The nightmare we hope never happens

luxauterna · Sep 8, 2015

Well .... the nightmare happened . We went away on vacation and I had my sister looking out for the tank. I don't know how early into the trip one of the power strips failed, but it did. This strip had the return pump, skimmer and heater on it. I came home to a brown, frozen, dead tank. Most of the corals are dead, and I have only found one of the fish thus far. Today will be filled with water changes, new equipment, and trying to get things stabilized . Sigh

steelheader.262 · Sep 8, 2015

Sorry for your loss

143MPCo · Sep 8, 2015

ouch, very sorry that happened to you!

TheEngineer · Sep 8, 2015

Man that sucks....Sorry to hear.

luxauterna · Sep 8, 2015

thanks everyone. . I have some good news out of this though. It looks like though the fish are very stressed, most are still alive. There were few to begin with anyway. Most of the coral has died, but parts are still living and may make a come back. Water tests are good

143MPCo · Sep 8, 2015

luxauterna said:
thanks everyone. . I have some good news out of this though. It looks like though the fish are very stressed, most are still alive. There were few to begin with anyway. Most of the coral has died, but parts are still living and may make a come back. Water tests are good

some light at the end of the tunnel... that is good news!

4FordFamily · Sep 8, 2015

That's good news. Sorry, we have all had it happen (those of us in hobby awhile anyway)

luxauterna · Sep 8, 2015

3FordFamily said:
That's good news. Sorry, we have all had it happen (those of us in hobby awhile anyway)

Yea. My wife and I were just talking about that this morning. We have been hit by most of the nightmares in this hobby thus far in the six years we have been enjoying it. Bugs, tank glass breaking (spraying water everywhere), and add equipment fail while gone on vacation to the list lol Part of the hobby I suppose. I'd like to invest in a controller, but even the notification while I was overseas wouldn't have helped my sister much understand how to deal with a faulty power source.

KDawg0623 · Sep 8, 2015

That is an awful thing to happen. But glad there is a positive in it also. I hope all of the corals with living pieces comes back to full health for you

Wiz · Sep 8, 2015

Sry, that's awful:-( glad some are ok

kschweer · Sep 8, 2015

Sorry to hear this. Best of luck turning things around.

steve&mari · Sep 8, 2015

Sorry to hear about this hopefully the fish pull through and you're rebuilding soon the corals collection.

luxauterna · Sep 8, 2015

thank you everyone

d2mini · Sep 8, 2015

Sorry to hear!
Best you can do is learn from the experience.
I hope some stuff recovers for you! Keep your head up!

dieselkeeper · Sep 8, 2015

Sorry for your losses. Hope more livestock makes it than you think.

I have my return pump on a separate GFCI circuit. Basically I installed a GFCI on an outlet not being used in that room. And used it for the return pump. Maybe you do the same to prevent this from happening again.

luxauterna · Sep 8, 2015

dieselkeeper said:
Sorry for your losses. Hope more livestock makes it than you think.

I have my return pump on a separate GFCI circuit. Basically I installed a GFCI on an outlet not being used in that room. And used it for the return pump. Maybe you do the same to prevent this from happening again.

Ya I think I will be doing that. I was planning on installing an additional GFCI circuit higher up on the wall anyway and I think I will use it for this.

dieselkeeper · Sep 8, 2015

It is in different breakers. So if lights, powerboats or what ever trips, your return pump still has power.

Cleo642 · Sep 8, 2015

Sorry that happened to you. If you use the ecotech mp wavemakers, they make a battery backup for them. Make you afraid to go on vacation because there are all kinds of horror stories out there.

scardall · Sep 8, 2015

Who was watching your tank? Hmmm??? Could she call you? Or a LFS or a Trusted fellow fish person. I feel your plight. I had a neighbor tell me that she could get into my house and she had a key and my number. Just SAD. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Install cameras linked to you Cell phone. Just in case you have something fail . Good Luck

Reeferside · Sep 9, 2015

This hobby almost makes us not want to go on vacation...

Not sure if that's a good thing

Best of luck, last time I went on vacation my auto feeder crapped out and dumped all the food out. Luckily I have lots of hungry shrimps and only came home to a tank filled with disgusting algae