HELP!!!! Pendant light electrocuted my 150.
 

The night before last, one of my pendants fell into the tank and electrocuted my entire tank. The light was off but it was still plugged in.

The only things living are the fish. The house reeks like dying corals. My clam doesn't react. My sps are sliming, all maxi minis (5) are retracted, my duncans are sliming and retracted, zoas are all closed, NOTHING reacts to light. I fear the worst.

I did a 50% water change, changed carbon but the tank is still sliming.

Anything else?

Man that sucks! Sorry to hear.

You should do another huge water change. Ideally in the 90% zone.

Sorry to hear that :sad: water changes and carbon should help

Sorry to hear that.

Water changes are the best thing to do and some carbon/cuprizorb.

If you know someone who can babysit your corals and the clam it might be best to move them to a stable tank.

Was it a fluorescent fixture? How long was it in the tank?

Cheers,
Tim

Yes, it was a compact fluorescent, 24 inches. It fell in at an angle.

I've been busily putting my $$$$ corals into my daughters pico nano while I test the parameters of my 14 gallon QT that is currently curing liverock. The rest are just going to have to try to hang on because I have no more room.

The snails and bristleworms are dying off and I've got my puny skimmer going full tilt. I am pulling all the deads out of the tank as soon as I see them.

Will it have killed the copepods and othe beneficials in the liverock? What about the sand?

sorry to hear.
the bacteria in your tank should be fine.
it may be more contamination from the light than electrocution.
waters changes and carbon for sure.

It happened overnight the night before last. So I surmise 10 hours maximum.

This has been playing over and over in my head, soooo..........I've decided to empty this tank and go back to my 55 gallon for several reasons, 1) water changes. I don't have an RO/DI so this means having to go, 5 gallon four at a time, down to the local water store, 2) the invert die off. I have so many snails in my tank that I can't keep up with the die off and am having to shake each piece of liverock off and inspect it for any dead bristleworms/snails before putting it back into my tank. 3) replacing lights. I am now down one of my ballasts and if anything has pushed me to going led, it would be this. 4) liverock. I've been trying to keep my lights lower because I haven't had enough liverock to build my reef high enough for some of my corals, until I can purchase enough liverock to build my reef higher. 5) equipment. I've been trying to limp along whilst improving my equipment piece by piece. It may be better to get the equipment first and then move to a larger tank.

One month. I had my 150 for one month. I think I will use it over the summer for aquaculturing some trout and then see about starting it back up come freeze up.

Sorry to hear. Yeah, probably a good idea to take a step back and redo the tank later when you have the time, money and equipment to set it up properly. Good luck. Water changes and carbon will help.

Anthony