Vacation disaster

[ttbuc40]

Came home yesterday from vacation to find that the power had been out for at least a few days. All fish dead, most of which I've had for 5+ years and one I've had for 13. Heartbreaking is an understatement and now I'm watching thousands of dollars of corals die in front of me. Trying ro save what I can but need some advise. Did a partial water change but just caused a bacteria bloom. Full water change? Move what I can? Or wait it out?

 

[Reef man 89]

Man that is horrible news sorry for you loss.

P.S Tom Brady is a trader
@ReefSquad

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

I am sorry this sucks. I would get some poly filter and some carbon going ASAP. Water changes are a good idea. Wait it out as your tank will rebound. Don’t bring the temp up to fast. You never know what may survive. Good luck.

 

[mtfish]

That is tough to come home to. Do you have an extra tank or something to hold water? I would move as much coral as I could into new water until the bacteria bloom is under control. You can use a powerhead to circulate water in the temporary holding tank.

 

[JumboShrimp]

So I got to sleep-in on a Sunday morning, but woke up to this. I feel incredibly sad for you; very sorry for what happened. ;Nailbiting

 

[ttbuc40]

Don't have anything big enough to hold all of this...

 

[tehmadreefer]

Had this happen a few years back. Best thing to do is water changes and get the sand bed out and either rinse it, get new sand or go bare bottom. You are essentially are needing to remove all the dead stuff that will get trapped on the sand bed and will cause issues down the road.

 

[mtfish]

Don't have anything big enough to hold all of this...

I see what you mean. Then lots of activated charcoal and good agitation of the water to keep O2 up until the bloom goes away.

 

[av8soulfly]

How horrible. What a terrible tragedy to come home to. So sorry for your loss. I wish you the best success with the rebuilding, renewing, and refreshing of your beautiful reef.
Keep doing water changes, run Poly filters.

 

[dwest]

Very sorry! I would make sure things are up and running, do normal amounts, but more frequent, water changes and do ammonia tests for a while. Do a large water change if required to reduce ammonia. I would also do more frequent alkalinity monitoring. Then hope for the best. You might be surprised what survives.

After things have calmed down, think about prevention for next time. I have an mp60 on one battery backup and one mp40 that has 2 batteries in series. Again, very sorry!

 

[Smarkow]

In terms of corals, I would not remove any that appear to have died for at least a few months. I had a salinity issue a few months back with some major die off, and probably 25% of what I thought was completely dead has come back, but didn’t show signs of recovery until recently.

The amount of organics released by most coral die off will be pretty miniscule. You’re probably through the worst of it already.

Agree with above advice in terms of:
1) don’t raise temp back up too quickly
2) lots of carbon (toxins and organics)
3) lots of agitation in the display to oxygenate the water (and to get those organics foaming and over the top, so they can get down to your sump and skimmer!)
4) Keep changing water, few high volume changes >>> frequent low volume
5) Do get any dead critters out, but leave any corals in place as they might recover

Terrible loss. Hang in there and best of luck to you

 

[HockeyRooster]

Had this happen to me a couple of months back and ended up losing all but one fish-none of my fish were older than a couple of years though. I feel terrible for you. All the best in battling through this.

 

[ReefGrammie]

I am so sorry to read this. Vacation disasters have always been my biggest fear in reefing. I can only imagine how you feel. I've had some of my fish for 6-12 years and I can only imagine the feeling. Sounds like you've had some great advice. Best wishes for a successful recovery!!

 

[MnFish1]

I had this happen as well - the best thing imho - is take out all of the obviously RTN'ing coral - to prevent further 'contaminants' in the tank - you can put them in another tank with fresh water to see if they can recover. The Live rock, and coral that just seems to be 'closed' - leave in the tank - do a 100 percent water change - (temp and alkalinity matched - and make sure you've removed all the dead fish. Then - carbon, polyfilter, etc - high flow - and another large water change the next day. Then - wait. with water changes as needed for nitrate spikes, PO4, etc. Be patient - It was hard breaking half dead peeling RTN'ing coral off - and throwing it in another tank - but - after 3 months or so - it was amazing the number of corals that came back - if you look at my build thread - below -the large hunk of GSP - which is about 18 x 8 inches - remained closed for 3 months.

 

[ttbuc40]

Thanks for all the well wishes and advice. Looks like gfci tripped and didn't power back on when the electricity came back on.

 

[Thaxxx]

Thanks for all the well wishes and advice. Looks like gfci tripped and didn't power back on when the electricity came back on.

Was it your electric that stayed off for a few days because the gfci tripped, or was it your whole neighborhood?
That is one of the downfalls of a gfci. They need someone to reset it. Does anyone know of a reliable self reseting gfci? Is there even such a thing?

 

[G Santana]

Sorry for the loss, it's tough when you lose pets!!!

 

[robbyg]

Was it your electric that stayed off for a few days because the gfci tripped, or was it your whole neighborhood?
That is one of the downfalls of a gfci. They need someone to reset it. Does anyone know of a reliable self reseting gfci? Is there even such a thing?

There is no such thing as an Auto resetting GFCI. There is an Auto GFCI but that means something completely different and I suspect that this may have been the OP's problem!

In the GFI world you have manual and Auto units. The Manual versus Auto only has to do with the state of the power outlet will be in after a power failure. The Manual type will remain OFF after a power failure until you press the reset button and then the outlet will be energized. The Auto kind which is what most of us use "I hope" is the kind that is automatically ON after a power failure. Both models still require someone to press the button if the unit trips due to a fault.

When I was setting up my third Tank in 2005 I did not know all of this and just put in a GFCI that looked heavy duty. I was lucky enough to be home when we had the first power failure because when I started the Generator the Tank did not come on. I had to press the GFI reset button to power back the Tank. A quick call to my electrician and he explained the problem and within a week I changed the GFI to an Auto based unit. I have never had an issue since then.

If your not sure what you have I suggest you throw the circuit breaker to the tank and see what happens when you turn it back on.

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks for all the well wishes and advice. Looks like gfci tripped and didn't power back on when the electricity came back on.

That happened to me as well - which then affected the Apex. The 'house sitter' who we had arranged to stay there called a day after we left to tell us - oh by the way the water in the tank seems kind of cool. I thought - no big deal will just get a heater. I just happened to ask - how are the lights working 'what lights?' Is there any flow in the tank? 'What flow?'...... she decided to call us a day after noticing so she wouldn't bother us on vacation.

 

[SeaJay]

Thanks for all the well wishes and advice. Looks like gfci tripped and didn't power back on when the electricity came back on.

That sucks. I have my return pump plugged in on a separate circuit. If the gfci under my tank trips I’ll lose lights, wavemakers & automatic feeder. If the sump gfci trips I’ll lose skimmer, return pump and heat. Still not good, but a far aight better than losing everything.