Are you guy’s familiar with Microbelifte products line?
http://www.microbelift.com/
They have some products that I believe can make the difference, check it out. This company specialized in commercial waste water treatment. They have an aquarium products line that I had good results using it. I even had friends who managed to populate the aquarium in couple of days using these products.

Thanks Marie, I'll be taking you up on that one day soon :wink:

When you're down this way, stop in.

Wow Christy, this is just heartbreaking to read. It is also extremely scary for those of use with a lot less experience than you - how will our moves/transfers go.

Once the dust settles, it would be extremely helpful if you could write a kind of "lessons learned" post of what happend, what you think the reasons were and what you would do differently next time.

I know there is a lot of info in this post already but I think we could all benefit from your thoughts and perhaps save another reefer from the same devastation.

I hope things turn around quickly for you.

Something like that is difficult at best. I've moved three times, twice without a hiccup, once with results similar to Christy's. Did the same things all three times, it just didn't work once. No idea why. If I tried to give some reasons, they would be guesses only. Mostly, sometimes shite happens. As a habit, I've always given away lots of frags in the event I need some things back for exactly this type of reason.
Christy does the same, so when she's ready, half her stock is in my tank, and she just needs to come pick it up. The new incarnation will be even better than the last.

I'm still thoroughly convinced it was a temperature issue. The corals just got too cold sitting on the floor and its likely there was enough of a temperture difference going into the tank or enough length of time in the cold that they just didn't like it.

In hindsight:

1. have a full day open for moving the tank. dont' have the shaw guy screw it up halfway through.

2. if this is unavoidable have a husband thats willing to actually leave the shaw guy to drive the truck and trailer to move the tank for 30 mins. Have him not be the guy in the shaw commercials that has the 3 cheerleaders ready and waiting in the background for the full nfl package to be hooked up. (excited much?)

I've moved twice without problems, I've torn down tanks and reset them up, I've upgraded a few times, never have I seen this type of devastation. Minus the delay in moving the actual tank, I moved everything exactly the way I've always moved it with previous success.


Things I can see I did wrong:

1. moved the livestock to the new location. I should have left it at the old location with a regular floor, frags would have acclimated to room temperature (which at the time was stinking hot for humans, lovely for corals). They can sit for quite awhile at normal temp, not so much for the cold (at least the cold makes for a bitch of acclimation which I didn't do as I was freaking out about the temperatures).

2. possibly didn't start damage control soon enough. My reluctance to use chemical means may have been a hindrance because prime sure fixed the problem in a hurry. Not sure what the ramifications will be down the road, however daily 40g waterchanges should be exporting a goodly portion of it.



Ammonia is zero and I woke up to 4 more pieces bone white this am. The fun continues. this will be my 4th 40g waterchange this week. I am done.


At this point I'm going to have the easiest upgrade ever. Move rock over, move fish over. Done.


Brad and Marie. I love you guys :biggrin:

We love you too. Might even have some of Shao's pink birdsnest to cut for ya :)

Christy, I may be coming over to the Island soon; would be happy to frag up some pieces for you.

Christy really sorry to here this.

I took my tank down at home about 3 weeks ago. Had the same problems . Lost a few fish though as well. Had them in a bucket with my clams and believe one of the clams spawned while in the bucket. Lost a maculates and corris wrasse most of the damsels I had and two clowns. Lost some of my zoas in the move and about 5-8 SPS colonies in the move as well. Most of my LPS made it ok. I moved the tank into a 72 bow I had at work and most of the SPS went into a 40 breeder set up a week before the move.

The SPS I lost hurt but I was a little on the outs with them because they had Acro eating flatworm . They suck big time. I was throwing colonies out happily as they started to rtn or show signs of being eaten in hopes that I was getting rid of most of the eggs and them. The remaining pieces are looking better and not so eaten.

Other then that I am not looking forward to setting one up again at our new place in December.

Chris

thanks Lance, I'm going to try to hold of on restocking for awhile and just let the tank settle out (ya ya we'll see how long that lasts).

the water quality has taken a dive overnight, did my wc this am but its not as clear as yesterday. guess this is round 2.

Really sorry to hear about your losses Christy. I have lots of stuff here you can have when you are ready to repopulate your new tank.

sorry to read about this Christy.. you probably remember when I lost everything due to a heater sticking on in a temp holding tank.. one thing I will warn you about is with a die off of this size you could be loading your rock with crap.. I had nothing but algae problems when I restarted the tank.. in hind site I should have cooked the rock instead of just startting everything going again.. or bought new rock. so it is something to think about anyways.

Steve

So it would seem that the ammonia levels are finally down to zero in my tank. (see here for past events)Thanks to chandigz for dealing with my tank issues while I was away!!! The tank went into a second downturn a couple days before I was due to leave for a work course for 2 weeks and thankfully he battled the ammonia issues for me and tried to save a few pieces.

Did a waterchange tonight and hauled out more dead bits. Theres 3 colonies up front that I haven't taken out yet, mostly because I'm lazy, and the milli (its behind the regal in this photo) has a couple of acro crabs in it that need to go to the store. That gorgonian on the right is also toast. Pretty depressing.

Oh and of course the fish have ick....and the wrasse looks like he has had a run in with a wayward rock or something.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...july272009.jpg


Surprisingly enough, the LPS are livin large (as you can see, they're providing the only coral color to the tank except for that lovely dead green A. valida in the middle, hello phosphates) and two SPS that I totally thought would be goners (A. batunai and killer cerealis) are browned out, no polyps but other than that look completely fine.


Its been a painful few weeks and well, I can't say I'm overly enthusiastic about the hobby much anymore. I think I'll stick to feeding and watering the tank for awhile. However I am going to get a raccoon butterflyfish, the majano population has exploded. Either that or I couldn't see them before for all the corals.


Man I sound like a total whiner :razz:

Anyway, just thought I'd post an update for those interested.

i feel you pain

i think the less dead stuff you have too look at the better, take them out and move on, blame it on the move or someone you dont like

awwwww damn Christy.

Stop by when your ready.. I have another Precious for you, and what ever else you need a frag of. if I dont kill em all in my tank move.

Damn, I was hoping things would have turned around for you while you were gone. I feel for Ya.
I think you've made a good decision to let the tank be for awhile; probably going to have a nasty algae outbreak soon.
When things settle down and you're ready to go again you've got friends who will love to help you get your tank back to where it was or even better.
Chin-up!

Don't forget the frags that I have for you....they're doing very well and will be ready whenever you are, in a few months or longer...no hurry! And I'm sure you can find a thing or two in my tank that you need...so come with clippers in hand!

So sorry to read of your troubles. This sure is a "if it's not one thing it's another" hobby at times. Seems like every day brings another challenge, buts that's what I like about it. It fits with my OCD tendancies and fills my masochistic needs.

Good news is there is a frag swap coming up. :biggrin:

Hope to see you there!

LOL, best thing I have heard all day!!! :razz: