Western_reefer
Reef keeper
NICE!! 3 years is a very long time!!! Grats!!
My new 400 G tank
- Thread starter Crusty Old Shellback
- Start date
Well it is a sad day today.
At 230 this morning I woke to silence. This is a bad thing since my 400g tank is in the room next to the bed room. I imeaditly got out of bed and checked the tank only to find my worse night mare.
A GFCI had tripped and my return pump and skimmer were not running. The silence was defining. As I turned on the lights and looked in the tank, there they were, my 2 naso tangs, pink tail trigger and Moorish idol, all upside down on the bottm dead. They had suficated due to lack of oxeygen. I do not know how long the pumps were off but it was long enough.
I got the pumps started again and crawled back into bed. I had a hard time going back to sleep. When I awoke at 5:30 to get ready for work, I finally went in to asses the damage. My female Naso was up and in the corner shaking but looked to be alive. I saw some of my other fish swiming as well.
However I did incure some losses:
12" 8 year old Male Naso tang
6" 8 year old Pink Tail Trigger
5" Gold Flake Angel
3" Rusty Angel
6" 4 year old Moorish Idol.
Yep, it's a sad day as they all were doing fine when I fed them yesterday afternoon. I have 3 different circuits that run my tank. All have GFCI outlets. I have had all three of them trip for no reason. The only cause I can think of is the salt humidity that is in the enclosure of the tank has caused enough corrision to cause them to trip. I am going to look into installing GFCI breakers and get rid of the GFCI outlets. I'm also going to look into keeping at least one of my closed loop circulation pumps on at night. I have been shutting them down for power comsumption as well as noise reasons. That may have to change.
At 230 this morning I woke to silence. This is a bad thing since my 400g tank is in the room next to the bed room. I imeaditly got out of bed and checked the tank only to find my worse night mare.
A GFCI had tripped and my return pump and skimmer were not running. The silence was defining. As I turned on the lights and looked in the tank, there they were, my 2 naso tangs, pink tail trigger and Moorish idol, all upside down on the bottm dead. They had suficated due to lack of oxeygen. I do not know how long the pumps were off but it was long enough.
I got the pumps started again and crawled back into bed. I had a hard time going back to sleep. When I awoke at 5:30 to get ready for work, I finally went in to asses the damage. My female Naso was up and in the corner shaking but looked to be alive. I saw some of my other fish swiming as well.
However I did incure some losses:
12" 8 year old Male Naso tang
6" 8 year old Pink Tail Trigger
5" Gold Flake Angel
3" Rusty Angel
6" 4 year old Moorish Idol.
Yep, it's a sad day as they all were doing fine when I fed them yesterday afternoon. I have 3 different circuits that run my tank. All have GFCI outlets. I have had all three of them trip for no reason. The only cause I can think of is the salt humidity that is in the enclosure of the tank has caused enough corrision to cause them to trip. I am going to look into installing GFCI breakers and get rid of the GFCI outlets. I'm also going to look into keeping at least one of my closed loop circulation pumps on at night. I have been shutting them down for power comsumption as well as noise reasons. That may have to change.
Well it is a sad day today.
At 230 this morning I woke to silence. This is a bad thing since my 400g tank is in the room next to the bed room. I imeaditly got out of bed and checked the tank only to find my worse night mare.
A GFCI had tripped and my return pump and skimmer were not running. The silence was defining. As I turned on the lights and looked in the tank, there they were, my 2 naso tangs, pink tail trigger and Moorish idol, all upside down on the bottm dead. They had suficated due to lack of oxeygen. I do not know how long the pumps were off but it was long enough.
I got the pumps started again and crawled back into bed. I had a hard time going back to sleep. When I awoke at 5:30 to get ready for work, I finally went in to asses the damage. My female Naso was up and in the corner shaking but looked to be alive. I saw some of my other fish swiming as well.
However I did incure some losses:
12" 8 year old Male Naso tang
6" 8 year old Pink Tail Trigger
5" Gold Flake Angel
3" Rusty Angel
6" 4 year old Moorish Idol.
Yep, it's a sad day as they all were doing fine when I fed them yesterday afternoon. I have 3 different circuits that run my tank. All have GFCI outlets. I have had all three of them trip for no reason. The only cause I can think of is the salt humidity that is in the enclosure of the tank has caused enough corrision to cause them to trip. I am going to look into installing GFCI breakers and get rid of the GFCI outlets. I'm also going to look into keeping at least one of my closed loop circulation pumps on at night. I have been shutting them down for power comsumption as well as noise reasons. That may have to change.
At 230 this morning I woke to silence. This is a bad thing since my 400g tank is in the room next to the bed room. I imeaditly got out of bed and checked the tank only to find my worse night mare.
