I had the automatic fish feeder running. I was out of town for a week for the death of my dad and I come home my whole tank is full of algae, all coral, fish and inverts or dead. The skimmer in the back of the tank over flowed all on the wall and I am just devastated. As if enough has not happened the past few weeks I now have lost everything. It is a Red Sea max 130d AIO. Is it safe to say you can never go out of town when you have a saltwater tank? I am at a loss right now. Any help would be loved
Tank Crash
- Thread starter NavySquid
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TheEngineer
Formerly icecool2
Ugh! Sorry for your multiple losses...
It can be hard to pin down reasons for a crash. Any chance your salinity is very low from the slimmer overflowing? Anything aside from the feeder and an ATO that could add stuff to the tank? How is the tank temp? Could have been a failed heater.
OP
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NavySquid
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The skimmer was running I am thinking that my fish feeder broke and over fed the tank, the amount of growth I had was from more than a couple of days. I am just so frustrated about it all. I thought I did everything right before I left
TheEngineer
Formerly icecool2
Even if you dumped the whole thing of food, that shouldn’t kill your tank that fast. There was no algae when you left and it was full of it when you got back?
Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
Depending on how much food and what kind it was, could have decayed releasing excess nutrients and driving up ammonia. Tank probably went into a cycle, death of fish added to excess nutrients and ammonia, extending the cycle.
Perfect Storm in terms of reef tank crashes.
Water changes, GAC and GFO are in order. Syphon your sand bed. With time and continued care, you'll rebound.
I'm so sorry for your personal loss and the tank. My prayers are with you and your family.
amps
Active Member
I had an inch of skimate in my skimmer when it decided to overflow on me overnight. The tank was in the basement so I didn't check on it until the next afternoon and it was a green mess. Slime and algae all over everything. My yellow Tang had black spots all over and his fins looked like they were gonna fall off. Luckily I was there to do a huge water change and drop a bag of carbon in the sump. I chucked that skimmer in the trash (it was always giving me trouble) and bought a Coral Box skimmer with an integrated float switch that cuts the pump off when it's full.
I absolutely believe you and it's really a terrible thing. Best if luck cleaning up and getting back on your feet, it'll be worth it in n the long run.
I absolutely believe you and it's really a terrible thing. Best if luck cleaning up and getting back on your feet, it'll be worth it in n the long run.
I know it's devastating. Take your time and let it rebound on it's own, it will. Get a bunch of trocus snails, do a large water change, run carbon and let it re-cycle.
Was the feeder empty when you got back? It sounds like the feeder emptied itself.
For some peace of mind, you can easily leave the tank for a few days without feeding and things will be more than fine. Unless you have a bunch of anthiases or frequent feeders. Typical fish can easily go a week without any issues.
Was the feeder empty when you got back? It sounds like the feeder emptied itself.
For some peace of mind, you can easily leave the tank for a few days without feeding and things will be more than fine. Unless you have a bunch of anthiases or frequent feeders. Typical fish can easily go a week without any issues.
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NavySquid
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Yeah the feeder was totally empty and was enough food for 14 days. Everything died and it smells so horrible. There was nothing left to save funny thing is it had green hair algae growing and and then even some red slime it just went from a perfect tank when I left to a total loss in a week.
So sorry for your losses...
This post definitely isn’t helping my anxiety about my tank that I’m leaving behind for a week. I don’t have fish or an auto feeder though. Sounds like your feeder malfunctioned and caused the bloom and deaths.
This post definitely isn’t helping my anxiety about my tank that I’m leaving behind for a week. I don’t have fish or an auto feeder though. Sounds like your feeder malfunctioned and caused the bloom and deaths.
knowen87
Active Member
I put my fish on a diet for 7-10 day trips. I will feed them like 1/4 the amount I usually do. I also have someone take a look at the tank (friend/neighbor) but crashes can happen. I came home from a vacation once and I had left the lights on all weekend. The glass was covered in algae and everything was unhappy. It could have been a disaster if it had been a longer trip. These things happen. We try our best but sometimes we fail. The best advice I ever got was to not change anything before you leave. Dont change pumps or add auto feeders or move your lights. I had used the apex to turn on the lights before I left and had forgotten to turn them off. Don't beat yourself up though. Like I said it happens to all of us even the veterans in the hobby. I remember hearing about how Sanjay Joshi had a tank crash. He had an issue where his controller firmware was out of date and it didn't send him the warning messages that it should have.
ThunderGoose
Well-Known Member
MY LFS owner also does set-up and maintenance (store is only open on weekends). He has a vacation service where he'll come over and check on your reef tank. I had my husband take care of the tank for 2 weeks while I was out of the country and came back to a bad cyano outbreak. I had left detailed instructions, I guess it just wasn't detailed enough and when the cyano started he didn't even notice. I won't trust him with the reef tank again. Next time? Hiring a professional!
rockstarta78
Well-Known Member
So sorry about your father. It's not easy to deal with the loss of loved ones. And to top it off you have the tank to worry about. I think few big water change with GAC, and GFO would help. Also scrub as much algae as you can. Take a powerhead and blow your rock to get all the dead stuff out of the rock before doing the WC.
