Throwing in the towel?

[Pete polyp]

When I arrived home from work yesterday the smell hit me just as soon as I walked in the door. It was the unmistakable smell of corals and it was very strong. As I walked into the room where the tanks were the smells even stronger and I knew something bad was awaiting. Turn the lights on to the tank and there was slime everywhere. The SPS were all pale and looking very rough. Never micro brittle stars and bristle worms littered all throughout the tank. Once the fish came out of hiding their swimming on their side upside down floating around in the current not knowing which end Was up. So of course at this point I have no clue where to start where to go all I could do was stare. I had all I can take out of this tank and I don't even know if I want to continue in the hobby anymore.

 

[jolt]

Oh no, that's horrible!

 

[twilliard]

When I arrived home from work yesterday the smell hit me just as soon as I walked in the door. It was the unmistakable smell of corals and it was very strong. As I walked into the room where the tanks were the smells even stronger and I knew something bad was awaiting. Turn the lights on to the tank and there was slime everywhere. The SPS were all pale and looking very rough. Never micro brittle stars and bristle worms littered all throughout the tank. Once the fish came out of hiding their swimming on their side upside down floating around in the current not knowing which end Was up. So of course at this point I have no clue where to start where to go all I could do was stare. I had all I can take out of this tank and I don't even know if I want to continue in the hobby anymore.

Oh no you don't give up!
Find the cause and correct it!
Here is a virtual hug and support

 

[twilliard]

How long do you think it was like that?
Don't give up

 

[kschweer]

Very sorry to hear this Pete! I hope after you think it over you decide to stay. I have come close to hanging it up a few times but I'm glad I didn't. Best of luck man!

 

[hybridazn]

Oh no that stinks man! Keep your head up, step back and take a breath and figure out the issues. Best of luck bud!

 

[NeverlosT]

Hang in there. Trust me, if you are in this hobby long enough, we all suffer catastrophe. But we are reefers! We are persistent and pig-headed! We prevail where any normal or smart human would have given up!

Take it as an opportunity to re-vamp and improve your system. Increase the safeguards and redundancies. Make it a challenge that this will never happen to you again.

Good luck!

 

[drstratton]

I'm so sorry, I can't even imagine it. Don't give up! I gave up 4 years ago, and I'm so glad I'm back now! I've appreciated the knowledge that you've shared and it would be missed if you left!!!

 

[twilliard]

I almost gave up when I lost a pane seal at the bottom.
I was close happened last December.
Water everywhere, fish has 2 inches to swim in. Corals exposed.
I re sealed the tank after thinking long and hard about it.
I came back with a vengeance !

 

[Triggreef]

Sorry to hear. Hope you can make a good save, don't leave the hobby. To many getting out as is. Your pretty influential and helpful in the forums, hate to see you go. I'm sure r2r community would step up to help you out. Hit me up when I'm get things fixed I'll get you some frags.

 

[steve&mari]

Don't throw in the towel you'll miss it. I'm also glad I'm back after leaving for health issues. I regretted it almost immediately and have been happier now then without a reef. Problems will come and go. Don't let a problem dictate your leaving the hobby.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Dang bro! This sucks! So sorry to find out you're having to go through this. As others have stated, I hope you'll stay in and overcome this hurdle. I know most of us have experienced days when we want to call it quits (and usually it is due to an issue such as this), but, man, we love having you here as a part of our community. You add a lot to R2R, and I know you can bounce back from this! So...as others have said, I would hate to see you leave the hobby and R2R. Let us know if we can help in any way. We're here to help if at all possible.

 

[Shep]

That sucks but don't give up!

 

[reefwiser]

Be there know the feeling but I never let things get to me that bad. What caused the problem? Electrical issue possibly?

 

[TheEngineer]

Ugh! I'm really sorry. Don't make any decisions now. Try and recover what you can and then decide after your tank is restabilized.

 

[dbl]

Sorry to hear this Pete. Hopefully you'll figure out the issue and come to a quick resolution. Hang in there and good luck.

 

[Cleo642]

Sorry Pete. Maybe if you don't wanna keep corals anymore just keep a fowlr tank. If the fish are still living, save them.

 

[KJ]

Sorry to hear this but don't give up!

 

[Pete polyp]

I know what the problem was this time and it's my fault.... kalk overdose. This is the 4th time this tank has crashed in under 2 years. I just don't think I can take coming home to a tank mostly dead again. I don't know where I'm going yet with it. At the moment I'm trying to bring this ammonia level of 2.5 down. Mixing water now and dosing prime. All of the fish except the black cap basslet is out and about in the tank at the moment. There's a few dead snails I'm fixing to dig out and try to Siphon as many of the thousands of micro brittle stars and bristleworms piled up everywhere. To top everything off I had a shipment of fish come in today and the entire box was doa. That is actually a relief because I was scrambling on what to do with all of them. I have 3 options in considering.... a getting out of the hobby sale, waiting it out or draining the tank and rebooting. I'm pretty sure the rock in the tank is completely dead from the massive numbers of dead critters everywhere. Although I have seen a couple chitons around still. There's no sign of pods, bristleworms, micro snails (or whatever they're called) and I think I saw a couple gelatinous blobs that use to be large chitons (2"+). At the moment I'm just going through the common protocol to try and salvage what I can.

 

[Pete polyp]

And I do appreciate all the support you guys. I apologize if I'm a little bummed at the moment.