Tank Crash!!

Reefing Reefer · Sep 17, 2023

Well, it finally happened. I went on a 4-day business trip only to come back to the tank crashed. I did a 25% waterchange, but that made the matters worse. So far, the leather coral and all my SPS are on their way out. Oddly enough, the Goni’s are doing better with no polyp retraction.

Sending an ICP test to potentially identify the problem.

I monitor pH and temp and didn’t have any fluctuations.

littlefoxx · Sep 17, 2023

Oh no Im sorry!!

Lavey29 · Sep 17, 2023

What are your numbers, temp and salinity? What do you suspect happened?

LaloJ · Sep 17, 2023

Oh no, that must be a very hard blow, I don't like leaving my tank for several days without seeing it, but one cannot be a slave to the tank in anyway, I hope you find a solution to the problem.

gbroadbridge · Sep 17, 2023

Reefing Reefer said:
Well, it finally happened. I went on a 4-day business trip only to come back to the tank crashed. I did a 25% waterchange, but that made the matters worse. So far, the leather coral and all my SPS are on their way out. Oddly enough, the Goni’s are doing better with no polyp retraction.

Sending an ICP test to potentially identify the problem.

I monitor pH and temp and didn’t have any fluctuations.

Tanks don't crash in 4 days unless there was a pre-existing problem.

KQuillan · Sep 18, 2023

I'm so sorry. Same thing just recently happened to me. Left for five days, day one a torch bailed and caused some issues. I did a chemiclean treatment (after losing another 2 torches) and the rest of my torches now seem to be doing good.

snackpack · Sep 18, 2023

gbroadbridge said:
Tanks don't crash in 4 days unless there was a pre-existing problem.

A tank can crash in any amount of time. For all we know OP's power could've gone out for a time period while they were gone. Any number of things could've caused it, and throwing a blanket "you already had a problem" doesn't help OP figure out the cause.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 18, 2023

Reefing Reefer said:
Well, it finally happened. I went on a 4-day business trip only to come back to the tank crashed. I did a 25% waterchange, but that made the matters worse. So far, the leather coral and all my SPS are on their way out. Oddly enough, the Goni’s are doing better with no polyp retraction.

Sending an ICP test to potentially identify the problem.

I monitor pH and temp and didn’t have any fluctuations.

Leathers can be moody. Hopefully yours will recover.

FrugalReefer · Sep 18, 2023

Sorry for your loss.

Mr. Mojo Rising · Sep 18, 2023

maybe we have different definitions of "crash", to me it means all dead or mostly dead. Your tank still looks good and healthy, still see the fish and nice red goni. The leather looks like its doing its normal moody thing, the sps looks salvageable to me.... I would not call this a crash, just a setback.

Dom · Sep 18, 2023

Reefing Reefer said:
Well, it finally happened. I went on a 4-day business trip only to come back to the tank crashed. I did a 25% waterchange, but that made the matters worse. So far, the leather coral and all my SPS are on their way out. Oddly enough, the Goni’s are doing better with no polyp retraction.

Sending an ICP test to potentially identify the problem.

I monitor pH and temp and didn’t have any fluctuations.

Lets figure this out...

Things were fine when you left on your trip, and when you came back 4 days later, you found the tank in its current condition.

It isn't likely that a change in chemistry caused this in just 4 days. I would like to see a complete set of test results.

Any children around the house that possibly dumped something in the tank when no one was looking? This happens.

Was there any use of aerosols (think air fresheners)? Did an exterminator come to the house while you were away?

I feel this may be a contamination issue. If not, then we should take a closer look at your husbandry and hardware.

Dom

Reefing Reefer · Sep 18, 2023

Dom said:
Lets figure this out...

Things were fine when you left on your trip, and when you came back 4 days later, you found the tank in its current condition.

It isn't likely that a change in chemistry caused this in just 4 days. I would like to see a complete set of test results.

Any children around the house that possibly dumped something in the tank when no one was looking? This happens.

Was there any use of aerosols (think air fresheners)? Did an exterminator come to the house while you were away?

I feel this may be a contamination issue. If not, then we should take a closer look at your husbandry and hardware.

Dom

This is the logical place where I’ve arrived. My wife and daughter were home, and my wife fed my fish pellet food while I was out - no spikes in any parameters, so she did not overfeed or anything of the sort.

I did a water change before leaving, BUT we recently got a new puppy and I’ve been washing her pee pads in the same sink/area I use to prep and clean my fish equipment. Could be something for cross contaminated in this area.

Also, because the puppy was in the laundry room/fish room, I mixed my water in the garage - closer inspection of my mixing buckets and I can see dirt/dust layer that I clearly missed.

Feeling extremely foolish if this was the case, but all signs point at cross contamination.

brandon429 · Sep 18, 2023

the absolute first step you take when this happens isnt a water change, it's reducing your light output power by 50% and sustaining that a long time in a slow ramp up as you discover causes. it's your bleach preventer, your STN arresting step if at all possible. they're sunburning right now.

jkcoral · Sep 18, 2023

Hope everything can bounce back for you.

If you aren’t running carbon, you should probably get some added just to help with cleaning up anything that might be in the water. Hopefully that will help some, in addition to reducing lighting for a little like another post suggested.

Reefing Reefer · Sep 18, 2023

jkcoral said:
Hope everything can bounce back for you.

If you aren’t running carbon, you should probably get some added just to help with cleaning up anything that might be in the water. Hopefully that will help some, in addition to reducing lighting for a little like another post suggested.

I threw in some carbon in a media reactor

Spare time · Sep 18, 2023

gbroadbridge said:
Tanks don't crash in 4 days unless there was a pre-existing problem.

But they can. Literally a bunch of things can go wrong in that time frame (contamination, equipment failure, etc.)

Dom · Sep 19, 2023

Reefing Reefer said:
This is the logical place where I’ve arrived. My wife and daughter were home, and my wife fed my fish pellet food while I was out - no spikes in any parameters, so she did not overfeed or anything of the sort.

I did a water change before leaving, BUT we recently got a new puppy and I’ve been washing her pee pads in the same sink/area I use to prep and clean my fish equipment. Could be something for cross contaminated in this area.

Also, because the puppy was in the laundry room/fish room, I mixed my water in the garage - closer inspection of my mixing buckets and I can see dirt/dust layer that I clearly missed.

Feeling extremely foolish if this was the case, but all signs point at cross contamination.

Yes, I would keep dog and fish-related business separate.

Reefing Reefer · Sep 23, 2023

0.85 ppm P04
20.5 ppm N03

dKH, pH, and salinity were within range.

Rusty_L_Shackleford · Sep 23, 2023

LaloJ said:
Oh no, that must be a very hard blow, I don't like leaving my tank for several days without seeing it, but one cannot be a slave to the tank in anyway, I hope you find a solution to the problem.

I was super paranoid about leaving my tanks for 2 weeks. I have some automation (ato, temp controller, etc) and got a Webcam so I could keep am eye on it too, which for $60 is absolutely worth it. Also I got my lfs to come by every few days and just check on it. The cost was negligible, like $25 a visit for them to stop by feed the fish and check ato reservoirs, etc.