A GFCI had tripped and my return pump and skimmer were not running. The silence was defining. As I turned on the lights and looked in the tank, there they were, my 2 naso tangs, pink tail trigger and Moorish idol, all upside down on the bottm dead. They had suficated due to lack of oxeygen. I do not know how long the pumps were off but it was long enough.
I got the pumps started again and crawled back into bed. I had a hard time going back to sleep. When I awoke at 5:30 to get ready for work, I finally went in to asses the damage. My female Naso was up and in the corner shaking but looked to be alive. I saw some of my other fish swiming as well.
However I did incure some losses:
12" 8 year old Male Naso tang
6" 8 year old Pink Tail Trigger
5" Gold Flake Angel
3" Rusty Angel
6" 4 year old Moorish Idol.
Yep, it's a sad day as they all were doing fine when I fed them yesterday afternoon. I have 3 different circuits that run my tank. All have GFCI outlets. I have had all three of them trip for no reason. The only cause I can think of is the salt humidity that is in the enclosure of the tank has caused enough corrision to cause them to trip. I am going to look into installing GFCI breakers and get rid of the GFCI outlets. I'm also going to look into keeping at least one of my closed loop circulation pumps on at night. I have been shutting them down for power comsumption as well as noise reasons. That may have to change.
Death toll stands at 6 right now with a few hanging on the edge/ This as reported by my daughter. I'll know more when I get home. It looks like my other Naso is doing OK right now.
Question is, can they get brain damage from lack of oxygen?
Question is, can they get brain damage from lack of oxygen?
You'd think there'd be enough oxygen in a 400g to last without oxygen for a while. I'd also like to know so we can try and gauge how long for this size tank.
Is there such a thing as a mini battery UPS? Hearing this makes me want to hook up a CL pump or a Tunze to something that will make it run if power goes out while I sleep.
Is there such a thing as a mini battery UPS? Hearing this makes me want to hook up a CL pump or a Tunze to something that will make it run if power goes out while I sleep.
Ray, Man that is sad news. It doesnt take long for it to happen. 400 gallons isnt much considering the number of fish you have in that tank.
NexDog, I was in the process of building a car-battery powered UPS for my system to run some air pumps and some koralias if the power ever shut off in my garage. I never finished it since I left the hobby a few months ago.
Check out the batteries plus stores online. They have a car battery maintainer for pretty cheap. Put an inverter on the battery and have the system activate when the power dies in the house with dual pole relay.
NexDog, I was in the process of building a car-battery powered UPS for my system to run some air pumps and some koralias if the power ever shut off in my garage. I never finished it since I left the hobby a few months ago.
Check out the batteries plus stores online. They have a car battery maintainer for pretty cheap. Put an inverter on the battery and have the system activate when the power dies in the house with dual pole relay.
FISHSTICK745
New member
I know how you feel...this happen to me too! Sorry to here that.
Reefer Brian
In Memoriam
Sorry about the loss. Having a GFI breaker or a GFI outlet is the same exact thing....eliminate the GFI on the main pumps and hopefully it will solve your problem. Still, why did the GFI trip in the first place, that should be your main concern.
Hey everyone, thanks for the replies. Here's an update.
I lost a few more fish, here's the list:
Male and female Naso tangs. About 8 years old and 12" long.
Moorish Idol. About 4 years old.
Male Bellus Angle. About 3 years old.
Rusty angle, about 4 years old
Yellow tang, about 3 years old
Pink Skunk Clown, about 3 years old.
Goold Flake Angle, about 3 years old.
MIA, Female Bellus Angle. I haven't seen here and belive she is dead. Sad part is, I used to watch my Bellus pair do a mating dance. She was full of eggs and I was just waiting for them to mate. Guess it won't happen now.
My pink Tail trigger is still alive but hides in the rocks all day. He barley comes out of the rock work. He hasn't eaten anything that I can see, not even his faviorite Nori.
The other fish seem to be doing OK but are very skittish. As soon as you walk near the tank, they run and hide.
AS for the rest of the system, Best I can tell from my timmers and all, there could have been a period of about 6 1/2 hours with no circulation. That would leave a tank full of large fish in 400 G of water. Remember that MI's and tangs are very active swimmers and I had 7 tangs in the tank, two about 12" long and one is about 6" long.
The GFCI's I beleive have been triping lately because they are old and have been in the humid SW enviroment for about 4 years. They are inside of the tank area where the humidity is high. I replaced them with regular outlets and installed GFCI breakers in the power pannel instead. I want to keep GFCI's on those circuits as there is water and pumps in teh area and the probability of one leaking is too much of a risk. I'd rather loose a few thousand dollars worth of fish because a GFCI tripped rather than have my house burn down because a GFCI wasn't installed.
