Frag Tank Crash!!

[KYLECT]

Ok, so I thought I would get everyones thoughts on a huge tank crash that I had a couple of weeks ago. I woke up one morning and went down to the basement at everything was closed, I said to myself well thats weird and proceeded to get a 20gallon waterchange mixing for when I got home that evening. I came home and all of my acros were done, all of my zoas and paly were closed, basically everything was toast. I did a full round of tests and everything was absolutly perfect, so there I sat scratching my head as to what might have happened? Not to mentionI have 7 fish in these tanks including Tangs and they are doing perfect with no signs of stress still to this day. The only thing that I noticed is when this happened was that the skimmer was going crazy and the bubble level rose to the point that just water was flowing into the cup. I turned the skimmer down and let it run, in doing the next clean out of the skimmer I turned off the power and cleaned the cup and when I went to turn it back on it would not work, that being said could the pump have caused the crash???? It didn't smell and there is nothing leaking out of it after I removed it, if so what should I test the water for as all of my standard tests come back perfect?? In advance thanks for your help.

Kyle

 

[CJO]

When you say that all of your normal tests came back perfect, what did you test and what were the levels? Do youhave any kids- any chance something copper got dropped in the tank?

CJ

 

[swannyson7]

Sorry to hear Kyle. My guess would be some sort of foreign contaminant seeing as the skimmer was going nuts. Did you use any type of cleaner that could have become airborne or had any work done around the house prior to the crash? Do you run carbon 24/7?

 

[m and m]

Yea you say the skimmer was going crazy my thoughts. Something had to set the skimmer off to much vodka maybe? Sugar?vinager? Even of a skimmer overflows back into my sump it makes my skimmer go crazy. From there you emptyed your skimmer cup into your tank I would assume causing a flux in po4/no3 and such. If there was enough skim mate in there and a small frag tank the po4/no3 flux could of been leThal.

 

[KYLECT]

When I say tests I mean everything which would include, Mag, PH, Alk, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia, Calcium, Phosphate, I don't know the levels off hand but all within normal range. I do have 2 kids but I went through the entire system including the sump looking for a penny or anything, but found nothing. As for the skimmer, the cup did not overflow initially and it was not full to begin with as I clean it out every couple of days and when I call it a frag tank I guess I should say frag system as it is 2 60gal deep blue frag tanks with a 75 gallon sump. I was kind of leaning towards the skimmer pump failing because if it for some reason did fail or water got into the pump and it kept working the motors are normally copper wound. Does anyone know of a copper test or anything else I should test for? Thanks for all your help in advance.

Kyle

 

[turbo21]

put a polyfilter pad in. if it turns blue it pulled out copper

bob

 

[cdness]

Sounds like copper to me ;( Levels that will kill corals but not fish.

 

[Salty Dog]

put a polyfilter pad in. if it turns blue it pulled out copper

bob

I agree, great advice

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[Reef Breeders Verified Sponsor]

That sucks, did someone clean down there? Anything die off first?

 

[Bubbles_B]

I would agree maybe you do have copper in your tank...:sad:

 

[KYLECT]

Thanks guys, I have already removed what i could save, thank god for multiple tanks! Im gonna stop and get a copper test tomorrow, even know i have done multiple water changes i kept a sample of the water from when everything went south. I appriciate all the input, this has been extremely discouraging and I'm thankful for a great forum with great people willing to help.

Kyle

 

[Skinpuppi]

Did you change any media or carbon shortly before this happened? There just was that recall on that bad batch of carbon.

 

[KYLECT]

Well, I ran a copper test on every tank this weekend including my RO storage tank and came back with nothing, this is really puzzling to me to say the least. Not to mention the fish are doing great and I put some cheap zoa samples and a toadstool frag back in the tank as a test and they have been opening and doing great for the past 2 days. I don't get it!!!!

 

[Degener8]

I think since the pump did not turn back on maybe your first thought is still correct about the pump but maybe it was a voltage issue .. does the tank have a grounding probe.

I am certain I had a heater fail.. leaked voltage over night basically and by the am 1/2 of the corals were toast. Heater replaced.. several water changes later and the corals are starting to come around.. The eel except for a day of fasting has been pretty normal in behavior.