Why do most tanks crash?

[F i s h y]

High speeds and poor coordination?

No seriously, it's typically people going to fast or mistakes made by the reefer.

Then there are power outages and other things we don't prepare for that catch us blind...

 

[Turnage]

Heater failure has got to be one of the more common causes.

 

[WyoMt.Chef]

Often see people saying that their tank crashed and they have started over. Obviously, there are multiple reasons why it could, but I am surprised by how many people have had to deal with this. Is there something in particular that usually causes it to happen?

Can't speak to a tank crash thankfully and I am definitely new to the hobby. That said I have had unnecessary stressors that maybe could've caused one and I have been responsible for all of them. I now take a long time thinking about any interactions I have with my tank. I am definitely the most dangerous thing to be in the water so far.

 

[Nano Chris]

When I was little I had a freshwater tropical tank & the fish died because the heater failed. Then 10 years ago I had a heater fail & that was the reason I took a break from the hobby. (This happened a few years into the saltwater hobby) Just getting back into the hobby the beginning of this year I started automating everything & doing everything I can to prevent loosing my tank so I bought an apex. Eventually I want to get a backup ups & possibly a small generator. Gonna get a video camera too. Even tho I’m doing these things you can never 100% prevent something from happening.

 

[TheDragonsReef]

For beginners its usually parameter swings or adding stuff too quick then when stuff dies it cascades and kills more stuff.

For everyone else its usually equipment failures. Heater broke and cooked the tank, chiller failed, dosing pump stuck on, tank or plumbing leaks, top off issues, stray voltage etc

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Management!? Patience!? Believe!? Knowledge!? Advise?

Most who had crashes or and never had a conditioned tank, those who stopped and left the Hobby very disappointed, I think they are not aware why it went wrong,. Who does know why it turned out badly? If they had known, they would not have let it happen? Would they?
Someone who left the hobby very dissapointed, I do not think that person is still visiting the forum for answering this question.

 

[WVNed]

A tank crash used to mean when everything dies in a few hours. Now it means most anything.
My tank crashes have all involved equipment failures like a heater explosion while we were at work.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Reusing the sand could cause the ammonia spike

Typical! Why blaming the sand and not the rock? or something else? Sand is easily cleaned! How comes a new tank is not conditioned for what is coming?
When the ammonia spike was noticed? Probably when the problems became visible. Did ammonia cause the problem or has the problem caused the ammonia spike?

 

[Lindaanne60]

some time tank crashes for its own reason, most of the times human error.

I had a tank “crash” 2 years ago. Moved from 90 to 120 , 90% of coral and fish died within a week ,for some reason got huge ammonia spike right after the move. Used all the rock , sand from original tank, didn’t add anything new.

Reusing sand is never a good idea. Lots of toxic gases get trapped in sand. When I upgraded my tank the sand from the old tank stunk so bad. I would think it’s the sand that did it.

 

[Lasse]

Reusing the sand could cause the ammonia spike

If knew that before the move, I would’ve saved myself time and money.

A very good reason to have good sand movers in your tank... I vacuum my sandbed once a month. Give it a bit of a stir on my weekly water changes...

My 180, which is too deep to reach easily with the gravel vac, fortunately doesn't need my help. The triggerfish I have does an extremely efficient job of reorganizing the sand to his own preference lol... I smooth it out once in a while just to keep him busy.

Reusing sand is never a good idea. Lots of toxic gases get trapped in sand. When I upgraded my tank the sand from the old tank stunk so bad. I would think it’s the sand that did it.

I always reuse my sand - doing that give always a good start with bacteria without buying very expensive bottled stuff. But of cause - I handle the used sand the same way I handling new dry sand - I clean it in freshwater first - when I do not see much dirty stuff coming up - I put it in the tank. Doing this - never get any startup or cycling problem. But I do not clean the sand with bleach or peroxide - if you do that - it is worthless in a start cycle - it is like new sand

Typical! Why blaming the sand and not the rock? or something else? Sand is easily cleaned! How comes a new tank is not conditioned for what is coming?
When the ammonia spike was noticed? Probably when the problems became visible. Did ammonia cause the problem or has the problem caused the ammonia spike?