I'm not sure which way I am going to go in the future. I'm thinking of tearing down the tank and starting over. Get rid of my fish, replace the sand, soak my rocks to get rid of all the bristile worms, and jsut start over. The new foucs will be on corals and anthias. Just a thought for now. But a 400G tank full of various colors of anthias sounds like it would look nice.
We'll see what the future brings but for now, I'm just going to let things sit for a few weeks or so.
Oh and I burried the fish in my back yard, right next to my grill so we could hang out together when cooking and drinking beer.
I lost a few more fish, here's the list:
Male and female Naso tangs. About 8 years old and 12" long.
Moorish Idol. About 4 years old.
Male Bellus Angle. About 3 years old.
Rusty angle, about 4 years old
Yellow tang, about 3 years old
Pink Skunk Clown, about 3 years old.
Goold Flake Angle, about 3 years old.
MIA, Female Bellus Angle. I haven't seen here and belive she is dead. Sad part is, I used to watch my Bellus pair do a mating dance. She was full of eggs and I was just waiting for them to mate. Guess it won't happen now.
My pink Tail trigger is still alive but hides in the rocks all day. He barley comes out of the rock work. He hasn't eaten anything that I can see, not even his faviorite Nori.
The other fish seem to be doing OK but are very skittish. As soon as you walk near the tank, they run and hide.
AS for the rest of the system, Best I can tell from my timmers and all, there could have been a period of about 6 1/2 hours with no circulation. That would leave a tank full of large fish in 400 G of water. Remember that MI's and tangs are very active swimmers and I had 7 tangs in the tank, two about 12" long and one is about 6" long.
The GFCI's I beleive have been triping lately because they are old and have been in the humid SW enviroment for about 4 years. They are inside of the tank area where the humidity is high. I replaced them with regular outlets and installed GFCI breakers in the power pannel instead. I want to keep GFCI's on those circuits as there is water and pumps in teh area and the probability of one leaking is too much of a risk. I'd rather loose a few thousand dollars worth of fish because a GFCI tripped rather than have my house burn down because a GFCI wasn't installed.
I'm not sure which way I am going to go in the future. I'm thinking of tearing down the tank and starting over. Get rid of my fish, replace the sand, soak my rocks to get rid of all the bristile worms, and jsut start over. The new foucs will be on corals and anthias. Just a thought for now. But a 400G tank full of various colors of anthias sounds like it would look nice.
We'll see what the future brings but for now, I'm just going to let things sit for a few weeks or so.
Oh and I burried the fish in my back yard, right next to my grill so we could hang out together when cooking and drinking beer.
Well after all the work I've put into it, and some support from the wife, I have to. We basically built the 12' X 30' sun room with the intention of putting in a large tank. I just happen to run into a great deal on the 400 and so I sold the 200 that was going to go in there.
The tank is basically built into the room and to remove it would be a major pain. Plus the fact that I'd have to finish the walls behind it and try to match the rest of the room, finish off the floor to level with the rest of the room and then lay all new wood floor. So the easier option right now is to continue on.
That and I've had a fish tank almost all the time since I was about 10 years old, almost 40 years. So it's kind of hard not to have one. It's just sad right now looking into the tank and not seeing my big old buddies swimming around.
I do still have my majestic angel and pink tail trigger but they are very shy right now. There's still a purple tang, 2 yellow tangs and a pacific blue tang in there along with some clowns and a few other small fish.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen my anthias in the tank lately either, so there's one more to add to the list of MIA's.
Got to think positive and look to the future.
The tank is basically built into the room and to remove it would be a major pain. Plus the fact that I'd have to finish the walls behind it and try to match the rest of the room, finish off the floor to level with the rest of the room and then lay all new wood floor. So the easier option right now is to continue on.
That and I've had a fish tank almost all the time since I was about 10 years old, almost 40 years. So it's kind of hard not to have one. It's just sad right now looking into the tank and not seeing my big old buddies swimming around.
I do still have my majestic angel and pink tail trigger but they are very shy right now. There's still a purple tang, 2 yellow tangs and a pacific blue tang in there along with some clowns and a few other small fish.
Come to think of it, I haven't seen my anthias in the tank lately either, so there's one more to add to the list of MIA's.
Got to think positive and look to the future.
The Naso tansg were worth more than the gold flake due to their size and being a pair. AS for the pair of Bellus, If they had started breeding, they would probably be worth more as well.
Oh and I didn't pay full price ofr the goldflake, got him from a RC member at a discount who was having problems with him.
Oh and I didn't pay full price ofr the goldflake, got him from a RC member at a discount who was having problems with him.
