Going on holiday can be devastating, yep you guessed it.

[atoll]

Not been on here recently after I can home from a short break 2 weeks ago to find my tank devastated. I checked everything a couple of days before I left and even had a mate calling in to check the tank but it wasn't enough to prevent a major catastrophe with my tank.

Simply put during the night my ATU decided to dump a couple of litres of Kalk water into the sump which caused the PH to shoot up to 11.7. The result 90% of corals dead and 2/3rds of my fish. Gutted is not the word. I am sick and can't look at the tank.

All living corals and fish are being housed by my mate and he could do nothing about it although he did carry out a few large water changes but for most animals, it was too late. Many years of hard work and money went into my pride and joy and the tank was looking superb before I left to go on my 4 days break.

Why oh why do these things wait until you are away before something like this happens? At the moment I don't know what to do with it apart from leaving it ticking over with no animals in it.

 

[Lor]

Sorry about your loss.

 

[Jason mack]

Im so sorry for Your loss . IT is always devastating when something like this happens ... I can understand not wanting too even look at it ... many of us have been there ...your friend did the right thing with some water changes, I would also maybe run some carbon .. I hope your tank bounces back .. success !
Mack

 

[atoll]

Im so sorry for Your loss . IT is always devastating when something like this happens ... I can understand not wanting too even look at it ... many of us have been there ...your friend did the right thing with some water changes, I would also maybe run some carbon .. I hope your tank bounces back .. success !
Mack

Thanks and all done

 

[Dennis McGrath]

So sorry to hear about your loss. This is one reason I do old-school and don't do anything automated. You just can't trust anyone or anything besides yourself.

 

[cancun]

Not been on here recently after I can home from a short break 2 weeks ago to find my tank devastated. I checked everything a couple of days before I left and even had a mate calling in to check the tank but it wasn't enough to prevent a major catastrophe with my tank.

Simply put during the night my ATU decided to dump a couple of litres of Kalk water into the sump which caused the PH to shoot up to 11.7. The result 90% of corals dead and 2/3rds of my fish. Gutted is not the word. I am sick and can't look at the tank.

All living corals and fish are being housed by my mate and he could do nothing about it although he did carry out a few large water changes but for most animals, it was too late. Many years of hard work and money went into my pride and joy and the tank was looking superb before I left to go on my 4 days break.

Why oh why do these things wait until you are away before something like this happens? At the moment I don't know what to do with it apart from leaving it ticking over with no animals in it.

Wow....I am so sorry! We all know how much work, time, and money we all put into our tanks....I feel bad for you.... hopefully your tank will bounce back to better than new in no time! [emoji16]

 

[ca1ore]

Yeah that really stinks. It's one of the cruel ironies of reefing that bad stuff happens when you are away.

 

[Flippers4pups]

@atoll, sorry for your losses! Very tuff to have this sort of thing happen.

Can you tell us what brand of ATU you are using and how it failed?

 

[atoll]

@atoll, sorry for your losses! Very tuff to have this sort of thing happen.

Can you tell us what brand of ATU you are using and how it failed?

Wasn't really the ATU as such but I have never cared for the overflow arrangement with this tank as it allows the level in tbe sump to fluctuate too much. When conditions are right with my kalk stirrer attached to tge ATU too much kalk can be administered in one go. It's a bit more complicated than that but that is the jist of it.

 

[atoll]

Thanks for all the posts much appreciated. I am not going to rush into anything just yet. I will let things settle first.

 

[ArowanaLover1902]

Shame there isn't insurance for this type of stuff. That'd be an interested aspect that could be included in a reef club, maybe sign a contract to donate a coral to a reefer in the club if their tank crashed (they'd do the same for you), you could jumpstart your tank really fast with that type of stuff. We've all had crashes before, I lost most of my tank due to a temp spike before, best of luck.

 

[Dom274]

Shame there isn't insurance for this type of stuff. That'd be an interested aspect that could be included in a reef club, maybe sign a contract to donate a coral to a reefer in the club if their tank crashed (they'd do the same for you), you could jumpstart your tank really fast with that type of stuff. We've all had crashes before, I lost most of my tank due to a temp spike before, best of luck.

Where do I sign up for this "Coral bank"? Is it in the cloud like my music now?

 

[jason.kennedy.98478]

Was it a holiday in Cambodia?

 

[Scrubber_steve]

I just had the burden of looking after a friends tank for 5 weeks.
Did some maintenance on it one day, came back the next to find water all over the floor. He was using a spring clamp to hold a float valve in position for fresh water evap top up. I must have bumped this spring clamp & the float valve dislodge, opening up the fresh water flow, flooding the sump.

I found that the spring clamp had completely rusted, so had zero spring- tension. To make things worse, the fresh water top up was connected to the mains (endless supply).
Specific gravity 1.010.
Dead fish & corals.

I'm not sure yet, but i think he's blaming me for this disaster.

 

[Hans-Werner]

I am very sorry about your losses and I understand your frustration.

I had a similar experience, also with ATU and Kalkwasser, and I know other reefers that killed their tanks with Kalkwasser. Kalkwasser is not the safest way to supply calcium and alkalinity. Even seeing it in the next morning is too late if the pH got really high.

 

[jd371]

This is why I haven't left the house in 15 years!

 

[Hans-Werner]

Well done! With Kalkwasser you better even don't go to bed at night but keep on watching in front of your aquarium.;Oldman And if you fall asleep be sure when you awake you will find your tank filled with white, cloudy, dead lye.;Nailbiting