Hello everyone, after running my 100+ gallon reef tank for around 6 years it crashed last week, everything died except my fish. I added way too much salt way too fast and the next day I woke up to a cloudy and smelly tank. After several water changes and a lot of skimming the smell has almost gone away. My question is do I need to empty out the whole tank to start all over again, I replaced almost all 100 gal of water in the last few weeks. And I don’t have another place to keep my fish. I took almost all the dead coral out and about 1/4 of the rock out. I’m sure I had an ammonia spike as all my sand is covered in yellow to brown algae. Any tips on how to start again would be appreciated.
Tank crashed
- Thread starter Neostyles
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Alarmguy66
Active Member
You are off to a good start. Stabilizing what you have is of the essence, so removing rock is good, but I'd recommend at least a portion of the sand as well. At minimum siphon off the top where much of the waste will have accumulated. The reason for that is the age of the sandbed (they build up waste over time) and the ability of the sand to hold the additional waste that was likely created by the crash. I'd go about 1/2, left things stabilize over a couple weeks to a month, then the other 1/2. Not absolutely mandatory to do all the sand, but I'd do at least 1/2. Starting fresh (removing it all) seems like overkill, you just need to give the bacteria in the tank a chance to do their job, so I wouldnt remove any more rock. Water changes should drop the ammonia so the fish should be ok to leave, things just need to stabilize. Time, patience and some nudges in the right direction should be enough. Sorry about your losses.
If it helps any, all cycling bac are still in place. That wasn’t an anti microbial action that happened, it was a boosting action that occurred
matter of fact, excessive unusable filtration bac + mixed unhelpful heterotrophs fed by the loss cascade, in excess of what your surface area supports, will be cast away during the prep rinse.
You could clean sand, rinse off rocks in saltwater, and immediately begin again
matter of fact, excessive unusable filtration bac + mixed unhelpful heterotrophs fed by the loss cascade, in excess of what your surface area supports, will be cast away during the prep rinse.
You could clean sand, rinse off rocks in saltwater, and immediately begin again
you should drop lighting intensity first to avoid sunburn to injured flesh
no zeovit a while thats a nutrient restricting/aligning practice for coloration ability, its not a life providing base system. those corals need reef pizza/mixed whole feed like mysis and rods feed etc added then changed back back as a busy exchange system for incoming water.
a nice array of mixed reef fare/nutrients vs precision controlled ones as dosers
to build back mass from a chem burn
unless you can take apart and clean it all, water changes sustained over 2 mos will flush it all back into alignment. the corals need basic protein mass and clean water, that zeovit nutrient control/precision doser system isn't helpful in crash mass recovery.
its our own feed and water change exercise sustained, that brings back coral flesh. switch back to z in a few weeks or mos
no zeovit a while thats a nutrient restricting/aligning practice for coloration ability, its not a life providing base system. those corals need reef pizza/mixed whole feed like mysis and rods feed etc added then changed back back as a busy exchange system for incoming water.
a nice array of mixed reef fare/nutrients vs precision controlled ones as dosers
to build back mass from a chem burn
unless you can take apart and clean it all, water changes sustained over 2 mos will flush it all back into alignment. the corals need basic protein mass and clean water, that zeovit nutrient control/precision doser system isn't helpful in crash mass recovery.
its our own feed and water change exercise sustained, that brings back coral flesh. switch back to z in a few weeks or mos
tehmadreefer
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When my tank crashed from a power outage and everything died I just skimmed and let things run it’s course, which was a big mistake.
best to take sand out and replace or go bare bottom, otherwise you’ll be chasing issues.
NowGlazeIT
Happy to help, Ask away.
Darn sorry to hear about this. I am Definitely not a stranger to this learning curve, I lost a couple of torches when I learned this lesson the hard way.
I don’t think you should continue dosing as much as before. You will be able to ramp back up as you replace livestock. Watch ammonia, add prime if needed or continue water changes.
