What would you do with this reef?

[H2O]

It's not so bad I was crying when my colonies bleached some were 12x8 and I grew them from one inch
When things start bleching the water gets a smell to it of the dead coral its best to do some big water changes throw out the skeletons or sell them as reef art
Or recycle in a calcium reactor . You still have bunch or things worth saving .
It's the competition who got the best tank looking etc that makes us always change things around
Fix what's not broken etc sometimes its better to keep it simple my tank was looking better when I was a newbie
Who knows adding new coral might have bad bacteria that can get them sick or u had a cemical war between some corals that set things off
I think u should stick around with technology in the fishtank world changing so fast in a couple of years a full blown reef will be easy to keep
Its harder in a mix reef things slime from time to time who knows what it is but one thing is for sure a crappy looking tank is better then not having one at all.

 

[SDguy]

Those pictures are early on... most things, besides the gorgs, are gone...

I agree, I've heard the whole concept of mixing too many types of corals causes problems... I'm just surprised it took 6 years to happen. Maybe I was wrong... yet I see people with mixed reefs older than mine....

 

[cdness]

Sorry to see the loss. I can say I have had some rocky days with SOS where the issue was unexplainable and I had no idea why massive death comes over the tank... It's hard, but I Fragged stuff up and started again. Change out he water and get it going again. Crashes suck, but so does being without the reef tank.

 

[o2manyfish]

These are horrible stories to hear. Years ago I had a rat drop into my surge tank, and it pumped all the water out of my tank -- unforeseen plumbing design on my part. Came home and there was 5" of water left in a 400g tank. Filled the tank back up with water, the corals looked spectacular. Turned the pumps back on and the color just exploded off of them and everything turned white in less than a minute. I sat across from the tank for days in tears.

The second major disaster was when a laborer dumped a wet dry vac of concrete dust into the outside sump. The tank was bagged in the house so that it didn't get any dust in it. So never noticed the grey water in the tank and the 18" foam head in the display tank.

After the concrete incident I hap hazardly tried to get motivated but it didn't work. So about 6 months later I shut down all the equipment but the circulation pump and just let it sit for almost 2 years.

But if you are a reefer addict, that itch will come back. And eventually it did and I turned everything on and started collecting again.

Take a break if you just don't have the burn to get right back in. Throw an auto feeder on the tank if the fish are doing okay. But walk away from the tank until the tank starts calling you back. You've been in the hobby a long time, don't react too quickly.

Dave B

 

[3Twinklets]

I have faith in everyone here on R2R so I just know that Someone will help you figure out what happened. Step back for a week or so and give yourself a chance to get over this and I think you will come to your answer. I am pretty sure the answer will be that you received so much enjoyment from that tank while your goodies were in there that you couldnt possible imagine not having it anymore.

 

[stunreefer Verified Sponsor]

So sorry to hear this Peter. Keep your head up, can be extremely frustrating when we can't figure out what happened.

 

[JMSKI333]

SD Guy,

Did you do anything different this week than the previous weeks before? Maybe something was in your water change?

 

[chort55]

Man that really sucks! I know the feeling recently I lost all my sps (including several LARGE colonies) took a couple days but I finally figured it out (and what the burning plastic smell was that I couldnt find was...), when a skimmer pump locked up and basically melted down in my sump without tripping anything... it blows, I'm still not 100% what we are going to do and its been a few weeks now. flipping back n forth on taking it down (180 inwall) and just setting up something smaller, or redoing it so I get that dilemma as well, goodluck and keep us posted!

 

[Squishie89]

I agree with taking a break. Give the living stuff to your friend or sell it. Focus on your FOWLR tank, maybe spruce that up a bit. You can even now go through sites and see what other things catch your eye that you could not have before.

 

[mrbncal]

Sorry to hear this . . . your tank was beautiful. Any chance this was a stray electricity issue? You description of animals affected fits the symptoms. I know a person who lost corals "suddenly" and it was traced back to this. Just thinking out loud . . .errr . . . you know what I mean.

http://www.farmertodd.com/library/rkessentials/electricity.asp

 

[sexycorals]

OMG PETE!! man i finally click on this thread.. i thought it was a thread about saving a reef or something... but sucks it turned out to be this..

What ever you decide to do. FOWLR, Start over mix reef, or just get a couple kois fish .. i got you covered.. I cant say how yet in the public forum but trust me just shoot me a PM and ill tell you why i can help you in whatever you decide.. :wink:

I always take things in a positive way.. so maybe its the coral gods telling you to start over and make the next reef 10x better.. gonna be hard since your reef was so nice but i believe you can do it..

 

[SDguy]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts, ideas and kind words!! They are much appreciated. I think for now I'll just leave the tank as is, leaving the MH for only 4 hours a day, and removing the chiller entirely. I've got my 240g FOWLR to keep me occupied, so I won't be bored

I may redo it eventually, maybe try my hand at NPS... maybe even koi, Mike