My BEST hitchhiker is an OCTOPUS!

so sorry about your loss. i am glad to hear you are sticking with it!

i was a volunteer at the stephen birch aquarium at the scripps institute of oceanography while i was in college and i took care of a small octopus there. they are very very smart creatures! we had to keep heavy books on top of the lid of the tank. when i would go to feed him, the second i took the book off the top of the lid, he would slowly sneak one tentacle to the top of the tank, kick the lid off, and try to escape while i was looking the other way. i know that one day he actually escaped for good (though i wasn't there that day)

i was telling this story to a marine biologist at an aquarium a couple weeks ago-- turns out their octopus was sneaking out (like the one at monterey bay aquarium) for late night "snacks" in the other tanks and then returning to his tank by morning. they found the one thing that worked to keep him from escaping -- ASTROTURF! They lined the top of his tank with it, and he won't touch it! so next time you have a really cool hitchiker, you can try this method to keep him in the tank.
 
Re: Reef Tank Crashed!

Re: Reef Tank Crashed!

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7905847#post7905847 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Buddy Pine
Sadly to say, this past Sunday coming home from a 10 day family vacation to discover that my Reef Tank was out of power maybe for a week long. Everything was devastated (I don't know what worst I can say), everything was black and an unbearable strong gross smell. I went to the back room cautiously and one of the plastic tubing from my RO unit burst, spraying water all over until it short circuited some of the electricals and tripped two of the aquarium main breakers. Luckily nothing caught on fire, it just completely shut down the tank. All of my Fish, Clams and Octopus were completely decomposed and the Corals are wiped out. My 7 years of hard work with this 180 gallon Reef Tank just went down the drain in a matter of days. I did not have a tank sitter so I set up an Auto-Top-Off, the additonal plastic tubing that connected to the RO's main membrane had some weak spots on it and was the main cause. I was confident and so proud of myself with the set-up everything was running nicely, the auto-feeder and the the food for the Octo was all ready.

What a way to come home from a vacation, I would not wish this happen to anyone. What a bad feeling! I'm just a little messed up right now. Good bye everyone and good luck to all, thank you so much for all your compliments.

Manny.
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I posted too quick without reading all the posts. Your octopus was so cool I had such an urgency to post.. I'm sorry for your loss :(
 
What a great thread!! I'm curious as to what kind of contingency plan you have for your next vacation, I get nervous about my 180 even if I just leave for the weekend. I can't imagine how crushed you were when you got home, terrible loss of life. Did you fill the new display with captive raised? I think it's great that you stuck with it as well, after such a devastating loss. I like your sump layout too.
 
Tagging along ...

I read from page one .. got to the crash and my heart dropped... I could not imagine being on such a high and feeling that ... Sorry for all of your losses..and all of your hard work ...

I am inspired by your turn around here ... Please keep us updated ... had to revive this thread...
 
I came home from vacation with my powerhead un-attached from the wall, spraying water into the light system, and trickeling down into the surge protector. It must have happened moments before I entered the door, because it was on fire. The heater was shattered from being turned on out of water. I reached into the tank to grab the powerhead and pull it out (I couldnt touch the outlets) and I was electricuted. Lost everything, fish, corals, LR, lights, eh.

Good for you for starting up again its such a great hobby, not worth giving up for any amount of loss. Good luck, I cant wait to see your tank after its matured a little. Especially after seeing how great your previous tank was. On the positive side, you did get an extra 90 gallons on your new tank.

Please keep us updated

~Matt
 
Thanks everyone, I still deeply appreciate your interest and will gladly update you upon your request. It's funny though that it's been a year since that tank accident happened and I was supposed to be in Mexico this week but cancelled due to Hurricane Dean and just recently set up the ATO again. But I planned to have an experienced tank sitter at that time, maybe it was a good thing my vacation was cancelled.? :mixed:

This is almost 8 months, the SPS are just starting to intensify. I had to move my Zoas and Palys into the sump cause the Goldspotted Rabiitfish I added a couple months ago started to munch on them and also taught the Magnificent Foxface to eat it as well. I got rid of the Goldspotted but left the Magnificent under surveiliance.
270-8-23-07-fts.gif
 
awesome... Yeah I think finding someone to watch the tanks is a good idea... We took a trip to Baltimore last month and one of the local reefers was nice enough to keep an eys on our tanks..He fed the cat too ...very nice of him =0)
 
Buddy Pine, I lost my 37 gal over a year ago and I've been having a really tough time trying to come back to reefing. But I've been really thinking about starting up again and after seeing reading this thread, I'm absolutely going to be coming back to reefing.

This time I'm gonna spend a little more money and get a back up power generator, buy an RO/DI system, a chiller, and decent test kits. I'm not gonna let what happened to my old tank happen again. We had a power outtage early one day but nobody was home. By the time we got home that night, my anemone had died and started fouling the water. The tank had a slow death over the next few weeks even with water changes. I just gave up after that.

But I think I'm ready to get back on the horse and give reef'n another go at it. :) Thanks for the inspiration!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10727558#post10727558 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Pinecone_Jeff
Buddy Pine, I lost my 37 gal over a year ago and I've been having a really tough time trying to come back to reefing. But I've been really thinking about starting up again and after seeing reading this thread, I'm absolutely going to be coming back to reefing.

This time I'm gonna spend a little more money and get a back up power generator, buy an RO/DI system, a chiller, and decent test kits. I'm not gonna let what happened to my old tank happen again. We had a power outtage early one day but nobody was home. By the time we got home that night, my anemone had died and started fouling the water. The tank had a slow death over the next few weeks even with water changes. I just gave up after that.

But I think I'm ready to get back on the horse and give reef'n another go at it. :) Thanks for the inspiration!
Click to expand...

That is good to hear ... And I think you are doing the right thing to spend a little more time and money in the beginning to make sure things work out down the line...
 
I remember reading this thread many months ago and feeling devastated even though I didn't (and still don't) have a tank yet.
I'd really like to try my luck someday but I just don't know if I have the patience. I don't even have any FW experience.

Anyways, I just wanted to say your new tank is looking great!

Best of luck to you and looking forward to watching the progression. :)
 
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