Lost everything in tank

[ratm909]

Hello,

First of all my apologies for my manners and just barging in with a question on my first post! But the worst has happened to my tank and I just cant figure out what happened by lurking in the forums at this point.


Here are the stats before i go into detail.

-started november 7th 2015
-Reefer 350 91gal system with sump
-S-150 skimmer by eshops
-300w theo heater
-maxpect gyre
- marineland power head
-kessil ap 700
-IO salt
-rodi water
-no corals
-50 pounds of marco base rock
- 10 pounds of live rock
-initially added biospira when starting cycle
-1 inch fiji pink sand
-red sea testings kits
-ph using calibrated meter : 8.2
-temp 77
-salinity 1.024
-ammonia 0 (still 0 after disaster)
-nitrites 0
-nitrates barely a reading if at all
- alk 8.7
-cal 440
-mag 1200
-rowa for phosphate used in sump per instructions
-pellet carbon used in sump per instructions
-purple up used per instructions
- 15% water change per week
- added a pvc pipe in the tank on saturday (possible suspect?)


Livestock (before today)
- very small regal tang with 2 small clownfish for almost 2 months
- 1 black cap jawfish a lil later
- have been growing and eating real good, tang no longer hiding when i walk by
- fed a mix of frozen brine\mysis , purple seaweed, spirulina and dry food once a day
.

Well, i left this morning, always check temps before work. All was good, everyone was alive. Came back, everything was dead and there was a strong sulfur smell in the house, also , my skimmer was going bonkers, not just overflowing , i mean crazy foam.

From what i gather i am doing everything right and im a dedicated hobbyists. Last water test was monday, all was fine, and today, even after i came home to a tank full of dead fish, the parameters where still ok! Including temps.

I should also add i sat near my aquarium all evening yesterday and it was business as usuall, jawfish head sticking out, tang running after food particles in water. Clowns just doing what ever clowns do.

Im stumped and looking for any ideas someone could share, to make sure this does not reproduce itself in the future , Any opinion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[E46er]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/

 

[Marchillo]

Any chance you lost power during the day?

I had that smell when I left something unplugged for a couple days and stupidly turned it back on without dumping the stale water. Luckily in my case it was a small quantity.

 

[USC-fan]

man thats crazy. Seem you were doing everything right. I would check all the equipment.

maybe the jawfish dug up the sand and caused it. I dunno with a 1 inch sand bed if that would even be possible.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Suspect electrical? Possible heater malfunction? Back in 2010 there was a recall on the hydor theo 300w for glass cracking. Up plug it and inspect it throughly, as with all your pumps and powerheads.

 

[Martini5788]

How strong was the smell? You didn't have a maid come in and clean right? I would venture to say the jawfish disturbed a sulphur pocket in the sand...

 

[ratm909]

I did not lose power that day, the clocks where all ok.

As for the heater, it's one of only two options I can sum up. But it would have to have heated the tank hot enough to kill everything, the revert back to original setting, cause it was stable when I got home. From my understanding, when this type of mechanism "blocks" it can no longer return to its original position. Causing the over heating.

As for the sulfur, the smell had the whole first level of the house smelling. I immediately knew something was wrong when I walked in the door.

As for the sulfur, I read up about it on the first link e46er posted. My sand was only 4 months old so that should not be an issue, but he does mention sulfur deposits trapped in Florida live rock, where Marco rock comes from. Maybe something released it somehow.

What ever it was it was very fast, from me leaving to and back to work.

 

[scooter31707]

was the tank and rock brought brand new? If not, was copper or any medication used in it? Do you have any small children?

 

[sixpackgarage]

Check for stray voltage?

Sulfur smell though indicates a bacterial issue maybe

 

[JMorris271]

Is there good air exchange? Water movement? That one cost me.




/

 

[golferbud101691]

Was your rock cured or dry rock with dead stuff on it? I could see pockets forming under the rock in the sand if the rock had junk on it..then the jawfish hit it..

 

[Shivsreef]

Could it have possibly been something dead deep within the live rock that's just showing up now,that may have possibly released a bad chemical into the water

 

[scubadan206]

I would suspect some sort of contamination. Could something have been dumped or dropped into the tank to make things die. A chain reaction like that is possible and could kill off enough to crash the whole system.
Yeah smell the rocks, acid bath or whatever you think helps, but the choice now is to start over.:sad2:

 

[ratm909]

Thank you all for the replies, it's got me thinking about all the possibilities. Great forum I will be posting my reefer 350 build soon!

I think I have found the culprit. Last night I did a 50% water change, cleaned the rocks, and inspected the equipment. All the electronics are fine, including the heater.

Here's the issue, I emptied my sump, I had some live rock in there for extra seeding. When I removed the skimmer and the rocks, at some point I got an undeniable smell of sulfur. The sump rocks or something around it released the gas after being moved. I think I played around with the skimmer that morning, maybe emptied the cup. Which could of caused the disturbance.

How or why ? I do not know, I was under the belief that keeping rocks in the sump was safe practice...

Anyways, I cleaned it and simply threw the rock away, I don't even want to take a chance with it again...

I tested parameters and I feel the water is safe for fish, this morning everything was fine and no detectable smell. Il leave it be for a few weeks, might put a small coral in The mean time to have something to feed and keep the tank moving.

I don't know how or why it accumulated down there, but something happened...