Tragic loss...

[justjes45]

So... I screwed up and now... what?

My tank had sprung a leak, was warrantied, and today was my day to do the big swap.

I have to say, everything was going flawless... I had planned ahead and had a BUNCH of mixed salt water, with bubblers and heaters.

I pulled out the fish, corals & other misc critters and started tankscaping.

After I filled new tank, I was letting it run abbot to let the water clear and get an accurate salt reading.

My rocks with corals went in, with a couple of hitchhikers, and this is where it went wrong.

I remembered I was supposed to be in town at a one hour meeting in about 5 mins.

I left the final bucket with a heater and a bubbler going. I would be back in an hour, right? [emoji22]

No.
2 1/2 hours later, I got home and that ONE heater spiked so hot. Killed all my fish, cucumbers, snails,... most of the hermit crabs. I lost an incredible number of corals, I hope the Zoas open back up...

I am in shock. I am sad. I am so angry at myself....

I have one question.

There are a few corals and a couple of snails that I can not tell if they are dead or not... I put them in the tank, but if they are dead, will they screw up my water? I don't want to cause a spike and kill the remaining life I have left.

[emoji17][emoji17][emoji17]

 

[Texas Reefer]

So... I screwed up and now... what?

My tank had sprung a leak, was warrantied, and today was my day to do the big swap.

I have to say, everything was going flawless... I had planned ahead and had a BUNCH of mixed salt water, with bubblers and heaters.

I pulled out the fish, corals & other misc critters and started tankscaping.

After I filled new tank, I was letting it run abbot to let the water clear and get an accurate salt reading.

My rocks with corals went in, with a couple of hitchhikers, and this is where it went wrong.

I remembered I was supposed to be in town at a one hour meeting in about 5 mins.

I left the final bucket with a heater and a bubbler going. I would be back in an hour, right? [emoji22]

No.
2 1/2 hours later, I got home and that ONE heater spiked so hot. Killed all my fish, cucumbers, snails,... most of the hermit crabs. I lost an incredible number of corals, I hope the Zoas open back up...

I am in shock. I am sad. I am so angry at myself....

I have one question.

There are a few corals and a couple of snails that I can not tell if they are dead or not... I put them in the tank, but if they are dead, will they screw up my water? I don't want to cause a spike and kill the remaining life I have left.

[emoji17][emoji17][emoji17]

I am so sorry for your losses! How big is your tank?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Oh man. Sooo sorry.

Put some bacteria and you may have some water changes coming but that's about it.

 

[Marlon2024]

Man that sucks sorry about your loss but atleast it happened now and not when the tank was fully stocked. Get a thermostat for the heater. You'll bounce back

 

[justjes45]

Was a 30 gal- now a 40.

Thanks guys- I feel better knowing you guys are out there...
It is lonely for a salt water fanatic in Vermont. Don't know what I would do without this site...[emoji173]️

 

[brett_schn]

Was a 30 gal- now a 40.

Thanks guys- I feel better knowing you guys are out there...
It is lonely for a salt water fanatic in Vermont. Don't know what I would do without this site...[emoji173]️

Hey atleast u can drain the water and restart unlike me who just had a brook out break in my 10g. Lfs who I bought everything from are qt them now but I couldn't add any fish or anything for at least 4weeks

 

[justjes45]

Wow-- that is hard as well!!

 

[Heliarc19]

So sorry, it will be better than ever soon enough

 

[Rick.45cal]

Sorry, it takes so little to lose everything. Keep your head up and get back going again!

 

[Cory]

I put a heater in a 10 gallon overnight that was 150 watts. Turned out it cooked everything. It should have been a 25 watt heater in a 10 gallon not 150w. This was 15 years ago. The things ive learned since then..

 

[Labridaedicted]

Sorry to hear that! I lost almost all my livestock in a move one time. Terrible experience to have gone through.

Snails you'll know quick if they died because they are the absolute worst smell if they die. If they're not coming out of the shells, they are likely dead or dying. Zoos are tough. As long as you keep an eye on your parameters and do water changes when you see nutrients creeping up, you should be good.

One thing to keep an eye out for is zoas releasing toxins since they're stressed. You may want to run carbon a few days if you don't normally.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

Sorry this happened to you! I experienced a crash recently and lost a lot as well. It is tough but you will get through it and as you start to see life in your tank again you will bounce back!

 

[DeniseAndy]

I am so sorry. We all make mistakes and some cannot be helped. That heater should nave never cooked the water like that. They are designed to turn off at 78degrees. However, I have yet to trust a heater. I use an Apex for my large system and need to get some thermostats for heaters on my small systems. Honestly, in my 6 gallon, I do not use a heater at all. It is room temp.

Good luck, you will come out of this okay.

 

[RobertN]

So sorry to hear about your situation! That's a horrible feeling. Hope you are able to save some of your critters! Some folks above posted about getting thermostats for their heaters--can any of you post a link to an example of such a thermostat that could be used on an aquarium heater? Thanks!

 

[DeniseAndy]

http://www.aquacave.com/aquarium-heaters.html

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Well look at it this way. what if this heater was in your display tank. maybe would have killed everything... it sucks loosing anything but was it a messed up heater? how long did you have the heater? or was it accidentally set too high?

 

[justjes45]

I think what happened is I had the temperature set correctly, but I used a heater that was designed for a 30 gallon tank in a 5 gallon bucket. Lesson learned. The new tank is stabilizing and I got a tester fish and everybody seems OK so far.[emoji1303][emoji226][emoji173]️

 

[Cristy17]

Sorry to hear what happened. This hobby can be so rewarding and at a split second, become so devastating! Glad some of your occupants are looking better!