In this case - I´m with you

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Appoloreefer]

Often see people saying that their tank crashed and they have started over. Obviously, there are multiple reasons why it could, but I am surprised by how many people have had to deal with this. Is there something in particular that usually causes it to happen?

About 4 years ago I had a 100 gallon FOWLR tank crash and I lost almost all my fish, I was so sad but I started over and I am not sure what happened unless gasses got built up- in the sandbed and were released. I had sand sifting snails and a horse show crab and wrassee but there was nothing else wrong with the tank. That is why when I started up again I went bare bottom.

 

[Ocean’s Piece]

When my dad kept reef tanks as a teen, he told me that his tank crashed because he had a lion fish that died, released all of its poison and killed every single thing in the tank. Luckily, I have never had a tank crash

 

[Timfish]

. . . The problem is that our tanks are not static structures, things change. . . .

So true! Everything is changing constantly and stable does not mean static. There is always stuff reproducing and dying daily if not hourly. We also can't test for organic forms of nitrogen and phosphorus. The organic forms of nitrogen urea and amino acids are corals preffered form of nitrogen. We can test for the microbial stuff in water (See Aquabiomics) but we can't test for individual coral microbiomes.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Problems may be caused by standard management.

In most cases increasing inorganic nutrients are just the messengers. Blaming the messengers will not solve a thing. They do not kill!!
Often standard management is limited to the removal of increasing nitrate and or phosphate levels instead of correcting the cause.
Removing only part of organic and inorganic nutrients will make it impossible or very difficult to remove all nutrients and buildingmaterials which then will build up and of which some may become highly toxic at high concentrations. The unbalance will gradually increase. One day it will go wrong despite all known parameters have been kept as advised. The messengers will be blamed.
Water changes only will delaying the inevitable.

 

[Reeflier]

In my 40 years of Salt Fish keeping, I only had one crash about 15 years ago. It happened when I added several new small fish to the tank without quarantining them. In addition, we left on vacation the next day for 2 weeks, and upon returning I didn't look at the tank before leaving for a few days on business. All bad things to do in a row. My wife called the next day to tell me everything was dead but 2 clowns and they didn't look good. I managed to save the clowns and still have them today, but they lost most of their fins before I could return them to good health.

I'm currently getting my first real reef tank setup and plan to introduce ONLY quarantined fish to the tank. As an aside, although my 2 clowns look really bad, I think they are healthy since they've been in the tank for 15 years with no additional issues except looks. I'd love to add them to the new tank since they have been tried & true, survived a tank crash, and are sort of part of the family. But I worry they may be carriers of some issue that I don't want to introduce to a new tank. I'd appreciate any thoughts you all have.

 

[JCM]

I've had one tank legitimately crash in the last 15 years. That tank had been running for 2-3 years and everything looked great up until that day.

Our cleaning people came and within 24 hours, every coral in the tank was dead. The owner came out to discuss afterwards along with the employees that were there that day. They swore they didn't use any chemicals near it. The same people had been coming for a year+ and knew not to touch the tank. We also have kids that could've thrown something in. I never did figure it out, but I'm almost certain it was chemical contamination that caused it.

 

[LAX Noob Reef]

Top crash would be either these few:

Power outage
ATO went wrong
Doser went wrong
Feed too much

 

[Paul B]

It's terrible when a tank crashes. Not only for the monetary loss and loss of creature life, but for the trauma many people experience.

I have never had my tank crash but I have killed many of the inhabitants by accident twice.

 

[Rockit]

I spent months trying to figure out why all my corals and inverts were suddenly dying off at an alarming rate along with a sudden explosion of algae. Constant small WC's, huge 75% wc's, black out, new rodi filters, different salt.... couldn't figure it out. It was so bad even my GSP died off and the kenya tree didn't need to be yanked every week. Literally everything else died in about a week.
Discovered part of a metal hinge missing and later found it had fallen in the sump. What was formerly bright chrome was now a corroded mess.
I removed it, did daily 5% wc's and everything stabilized in about 2 weeks.

It's been 6 months and back to rock solid.

 

[mindme]

Often see people saying that their tank crashed and they have started over. Obviously, there are multiple reasons why it could, but I am surprised by how many people have had to deal with this. Is there something in particular that usually causes it to happen?

water quality.