When was your last crash?

[Devonjevon]

I know this is a grim subject but I actually had a dream last night that my ex girlfriend poured bleach in my sump. Got me thinking. When was the last time your tank crashed? And why?

I been reefing since 2006 I have had 3 tank crashes
1st was in 2006 when my ATO line fell underwater and siphoned out 2/3 of my water while I was at work
2nd in 2007 when I started using ozone and the ORP went to 590 over night. And killed absolutely every living thing in the tank. The rocks even bleached white.
Final one was in 2008 when I got the bright idea that if you can dip corals before you introduce into your main display. Maybe I can use the same medicine and dip these 2 huge 15 pound pieces of live rock in coral dip give it a quick 2 min rinse off and put it directly in my tank. Hey I wouldnt get aefw or nothing.. Well yeah no good.

Any other experiences?
We all can learn from each other.

 

[Troylee]

The last 2 months I have exp a crash.. Cause unknown besides a penny in my top off jugs..

 

[ToXIc]

i'm waiting on my 1st... :sad:

hopefully my husbandry is good enough to avoid one


OT: you probably had a bad breakup if you dreamed your ex pouring bleach or she's just psycho?

 

[firsttime]

I experienced a semi crash if you would. I lost all my sps a year ago, it was because of a bad Alk test kit. LPS and Z and P were ok.

 

[cdness]

I have not had a system crash yet in my time reefing... knock on wood...

I have had losses when moving tanks, but I don't think those count as crashes...

Many of the equipment related crashes are preventable. Unfortunately I don't know of any way to prevent an ex-girlfriend from pouring bleach in the sump or someone putting a penny in the tank or top off... I guess the ex could be prevented by changing the locks

 

[Salty Dog]

three years ago I added another 100g sump to my system that was up for 1.5 yrs, I have a 250g display loaded with SPS all grown out, After we plumbed it in we had all the vallves off , I had 100 g of mixed salt water that I pumped into my new 100g sump, Then I opened the valves and the system was operational, I then go up stairs to see my display and every sps corals was sliming bad, the next day they were all dead, the fish lived but coral no. Not sure why this happened but it was devistating. Since then Ive been preety stable, with my share of little issues.

 

[swannyson7]

I actually had an ex pour a gallon of bleach in my 55 back in 2004, but I haven't had a major crash since then. I've had a few large-scale fish mortalities due to power outtages, but no significant bleaching or recession problems with coral. Prior to 2004, I had one major crash when I added a pH buffer to increase pH and measured incorrectly.

 

[CJO]

My only crash was when I first set up the tank and had an "expert" from my LFS show me how to do everything. He unfortunately set the CO2 wrong on the calcium reactor and I came home to an aquarium full of gasping fish and a pH of 6.8. I was fortunate not to lose anything. Worst $80 I've spent!

CJ

 

[Dowtish]

I actually had an ex pour a gallon of bleach in my 55 back in 2004, but I haven't had a major crash since then. I've had a few large-scale fish mortalities due to power outtages, but no significant bleaching or recession problems with coral. Prior to 2004, I had one major crash when I added a pH buffer to increase pH and measured incorrectly.

Wow....

 

[swannyson7]

Yeah, she was pretty sadistic....

 

[Dowtish]

That is messed up on so many levels.

 

[swannyson7]

I was headed overseas with the Army about a month later, but I was still heartbroken. I wanted to pay it forward to all of the local reefers who had helped me out and instead I lost everything. I came home from work to an overpowering smell of low tide, a cloudy tank, and an empty bottle of clorox on top of the light fixture.

 

[wingman1234]

wow thats always been my nightmare to have some one slowly poison my tank. but thats just plain wrong. I'm sorry to hear that.
I've had several crashes the first was a sudden addition of red bugs and aefw that devastated alot of what i had in like two weeks. another big crash came when the calcium reactor drip valve fell off by the time i got home the alkalinity was 24 i didn't bother checking the ph. the one thing that would be useful is when moving your tank. if you have a deep sand bed start removing some before a month before you move put it in small plastic containers like sandwich size and put sand in them and but the time you move put the lids on and you will have a portable deep sand bed that won't shift around that much in the moving process.

 

[bige]

My dreams consist of me building go carts with my ex-land lord.....

I had a heater explode. Killed everything but the fish. Took 6 months for coral and invertes to live in the water again. The heater was replaced and I caught it moments before it exploded. I knew the warning signs this time.

 

[BeerNut]

Tank crashed about 2 months ago when I used Flatworm -x to get rid of some red planeria. Not blaming the product at all because it did kill the flatworms. Killed all my fish and most of my corals.

 

[Dowtish]

So the toxins that the worms put off while dying is what did it.

 

[BeerNut]

So the toxins that the worms put off while dying is what did it.

Yep. Was prepared to syphon out the bodies with water and everything else. The only thing I didn't do was run carbon. The toxins affected my tank instantly.