Tank Crashed, bummer

[NS Mike D]

I would cut out as much as possible. Unfortunately it looks a little far gone.

thanks i was concerned about doing any more disruptions to they tank, but that's what i thought

 

[telsonman]

The cloudiness is probably from a bacterial bloom. The voltage could have caused it, maybe. That shouldn’t have killed the coral. I had a light fall into the tank, and was just seeping voltage into the tank. I didn’t lose anything. That little ammonia wouldn’t have killed anything I wouldn’t think. There has to be something there. I wonder if you had a temp spike.

 

[NS Mike D]

one of the nems died, i wonder if that was also contributing to the nuking of the tank. still very cloudy water. some of my grape culepera in the fuge bleached tonight, so i pulled that. I think i may try another water change tomorrow the tank doesnt start clearing

 

[NS Mike D]

the tank was much clearer today. I removed all the bleached corals, trimmed the candy canes and lowered its placement and moved the surviving, but still struggling nemo to a loweer flow lower light area - especially where the flow wont't be in direct line with the rest of acros.

I am pretty sure the current from the melted pump power cord triggered a coral melt down including at least one nem, that released toxins/chemicals leading to a chain reaction of stress and death.


I believe the tank has turned the corner, I'll know for sure in a day or two .....

There are 4 of the newer to the tank cherry corals that are extremely faded, I am hoping, in time, will rebound.

Since I don't have a frag tank or quarantine, I decided to put the 6 new JF corals that were delivered the morning of the crash in the tank. It's gamble but I am somewhat optimistic the water is in good shape and my decision was influenced with not wanting to lose these in the temporary beta tank.

The fish appear to be fine and are swimming about their business again.

Well, I suppose a tank crash is a rite of passage in this hobby.

Thank you for the support and advice r2r

 

[Airwarf]

surge protector, no gcfi or grounding plug

If you're remotely handy I'd highly recommend installing a GFCI or even easier, getting a GFCI power strip.

 

[NS Mike D]

last night's numbers
Temp 78.0°
pH 8.0
NH3 0.25
NO2 0.0
NO3 4.0
PO4 0.08
K 9.8
CA 450
Mg 1480


I expect that it will take time to re-establish the tank's ability to absorb nutrients. I did feed yesterday given the fish are back and about, but I'll have to cut back on food that would have otherwise been used up by the corals and micro fauna. i have some live phyto I can add a few mls to help to use up the NO3 and PO4.

The new corals are doing OK as they go through their acclimation.

the duncan is coming back strong

the frogspawn are slowly recovering

new coral, Coolers Turaki

 

[NS Mike D]

also, I have enough reef crystals for about 60 gals of saltwater, although, with the lower coral demand the RC alk may to too much. I suppose I should pick up some Instant Ocean for the near future but in the meantime, I think I will make frequent small changes to help control the NO3 and keep the K stable.

what do you think?

 

[Paul Howard]

KH rather high now, why do you think?

 

[NS Mike D]

KH rather high now, why do you think?

reef crystals published alk is 13 dkh (although I think that drops over the 24-48 hours of mixing) with the 50% emergency water change and the loss of coral uptake, I wasn't surprised to see it near 10.

 

[netdawg]

that devils hand could be a big problem for you if it stays that white and shedding. I'd chalk up a complete loss on the SPS and maybe try and lower the lighting intensity at least on the white phase for a week or two if possible. Man, my stomach aches for what you're going through right now!

Suggest you shave some of that devils hand back until the tissue looks at least viable, consider some added clean up crew inhabitants for if your LFS has hearty little hermits. If you micro dose the iodine it can't hurt the tank, but just keep doing those daily tests to watch for spikes and note the iodine will drop with the water changes. There are a bunch of us out here feeling for you on this one. Best of luck on the recovery.

 

[Sarah24!]

