When Disaster Strikes it strikes !!!

[oneilwiz]

Hey everyone happy refeering,

it's bad enough when you loose a love one to cancer and to return home from a two week travel to a Dead Reef Tank. Almost 95% of corals are dead as well as fishes. [emoji27]. My fault even though I wasn't thinking properly. Short story my return pump burned up for out of water because my skimmer went crazy overfilling the 5gal bucket I use to collect waste. So depressing and discouraging. I used a 20 gal for ATO which ran out, I had a camera on the tank but a horrible one. Apex notified me of temp drop but was too far away to react. Family comes first.

Happy reefing guys for am not certain I will continue this hobby. My fishes I had are over 6 years [emoji26]

 

[Roy 9121]

So very sorry for your loss.

 

[Robink]

So sorry.

 

[Fin]

Sorry for your losses. I know exactly how it feels to come home after more than a week away to a dead tank. I figured that was it for me and sold - or threw away - everything I had pertaining to reefing. It was a mistake, because 6 months later I was buying a new tank and starting all over again. Think about it long and hard before you get rid of everything. If you really enjoy the hobby, you may likely want to get back in sooner than you think. Good luck to you.

 

[rmhlll]

Very sad. Sorry.

 

[cmcoker]

Sorry this happened on top of everything else going on in your life.
Agree with Fin though. Maybe take a break, give yourself some time before getting rid of everything. It may be a chance for you to start a new, make some changes to the system you may have thought about, being more experienced and wiser for the loss.

 

[Finatik]

That's tough. So sorry that happened.

 

[oneilwiz]

Thank you everyone, seems my day is coming around a bit, well return pump is dead, I found a old spare one. Just saw two of my clown fish as well as my flame angel so far, I can't sit and make them suffer no more so I am making some saltwater now. I am hoping I will find my wrasse wifey bought for me for 6 years now she is attached to it out of everything in the tank. Wish me luck...

 

[Flippers4pups]

Thank you everyone, seems my day is coming around a bit, well return pump is dead, I found a old spare one. Just saw two of my clown fish as well as my flame angel so far, I can't sit and make them suffer no more so I am making some saltwater now. I am hoping I will find my wrasse wifey bought for me for 6 years now she is attached to it out of everything in the tank. Wish me luck...

Prayers coming your way! Hang in there!

 

[Bosko777]

Good luck!

 

[Lionfish Lair]

Awwwww, I'm so sorry this happened to you. That's terrible :-(

 

[FishGuyBri]

Sorry for your losses all around. Hope things even out for you.

 

[KTownReefer]

Sorry for your losses. Please let us know if you were able to save the rest of your fish. Hopefully some good will come from your tragedy.

 

[40B Knasty]

Sorry for your losses. Hard enough to deal with one and then come home to another. You did what was initially right. I wish I had some corals big enough to send you a small frag pack. To get ya started again. Take care of what you have remaining. They need you and I am sure it will be therapeutic to keep your mind occupied. Once again sorry for your losses. Take care!

 

[Lovemycj7]

sorry to see that happen to you. Thank you for sharing though you may have saved someone else from having this happen to them.

 

[PJS]

So sorry for your losses. Like others have said, step back take a breath and regroup. Don't lose the dream or your faith for brighter days are ahead.
Good luck and may you reef on my friend...reef on

 

[2Wheelsonly]

Sorry to hear man!

I always fear of my skimmer overflowing when i'm out of town. It's like these things have a mind of their own and try their best to screw you over sometimes. If I leave for more than a day I always turn my skimmer open to avoid this stuff. Would rather run almost skimmerless than come home to a dead tank!

 

[ShellSea]

Bummer. Hang in there. I have not had the personal human loss you had recently but I did just have a tank crash due to a stupid error on my part. Forgot to reconnect a module that controlled my heaters. Woke to a 98 degree tank. Lost all fish and coral. A few zoas and crabs made it. Not giving up though and neither should you if you love the hobby as I do. Opportunity to improve the tank. I have my first new fish order coming Friday. Been a month since the crash. On the skimmer thing, check out Avast Marine. Their skimmate locker saved me a mess numerous times. Good luck and again, sorry for your loss

 

[oneilwiz]

Thank you everyone for your warm wishes, after two days and testing all my water parameters I can confirm that all is in correct range except for phosphate a bit high 0.03. You guys as well as my wife have talked me out of calling it quits especially when she realize late last night after looking for the Wrasse he was hiding in the sand .

Total Lost:
1. All SPS frags and Softies
2. Yellow tang as well as Hawkfish
3. Return Pump

All other corals in the tank color is faded but not bleached out. I have a very large Orange Monti which looks like it can survive.

All being said, I have been doing some thinking and looking to redesign the tank but not to break it down;
- Looking to stick to only Softies and LPS perhaps one species
- Looking to change the Aquascrape rock work
- Thinking about keeping heaters ( connected to apex) in the display tank so that if return pump should stop running the tank is still heated
- Perhaps this gives me the chance to grab a Ecotech Vectra L1 as well as a reef link since this can tell you when the pump stops or something is wrong.
- Looking into to grab the avast skimmate locker for the skimmer ( thank you Shellsea for your recommendation)
- Purchase a UPS for power if electricity should be out

Most importantly I am looking at how to best prevent this in the future. Keep you guys posted....

 

[Leadfooted]

Sorry for your loss and no doubt family first. Take a little break after the clean up and keep in mind your tank could be great therapy to clear your head.