well... pretty much lost it all !!
 

I just got back from 10 days vacation...... and the worst has happened. I had someone checking the tank (the neighbour kid) and doing the usual maintenance, you know, feeding the fish, changing the filter socks, checking water level... the usual stuff. Given that I have a chiller, there was no need to tell him to watch the temperature, because there was no way my chiller would fail..... well you guessed it. I got home today to 95 degree water, dead fish, dead corals... especially all my sps that I have been growing for a few years now. The tank is nothing but stew. The good news is I have 2 Tangs that are still alive.... not happy, but still alive. There may be a few LPS that might make it, but it's too early to tell.

I got mad, I cried, I thought about blaming everyone I could think of..... and now I am just depressed. I don't know if I have it in me to start all over again. I have spent so much effort to get my tank to where it was.

I haven't decided yet, but there may be a huge sale of all my stuff in the next few days. I need to sleep on it before I decide.... until then I am going to get really drunk !!!!!

................I hate this F_______g hobby !!!!!

just thought I would share.....

Jim

Man that sucks Jim, having just been there myself (well not quite as bad) I know exactly how you feel. I don't know if I'd have it in me to keep going after losing it all though. Hopefully your Calgary reef buddies will rally around you and get you back on your feet. Not much I can do from here but let me know if theres anything I can help out with.

My condolences :neutral:

I am so so so sorry.

If you decide to stay in I would be more then happy to donate a few SPS frags the next time I'm in town, which is probably in a couple of weeks.

Ahh Crap... Sorry to hear this Jim. :sad:
I really hope you do keep plugging away. It would be really sad to see you go.

Ryan.

Ah geez...I'm going on vacation for 10 days next week...95 degrees!!? That seems really, REALLY warm. Do you know what causes you tank to be so dependent on a chiller?

Oh man, that's just awful Jim. If we can help at all let me know. We've still got a 75g going that could possibly house a couple things.

Jim:

Aww, man. There's really no consolation I can give that won't sound cliche.

If you need help cleaning up, whatever, let me know (651-3450). I could also "coral sit" some of the ones you think survived, until they get back to speed.

I don't do SPS, so I have nothing to donate...but I'll help if I can!

sorry to hear for your loss JIm. i myself am in calgary and just got back from 3 weeks vacation with NO chiller. i had a girl topping the water off thats it. Mind you i did have 1 cleaner shrimp die causing a near disaster. How warm is it inside your house? Again- sorry to hear about your reef

Jim I am so very sorry to hear about your loss. I know that I have also lost a number of SPS corals this summer due to heat and just being away so much and not being able to do proper maintenance. It sucks!

Ouch Jim, that really sucks. Well assuming I still have a tank when I get back from the holiday I am on right now I can fix you up with some frags.
Just give me a call when ever you're ready.

Aww man Jim! Lemme know if I can be of any help!

After reading all that one might consider lowering light output down to minimal lewels before vacation.
This will not affect corals and might just save the whole tank in cases like this

what do you consider minimum hours of MH lighting?

Sorry for you losses

Ah dam it that is rely raely realy bad luck...hope you start over.

Sorry to hear of bad news, did you find out what caused the chiller to failed? Regards Ken

Been there, done that (not quite as bad) and know the feeling. Sometimes you wonder why you keep on keeping on, don't you? So sorry to hear about your losses. I am going on holidays in September and am now pretty nervous about my brother (non-fish-dude) taking care of the tanks!

Sorry for your losses.
I just started my 2 weeks holidays Saturday and am across the country near Toronto. After reading your post, I am more worried about my tank back in Alberta. Our house sitter (she hasen't lost anything yet looking after my tank in the past) told my wife yesterday the temperature was 42C in Lethbridge. I hope the AC doesn't fail.

Thanks for all your kind words. Everything in the tank continues to die today. Some of the LPS I thought would live, have died today. All I have left alive is 2 Tangs and 6 Chromis and a large candy cane coral .

The chiller was still on and circulating water when I got home yesterday, however the coolant/fan part of the chiller is not working. I think that the chiller was in fact heating the water instead of cooling it. The chiller is a Pacific Coast Chiller CL650

http://oceanaquatics.com/store/produ...1-4HP-Chiller/

If anyone knows what might be wrong with the chiller, please let me know.

I am going to turn my tank into a FOWLR. I will have about 100 lbs of live rock for sale if anyone is interested.

Jim

I'm pleased to hear that your staying in the hobby, but I still feel horrible for your loss.

The horrible heat wave in Alberta is making thing crazy. My big tank in the basement constantly stay around 28-29c during this time with all the heater unplug and 2 MH light that that cycle 30mins each for an hour in the morning and evening so total of 2 hrs per day to keep temperature down. Already lost a head of Frogspawn the other day when it hit 31c even the tank in the basement =( before I reduce the MH time

reply
 

-sorry to hear about that, you had it so established to, well thats aquaraiums
leave em' for a certain amount and you never know what to expect when u
get bak-

That's not good to hear.

I have read about this happening again and again to different people's tanks.

The only way around it I can see is, tank crashes are inevitable after enough years go by, we have to back each other up by donating corals to anyone whose tank crashes. Kind of like an insurance policy for reefs.

Don't give up on this hobby. Other hobbies and pursuits are easier but less rewarding.

I phoned the company that makes my chiller and they told me that most likely the fan in the chiller that keeps it cool stopped working. That caused the chiller to overheat continually and then shut down. When it would cool down, it would start up, overheat and then shut down again.....repeatedly.

My house was closed up over this hot spell and friends told me when they checked the house it was stifling hot. This, combined with my MH lighting caused the tank to heat so quickly

I now have set up an external fan blowing into the chiller and it is working fine again.

I guess it is Murphys law.......... the chiller worked fine for 2 years.... the week I go away is the time the fan decides to seize up.

I hate this Murphy guy.... whoever he is !

Sounds like the same setup I have with mine. External fan, front panel off. In my case the fuse would just blow and end of story. I don't know which is worse.

Reef_raf had the same problem with his (fan stopped working) I think. Maybe he'll chime in here or you can PM him for a fix. :biggrin:

Sorry to hear about your losses Jim. Its heart breaking for sure. I agree that Murphy should go take a jump in the lake.

I third the not-so nice thoughts towards Mr. Murphy.

May I ask which tangs you had that survived?

Hey, to Jim or any other Calgary area reefers....I'd be willing to stop by anyone's home every few days while they're on holidays, to make sure everything is ok. It's not too much hassle, compared to the thousands everyone has spent on their reefs.

Perhaps a small frag could serve as payment :)

Hi Catherine,

It was my Blonde Naso and my Yellow Tang that survived. I have had them both for over 2 years.

Tangs are surprisingly resilant I'm finding.

My regal was the only tang to survive all of the fish death that happened last week. I was wondering if there was a pattern in resiliancy or something.

Horrendous! :( I'm so sorry Jim. I'm away for 3 weeks too atm, but if there's anything I can do or help set you up with, please let me know.

Im Sorry to hear.

No need to sell bud.

I will be glad to fire a few frags in there to help with the christening !

Marc.

You have some frags for sell eh?

Nope..sorry i dont, i will trade for other corals or equipment.

I will give a few to you, if your tank crashes and you are ready to give up though. :D.

Marc.

NO im not about to give up on SW but defenwtly FW all my ciclids are dieing:cry: :cry: :cry:

Sorry about your tank Jim. I think everyone should put Murphy on their ignore list, that might teach him.
I can give you a couple of Pulsing Xenia colonies if you are interested and possibly a frag or two of my zoos to get you started again.

I could maybe pitch in a few hairy mushrooms.