prior. It seems like they have polyps deep in the polyp skeleton holes, but I can't tell if any corals are alive or not... it's very difficult to see still... I guess I can post more photos tomorrow night. All I seem to be able to do now is wait it out and see what dies or comes back to life..
 
And why did my good for nothing dogs not bark or cry?!? I come downstairs to a nightmare I cant wake from, and the dogs are standing in 2 inches of water in their crates being quiet... what the hell!?
 
I never did get to post my water heater thread update either... it works amazingly... but as you can see. I screwed up and glued PEX piping instead of using the compression fittings like I was supposed to... but I didn't know that was not right, as the bottle said it could... I got sloppy and now I pay.
 
OMG, I feel for you man, so sorry. :(

At this point I think you've done a helluva a job :thumbsup: and...
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14218457#post14218457 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Quite a few of the corals you pictures have color, so don't count them out yet. The only ones I would pull out would be the ones that are melting with tissue blowing off completely, peeling off in sheets like a bad sunburn.
I couldn't agree more. Based on the pics you posted all is definently NOT lost.

GL and keep us posted.
 
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I've had Acros come back after complete STN, after a month of good conditions you may see new polyps growing--frag those tips--keep the skeletons in the tank at least 2 months to be sure.
 
It looks like you will actually be able to salvage quite a bit from the pictures. Give them some time to come back. I don't think that you will re-cycle or lose any fish. Just pull out the corals that are actually completely white and leave anything with any amount of color in. It took my corals about a month to recover from my last catastrophe.
 
I think you did a great job, for that big of a problem. I would definately run a bunch of those poly filter pads. Last summer I was gone for 3 days, the power went out, tank over heated, no circulation. The result when I got home was $3000 worth of corals and fish dead. Almost threw in the towel, now it is back up and running, but still battleing hair algae from that meltdown. I actually got my homeowners insurance to pay for some of it.
 
PEX and flexible PVC...2 different animals. PVC you glue...PEX you use the connectors like JG ittings. Also, NEVER run electrical or water lines over your tank. Unfortunately, 2 lessons learned the hard way.
 
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