What is the definition of a tank crash?
 

I think I might be on the verge of a tank crash. SPS is dying, leathers have been shedding skins for weeks, zoas closed up, clam only half open.

Fish are fine, levels for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate are zero. Magnesium was around 1360, calcium around 400, PH 8.0-8.2, phospates are high at 0.5, KH at 10.

I have been doing small water changes everyday for the last 3 days, without disrupting the display tank with some visual improvment in the LPS. Am I on the verge of a crash and how do you prevent...

P.S. This happened a month ago aswell and the cause that I believed was the GFO and Carbon I was running in a reactor. I have since thrown all that mixture away and put a little carbon in. After seeing the problem again the first thing I unplugged was the reactor.

I would do a large water change right away. Something in there isn't right, and doing small changes won't be enough to dilute whatever it is.

I have about 60G of water in my tank and sump how much should I replace?

I'd do 30g and see how that goes.

Sounds good be back in 5 :lol:

OK OK a little more than 5 :biggrin: WOW thats a big water change!

Just something to think about, I'd probably do that much as a regular water change :)
I change 50g every other week, which is about 25%. I'd do more, but my bin is only 50g. I change about 75% in my biocube every two weeks.

Something to look forward to when I go bigger eh! :lol:

I think I will increase my amount changed from now on. My levels are always constant, and my lighting is all new with a 250w metal halide and 135w of PC and I have never really had a lot of LPS or leather growth...

Day after big water change no signs or improvment, I will do another large water change. Is there something that I am missing in this equation? Also I am noticing a brown algea creeping on my closed up zoas...

when did you get your light?
 

Just a thought, but if you have a new metal halide and you were running a less intense light you may have shocked your coral.

When we went from the PC light to our new metal halide things were not happy at first. we set the halide about 18 inches off the surface to start on only 4 hours a day. the corals closed up for almost a week then gradually started coming out and looking better.

we have since moved out halides down and are on for 6 hours of halide but it took a while for the corals to adjust.

I dont know if this is causing you issues but you may want to think about the timing of your issues in the tank.

That could be a possibility, when I switch to my new MH I to noticed it took a little time for things to get happy again. Leather and zoas especially can get light shocked really easy in my experience.

I have had the metal halides for a few months now. I since they have been on I slowly increased the time duration by 15 minutes every week. I certainly was hoping that it was something that simple :sad:

Is it better to transfer some items to my other tanks or just leave things be?

Judgment call on your part. If it's some type of disease or contaminant, you might transfer it. Or not...

Are there dieseses that only affect corals and not fish?

How about stray voltage? Do I need an analog voltage meter to check for that?

Anything metal like fall in to the tank or sump? Screw or something else?

If you have a brown algae on your zoas... it is most likely a cyano. Use a turkey baster to clean them off and they will be fine.

As for the issues... wow. Keep monitoring.

As for a huge water change the day after a huge water change... be careful. To do an almost 100% water change in two days may also be detrimental.

Good luck Wayne.

Not that I know of... I noticed the brass on one of my pumps is a pinky color where the hose was sitting...

I only did a 10% water change today and I did pull my zoa's out. LPS is looking better, mushrooms look ok, and only one leather isn't doing good. SPS is 90% dead (just a few small frags, once I get this sorted out anyone got some monti cap they don't want?)

So all in all its not bad, but certainly not right! I have shut my return pump off to isolate the two tanks hoping that if I do have stray voltage its in the sump... Going to get a meter today :sad:

How you try to tell if a clam is dead? Mine is not responsive to light or touch... He is about halfway open... :sad:

Oh and on a same but different note my citron goby is hiding out inside him :)

If it is not responding to light or if it doesn't close or move when you put a little squeeze on the shell it is more then likely a goner, sorry but this is what I have found out with the bucket load of clams I have lost lately.

Aww nuts I will pull him out then and that might help with the nitrites and phospates that found after getting my water tested at Blue World :cry:

When you pull it out of the water see if it reacts and also see if it has a rotten smell, that will give you your answer.

You'll know when you pull it out if it's alive or not because it will smell really bad. I had a clam die on me once but the mantle stayed open and kept its color, it was the foot that seemed to rot away but its unresponsiveness was what made me check it out.

Have you put a grounding probe in your system yet?

Actually no, someone told me that if I had stray electric voltage I would definaly feel it and the fish wouldn't be doing well...

I just pulled him and he is gutted in the inside, his foot smells rotten... :sad: Another casualty. Maybe the contributor of the continuation of the problem....

No, that's not quite right. It only takes a very small amount to affect your corals.
You also may have an intermittent voltage leak, you don't know.
It's a cheap insurance policy. Your LFS will carry it.

Hum ok I will go pick a meter up tomarrow then. Thanks for the advice, I will keep you guys informed :)

The brass thing you mentioned, is it exposed to water? Brass is a copper alloy, so this would be bad...

as to the original question, this is the definition of a tank crash

http://www.members.shaw.ca/crystalk/...ek/bucket1.jpg

http://www.members.shaw.ca/crystalk/...ek/bucket2.jpg

http://www.members.shaw.ca/crystalk/tankwrek/frags.jpg

http://www.members.shaw.ca/crystalk/tankwrek/frags1.jpg

http://www.members.shaw.ca/crystalk/tankwrek/frags2.jpg

Steve

Wow Steve. What sad looking pics.

Yes some of it is, the part thats pinky is covered by hose... The parts that are exposed to water are starting to brown in color... I will pull that pump

I'd maybe investing in something to pull copper, just in case. Any issues with snails or hermits, etc?

Um Steve, thank you for the definition... Wow, I have heard stories of the buckets... Its something totally different to see :cry:

I have two peppermint shrimp and an emerald crab that are fine, I saw a hermit a day or two ago. I am missing two mexican turbo snails (which might have set this all off), as for other misc snails I just realized that I haven't seen any in a long time...

Current death list: Dusky Jawfish, Brittle Star Fish, Maxima Clam, 4 peices of SPS, 1 Pulsing Zenia, 2 Mexican Turbo Snails missing

Here are my pictures, looking pretty empty:

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/y...h/IMG_3319.jpg

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/y...h/IMG_3320.jpg

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/y...h/IMG_3322.jpg

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/y...h/IMG_3325.jpg

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/y...h/IMG_3329.jpg

http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/y...h/IMG_3327.jpg

ya that was when my heater stuck on in the tamp tank while I was removing the sand out of the main tank. I put everything back int he tank hoping it would make it but nothing did.


ya the blue bucket is a 8 gal bucket and the greyish black one is a 20 gal bucket so they are bigger than they look in the pic. to give you an idea the mili in the second bucket pic was almost 20" accross.

Steve

Steve did your fish make it?

Really sorry to read about your fishues Wayne:sad:......I dont think technically speaking you are having a crash, its more of an event.......I dont know what is worse......slowly losing stuff over a period of days or weeks, not being able to figure out whats going on.......or losing everything all at once, like Steve and myself......

how bout this one........

from this
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3.../IMG_04582.jpg



to this.....in about 36 hours (thats a large coleman extreme cooler, about 5" deep)
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP4427.jpg
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/IMGP4426.jpg