Tank-O-death

Steve,
sorry about your tank mate.. i feel sad, your tank is one of my favourite, but must move on, hope you got new idea for reset the tank, that you can share with us.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9562104#post9562104 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ezcompany
maybe always keep 100 gallons of water on reserve? i know that sounds like much but i think it can be done fairly cheaply in a large rubbermaid.
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That's what I keep thinking. Why not get a large water vessel like the ones we keep at the shop. They are tall, white, and have a screw on lid. Not too expensive{especially compared to what you had invested}They come in all sizes..100 gal...300 gal..whatever. The only maintenance is tipping them over and cleaning them out once in awhile. It would be worth it, you would always have water on hand. Hang in there...& have a wonderful vacation.:cool:
 
These types of incidents do happen to everyone especially in the wild by mother nature. Only thing you can do is recover and start off slowly again.

Cant wait to see what theme you come up with now. :)

Just curious.. do you have any pics of the tank at its last stages? Wouldnt mind seeing what it has become over the yrs.
 
Such a shame !
The scary thing is that it happened to you.... the one who plans everything into every little detail....
You are not only an inspiration by what you have built but also how you take your loss. You are a true warrior !
Good luck with your next project.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9564161#post9564161 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jwre
Such a shame !
The scary thing is that it happened to you.... the one who plans everything into every little detail....
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That just goes to show it can happen to anyone. We were down at the LFS last night talking about this and brought up what if a hose popped off of a return or closed loop, a pump housing could crack and drain it, many possibilities. The good thing really is it all drained into the sewer, what if it drained into the living room? Then it would require a bunch more work to fix the house.
It is great you have posted here, this post will get everyone to look at their system closer and you will probably prevent someone else a disaster by posting this here.
Chris

BTW I have 1 ball valve on the line to the sewer for W/C purposes, if it failed or was knocked open I'd drain half the tank out. I am going to add a second valve to that now to be safe.
 
:( That sucks Steve :(

Hmmmm, 840g of coldwater? That would sure be a lot of strawberrry anemonies :lol:

I'm more then sure what ever you decide to do, it'll A#1 :D

I simply can not belive how your taking this though, YOU ROCK :D
 
I'm very impressed with how well you've taken this, Steve.
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It was so impressive, I feel so bad. You're a better man than me, I was depressed for days when mine went, but now I'm having fun rebuilding. Good luck.
 
Steve i'm glad to see your taking this so well. I in the other hand had a 180gal SPS tank crash on me 2 years ago and did not take it good at all. Since then i have my tank up and running. 90% sps. If you start up your tank again let me know(pm me) and i'll send you a bunch of frags.
 
Sorry to hear about your loss, your tank was an inspiration to so many people, more than you know, it think it set the trend for the valley in the middle aquascape, and just an overall above average tank in every aspect.

I am confident and I think I speak for everyone when i say you will raise the bar again when you redo the tank. I can't wait to see the new rock work and what you come up with.

Sincerely
Felix
 
Oh i forgot to ask, is your Anoplocapros Lenticularis ok? I hope so. I also have some frags I would gladly sent your way.
 
Sad loss, your tank was awesome. Sounds like the first thing I'd be buying is a proper RO/DI sized for this system :)
 
This sucks to hear, sorry for the loss of all your corals. This is one thing I think many of us do not ever want to have happen
 
Steve, so sorry to hear about your loss. Your attitude is amazing though, and perhaps it can serve as a huge lesson for the rest of us.
Best wishes with getting the tank back to it's former self.
 
Wow......just wow.

Your tank taught me that tanks can be automated and be planned to be failsafe. I guess that your disater scenarios actually worked which speaks to your design of the system. All I can say is that Murphy's Law reared it's ugly head and screwed you.

Very sorry to hear about the loss and you will come back bigger and stronger.
 
steve wow i cannot even say how much this sucks. Good luck on the 2nd round im sure it will be better then ever
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9561902#post9561902 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by steveweast


This disaster really wasn't an equipment failure, though.....it was a people failure. In fact, with an empty sump, most systems would have been fried by the lights or diluted with fresh water if there were an auto topoff (with float switch) in place.....my computer shut off my lights preventing just that....my equipment safe guards worked.

Where I went wrong was in not stopping and trying to think through the problem. I couldn't get water....200 gals is alot to transport and it was 10pm. The correct answer would have been to allow the problem to continue until water could be made to solve the problem.....all the while, adding O2 to the main tank. It would have taken another day or two....but, it would have worked. The disaster was in my trying to immediately solve the problem.
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First, let me say I am so sorry for your losses, but I think you have probably heard that enough that its old. I think every single person can learn from this right here. I had a hard time believing someone who built such a magnificent system would dump 200 gallons of copper and who knows what else tap water into their system. I really can't believe this. This quote above shows how truly great a reefer you are(as if we didnt know this). Not only was/and still is your system truly intuitive, inspirational, and insightful.....the recognizing of your mistakes is far more insightful than the system itself. No doubt in my mind that someone who can recognize their poor decision and mistake can bounce back with a truly greater setup. This is what separates you from everyone else because if most of us built this system and had this happen-we wouldnt come close to your cool headedness.

Smile, keep your head up and have great vacation.


ps...ill blast you for the tap water when you come back from vacation
 
Hi Steve,
Very sorry to hear about your tank.

It reminds me of the J. Rice disaster from a few years ago that also was the result of typical human reaction.

I still have the 4 corals we traded in '03 plus a few others :D I would be happy to help you out when you are ready as you were so generous when I visited.

Best regards,
Kevin
 
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