I would the pics you posted of the coral dying they are sadly gone. I’d cut out the devils hand, but be careful some corals will release toxins in the water and kill the rest of your corals. If you cut it out I’d use an xacto w a new blade. Cut as much as fast as you can and remove it. If your not running something w active carbon, I would suggest you do. I’m curious as to how this crashed your tank unless threw the whole breaker system. I have experienced salt Crete getting into one of my power strips and snap crack pop it blew the breakers. But my wave makers and heaters and returns I run on a separate circuit. I’m curious if that tripped the whole tank, and it sat w out heat, circulation etc for more than 8 hours.

 

[UM Aquarium Club]

While corals bleaching can definitely result in death I wouldn't necessarily say all of them are dead. Also surprised about the current running killing the stuff. I would say its more likely that the current/stray voltage in the tank likely impacted things like your anemone which in dying off caused really poor conditions for the rest of the tank. I've seen multiple tanks that have had spare current from shorted pumps experience no coral die off even though it was enough to stick my hand in and jump back. While looking dead some corals and particularly acros can be pretty resilient in having zooxanthellae return. I would primarily work on clearing up the water and keeping nutrients low after you've had all the death and not worry about the sps right now other than making sure to check for any other signs of tissue dying off/decaying

 

[Brew12]

I know I'm late to the party but any time there is a failed electrical component in a system I recommend running Polyfilters along with GAC. If your motor or power cord uses copper conductors (some use aluminum) and it is exposed to saltwater while conducting electricity it will corrode very quickly. Polyfilters will help pull any copper out of the water. They will also work with the GAC to pull toxins from melted plastics and other corroded metals from the tank.

 

[Rs951]

I'm sorry for your loss, Im actually extremely afraid of something like this happening to my tank... I don't know if I can startup again after. Be strong my friend.

 

[UM Aquarium Club]

I know I'm late to the party but any time there is a failed electrical component in a system I recommend running Polyfilters along with GAC. If your motor or power cord uses copper conductors (some use aluminum) and it is exposed to saltwater while conducting electricity it will corrode very quickly. Polyfilters will help pull any copper out of the water. They will also work with the GAC to pull toxins from melted plastics and other corroded metals from the tank.

Agreed, while I don't find electricity itself to be super detrimental, at least in small amounts, corroding metal can have pretty dire consequences for corals and fish.

 

[NeverlosT]

All of that SPS is dead, and that devils hand needs to be cut out and removed. The tank cannot recover if it is full of rotting tissue.

That is great news that some of the corals are recovering! If you suspect metal poisoning then you can run some chemisorb and it may help absorb metal from the water. A bit pricey but a triton ICP test could tell you for sure what is in the water too.

I feel for you on this, and I think that you're doing great since the incident. But I want to share my opinion that we must never think "a tank crash is a right of passage", we should never assume that mass death of our animals from time to time is a necessary part of the hobby (imagine if folks talked like that about cats or dogs, yikes!). What I would say is that it is a tragic learning tool, and you will be an even better reefer when you make it through the other side.

Good luck, keep her stable, don't change your routine, just fix the faulty equipment, install grounding plugs and GFCI outlets to prevent issues in the future! We only win if we prevent the failure from occurring again!

 

[NS Mike D]

Thanks everyone. The sun rose and so the tank continues the rebound. I did remove that devils hand and this afternoon I removed another leather that was shedding flesh. At first I trimmed it back all those shedding arm stumps, then had second thoughts before putting it back in the tank. I didn't want to risk it.

The new corals from the JF auction are holding up very well. The surviving nem is eating and the clowns are visiting it throughout the day and night.

A quick picture; there line of green from top left to bottom right shows the duncan back to pre-crash shape, the frogspawns recovering very nicely and the cherry coral pumkin patch sammy coloring back. The setosa is still very faded as is the green damicornis - not visible in the pic is the burning banana stylo but that one is pretty much toast.

before and after pics of the pumpkin patch psammacora

^^^ from a few days ago, looks even better today.