. You might get cyano blooms from the die off. turkey baste it or suck it up during water changes, skimmer or fudge will help against the die off.
Someone mentioned taking out the sand. This is always a good idea if your sand is cloudy. Sand should not be cloudy, that is detritus. A good 5min bucket rinse with a hose goes a long way.
I don’t think you should continue dosing as much as before. You will be able to ramp back up as you replace livestock. Watch ammonia, add prime if needed or continue water changes.
. You might get cyano blooms from the die off. turkey baste it or suck it up during water changes, skimmer or fudge will help against the die off.
Someone mentioned taking out the sand. This is always a good idea if your sand is cloudy. Sand should not be cloudy, that is detritus. A good 5min bucket rinse with a hose goes a long way.
NowGlazeIT
Happy to help, Ask away.
Are you using activated carbon?
I am running carbon, I never stopped that.
the reason I added salt was my newly acquired apex system told me that my salinity was way to low. After using a refractometer that I thought was accurate it turned out that it was giving me inaccurate results. So then I decided to increase the salt in my water changes. But I overdid it by changing to much in one day.
the reason I added salt was my newly acquired apex system told me that my salinity was way to low. After using a refractometer that I thought was accurate it turned out that it was giving me inaccurate results. So then I decided to increase the salt in my water changes. But I overdid it by changing to much in one day.
dadnjesse
Valuable Member
Don't trust the Apex salinity probe, mine is all over the place. It's best to calibrate the refractometer with 35 ppt solution. If you start over I would keep the Rock wet so to not loose the bacteria.
reefiniteasy
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What do you mean you added way too much salt? I’m very confused on what you did to cause the crash. Very curious.
Alarmguy66
Active Member
Well dont beat yourself up over it, learn and be a better keeper as a result. You arent the first on this forum to make a mistake, and you wont be the last. I think it would be nice, once things recover, if you could create a new thread documenting what happened, why, and how you recovered from it. Turn the experience into a learning tool for others. Make some lemonade.
I didnt consider lighting, but that was a solid recommendation if any of the coral survived (lowering the lighting). Water changes, dosing, skimming and carbon should be sufficient but no dosing. Give things some time and steady the course. Good Luck.
I didnt consider lighting, but that was a solid recommendation if any of the coral survived (lowering the lighting). Water changes, dosing, skimming and carbon should be sufficient but no dosing. Give things some time and steady the course. Good Luck.
Leslie Tabor
Valuable Member
This is my question as well. Were you adding salt directly to the tank?
I am sure you know by now you should not add salt to the tank. If increase in salinity is needed, top off with salt water and let the elaboration increase salinity.
Once a reef tank crashed, IMO and IME, it is best to reset up the whole thing. Do you have sand?
I would get one or two trash can and empty 1/2 of the water. Bring your fish out of the tank into these trash can. Remember to have aeration.
Once the fish removed, you can clean up the tank, clean up the rock then rearrange the whole thing. If you make sure you clean the rock in salt water, there will not be a cycle. Once you can remove almost all the organic from the rock and siphon all the organic off of of the bottom of the tank, add new water and turn back the circulation, then add the fish once the temp stabilized.
This way, there will not be a cycle, and the tank can start relatively fresh with minimal stress to the fish.
Good luck
Once a reef tank crashed, IMO and IME, it is best to reset up the whole thing. Do you have sand?
I would get one or two trash can and empty 1/2 of the water. Bring your fish out of the tank into these trash can. Remember to have aeration.
Once the fish removed, you can clean up the tank, clean up the rock then rearrange the whole thing. If you make sure you clean the rock in salt water, there will not be a cycle. Once you can remove almost all the organic from the rock and siphon all the organic off of of the bottom of the tank, add new water and turn back the circulation, then add the fish once the temp stabilized.
This way, there will not be a cycle, and the tank can start relatively fresh with minimal stress to the fish.
Good luck
