My tank was crashing this morning....

Western_reefer

Western_reefer

Reef keeper
Woke up at 8 am and looked at the tank and everything was dieing! I think most of the fish are dead, corals are not doing good at all. Did a 50% water change and more water is mixing right now. Now its 9:10am and everything is starting to get better once I did the water change an hour ago. That's good I had another tank running(8 gallon biocube) I put all my favorite stuff in there and that stuff is alive.
 
The only things that were alive and well and weren't affected by the tank crashing were the leathers, all the gorgonians, and all the shrimp.
 
Moses, sorry to hear about your incident. With every issue/problem we use it as a learning expierence. Look back, figure out what could have happened, learn why it happened, so it can be prevented in the future.

Mike
 
I have no idea why the tank was crashing, yesterday the tank looked amazing, the best its even been. Everything was open, happy, and doing very well. The only think I did on Saturday was clean the back chamber of all the fish poo, did a big water change(like 10-13 gallons or so), and changed out my GFO like I have done every month for several months. Threw away the 40 grams of old GFO and added 25 grams of new GFO. Can't think of anything that would do this unless the power went out on the tank for some reason.... Right now, I'm looking into making an automated water change system and hook it up to a controller and a battery back up system for the powerheads. So, if the params go out of whack the automated water change system turns on or if the power goes out, the powerheads will turn on.
 
Were you away from your tank for long? One thing that comes to mind is a hydrogen sulfide leak. When you clean parts of you tank, especially in tanks with lots of feeding, sometimes you can open up or leave exposed pockets of hydrogen sulfide. I had a similar thing happen with a tank I had. Did you smell a strong rotten-egg smell when you were cleaning?
 
aninjaatemyshoe said:
Were you away from your tank for long? One thing that comes to mind is a hydrogen sulfide leak. When you clean parts of you tank, especially in tanks with lots of feeding, sometimes you can open up or leave exposed pockets of hydrogen sulfide. I had a similar thing happen with a tank I had. Did you smell a strong rotten-egg smell when you were cleaning?
Click to expand...
No, I was home all day. I cleaned the back chambers/did a big water change on Saturday, the tank looked amazing on Sunday, and now today(Monday) the tank crashed. No, nothing smelled.
 
What are a few parameters to look at/find out if your tank is going to crash? If your pH and/or ORP go out of whack, then your tank will crash?
 
Also, my pair of clownfish were going to spawn soon because they were cleaning out a spot near their Torch coral to lay their eggs, so my tank was doing very well if the clownfish were about to spawn.
 
Aww man sorry to hear that Moses, especially re: the clownfish about to spawn and them losing them.

With high bioload systems things can look fine 1 minute and then start crashing the next. It is a domino effect. One thing dies and it throws off everything else. pH, oxygen levels, bacteria populations, etc... The same thing happens in our bodies you know. We just have a lot more safeguards in place. You did the right thing with the big water change. Another thing I think has saved me from MANY tank crashes is a huge skimmer. In the face of a tank crash, it helps blow off CO2, raise pH, pull out dying bacteria, pull out excessive bacteria, and of course organic waste. Ozone can be helpful too as it oxidizes ammonia and other toxins (which will surely spike in a crash) to less toxic byproducts. Using orp without ozone however will not help you much. It's not the same as monitoring pH which is always a good idea.
 
uhuru said:
Aww man sorry to hear that Moses, especially re: the clownfish about to spawn and them losing them.

With high bioload systems things can look fine 1 minute and then start crashing the next. It is a domino effect. One thing dies and it throws off everything else. pH, oxygen levels, bacteria populations, etc... The same thing happens in our bodies you know. We just have a lot more safeguards in place. You did the right thing with the big water change. Another thing I think has saved me from MANY tank crashes is a huge skimmer. In the face of a tank crash, it helps blow off CO2, raise pH, pull out dying bacteria, pull out excessive bacteria, and of course organic waste.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it totally sucks, I loved those clownfish.

Well, it wasn't really THAT high bioload, just a but load of corals. Had 5 fish, pair of clownfish, neon goby, and 2 small wrasses.
 
Once I get things back to normal in the tank and most of the Photosynthetic stuff survive, I'm going to sell most/all Photosynthetic Corals and make the 28 gallon nano into a Non-Photosynthetic dominated tank. But the Non-Photosynthetic Corals are going to be the kind that can accept larger food like Rotifers, Tigger pods, etc.
 
There are so many awesome and affordable skimmers out these days I haven't kept up with it all, but personally I would look into something like an SWC cone or Bubble Magus for that price range. I don't know though that red sea one might be good too you should ask in the equipment forum.
 
Moses, the tank that crashed, how long was it actually up and running for? And over what period of time was it stocked wall to wall with corals?

Mike
 
Aquabacs said:
Moses, the tank that crashed, how long was it actually up and running for? And over what period of time was it stocked wall to wall with corals?

Mike
Click to expand...

It was set up 7 months ago, it was basically empty for about 2 months(empty meaning little-no livestock, just sand and rock), then I started to stock it with corals, fish, and inverts.
 
uhuru said:
There are so many awesome and affordable skimmers out these days I haven't kept up with it all, but personally I would look into something like an SWC cone or Bubble Magus for that price range. I don't know though that red sea one might be good too you should ask in the equipment forum.
Click to expand...

Okay.
 
Ok, here is a list of the dead things so far:
1 Yellow Coris Wrasse
1 Neon Goby
1 baby Bluehead Wrasses(he was like an inch long, got him cuz he was a freebie that was thrown in)
Spawning Pair of True/False Percula Clownfish(Male was True, Female was a False)

2 some kind of rainbow Acos
Ponape Birdsnest
Millepora
Little Neck Clam(had it for a long time)
Elkhorn coral (Montipora hirsuta)

Things that are trying to survive, but most likely won't make it:
Setosa Montipora
Surf N Turf
ORA Green BirdsNest
Some kind of Green SPS, don't know its name, but it looked kick ***
Large Derasa clam
 
Ok, here is a list of the dead things so far:
1 Yellow Coris Wrasse
1 Neon Goby
1 baby Bluehead Wrasses(he was like an inch long, got him cuz he was a freebie that was thrown in)
Spawning Pair of True/False Percula Clownfish(Male was True, Female was a False)

2 some kind of rainbow Acos
Ponape Birdsnest
Millepora
Little Neck Clam(had it for a long time)
Elkhorn coral (Montipora hirsuta)
Large Derasa clam
tank raised Large Golden Tear Drop Maxima ( had is for 2.5 years, raised it from a 1.5 inch baby to 6 inches. )
Mexican Turbo snail
Nass snails


Things that are trying to survive, but are in really bad shape.
Setosa Montipora
Surf N Turf
ORA Green BirdsNest
 
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