Worst weekend ever.

[asylumdown]

So, this month has been rough, I've been out of town for work more than I've been in town, not more than 48 hours in the city in a row since the last weekend of June. So my tank was looking a little rough around the edges, but my tank sitting team has done me a serious solid and kept things running. Until to worst happened:

Was out of town all week last week, came home Thursay night to fin out one of my 8 radions is pooched, keeps blinking on and off. I think 'no big deal, I can fix it later'. So I leave Friday morning again with detailed instructions for my tank sitter. But I made one tactical error. No one who feeds my fish ever wants to deal with the stinky effluent from my protein skimmer, so when I go out of town, I point the hose on the collection cup at my dedicated drain and don't worry about it. It's worked so far, but this weekend it went seriously sideways.

First, on Friday after we left the HVAC company came to install a second AC unit at my house because the one they originally put in couldn't keep up with floor to ceiling south facing windows (which I tried to tell them multiple times but what the hell do I know), but they didn't finish the job so they just thought to themselves 'hey, let's just leave for the long weekend, and yah, don't worry about turning any of the furnace system back on'. The tank sitter calls on SUnday to let me know that the coolest room in my house was 34 degrees. I don't have a chiller.

Second, I guess at some point my skimmer went nuts. From the looks of it, it went nuts either late Friday or Saturday. It started overflowing, and since the effluent was going straight own the drain, it just kept overflowing. And my ATO just kept topping up. And up. And up. Thankfully, (or not, depending on how you look at it), the skimmer emptied the sump faster than the top off could fill, so eventually the pump started blowing air and shut off. Since I only gave the sitter instructions on how to run the vortech pumps for feeding time, and what to feed, and he was only here a couple times a day, he didn't know anything was wrong. From his perspective, the fish were still eating, and the water was still moving.

Fast forward to me coming home today. The pump was trying to re-initialize itself and sucking air in the process (hurray for Jacuzzi tank). Half my coral is dead, with another 20% looking not long for this world. The Salinity in the display was 1.013, and the sump smells like rotting fish.

I'm hoping this isn't the preamble to a massive tank crash, because right now, the fish are looking fine, even my new CBB seems totally unfazed. I'm working on getting the display out of the danger zone, and doing a 100% water change in the sump.

Everything all at once right?

[Rice Reef]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

So, this month has been rough, I've been out of town for work more than I've been in town, not more than 48 hours in the city in a row since the last weekend of June. So my tank was looking a little rough around the edges, but my tank sitting team has done me a serious solid and kept things running. Until to worst happened:

Was out of town all week last week, came home Thursay night to fin out one of my 8 radions is pooched, keeps blinking on and off. I think 'no big deal, I can fix it later'. So I leave Friday morning again with detailed instructions for my tank sitter. But I made one tactical error. No one who feeds my fish ever wants to deal with the stinky effluent from my protein skimmer, so when I go out of town, I point the hose on the collection cup at my dedicated drain and don't worry about it. It's worked so far, but this weekend it went seriously sideways.

First, on Friday after we left the HVAC company came to install a second AC unit at my house because the one they originally put in couldn't keep up with floor to ceiling south facing windows (which I tried to tell them multiple times but what the hell do I know), but they didn't finish the job so they just thought to themselves 'hey, let's just leave for the long weekend, and yah, don't worry about turning any of the furnace system back on'. The tank sitter calls on SUnday to let me know that the coolest room in my house was 34 degrees. I don't have a chiller.

Second, I guess at some point my skimmer went nuts. From the looks of it, it went nuts either late Friday or Saturday. It started overflowing, and since the effluent was going straight own the drain, it just kept overflowing. And my ATO just kept topping up. And up. And up. Thankfully, (or not, depending on how you look at it), the skimmer emptied the sump faster than the top off could fill, so eventually the pump started blowing air and shut off. Since I only gave the sitter instructions on how to run the vortech pumps for feeding time, and what to feed, and he was only here a couple times a day, he didn't know anything was wrong. From his perspective, the fish were still eating, and the water was still moving.

Fast forward to me coming home today. The pump was trying to re-initialize itself and sucking air in the process (hurray for Jacuzzi tank). Half my coral is dead, with another 20% looking not long for this world. The Salinity in the display was 1.013, and the sump smells like rotting fish.

I'm hoping this isn't the preamble to a massive tank crash, because right now, the fish are looking fine, even my new CBB seems totally unfazed. I'm working on getting the display out of the danger zone, and doing a 100% water change in the sump.

Everything all at once right?

Sorry to hear that everything has not gone well while you were away and I hope your tank will recover from the crash soon.

With regards to your Radion check and see if the fan is running or not. If not then I would suggest you get it replaced as mine had died on me last week. For more details check on my post under lights.

[mseepman]

Ouch...I feel for you. You're tank is one of the ones I always look for on here and these "Murphy's Law" moments scare the crap out of me. I too travel a lot for work.

[ScubaSteve]

Ya, all at once. Back in June I discovered at 5 am, 2 hours before my flight to Toronto for a week long business trip, that: my return pump fried, one of my heaters went bonkers and half the switches on my power strip stopped working or welded themselves in the on position. Like, seriously fish tank? Everything was fine the night before when I spent 4 hours cleaning you and making sure everything was OK.

I swear the tank is sentient and knows when I'm busy or going out of town.

[asylumdown]

I checked the fan on the radion, it was working fine. So then I switched the power supplies and that's what appears to be the problem, another totally functional unit started blinking on and off when I connected it to the problem power supply. I'll call ecotech in the morning.

And yes, there were a few factors at play here. Throwing away 1500 dollars in dead coral is pretty devastating, especially when you know that others probably won't make it.

The only saving grace is that my fish are all OK. I've wanted a Copper Band butterfly for... lord, years? I finally start having success with one and this happens. I nearly had a heart attack. However, he/she has gained weight since I left, and my tuskfish seems to have stopped all forms of aggression towards it.

Now, if I can get through the next few days without a massive ammonia spike I'll be in the clear. Back to square one from a coral point of view, but most things with heartbeats seem ok (most of my snails got nuked).

[asylumdown]

salinity is up to 1.018... I'm trying to take this slow.

On the upside, on of my fish had a few spots of ich. Those appear to be gone now...

[Zoaelite]

Adam if you are in need of some freebies to start filling holes let me know, I still have a few things from the main tank that need to go. Denny also just got a majority of my zoas so there are some nice frags over at his place for dirt cheap.

That blows man , atleast you are able to learn from your mistakes. No more skimmer effluent hoses down the drain ya hear?

[rastaangel]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Throwing away 1500 dollars in dead coral is pretty devastating, especially when you know that others probably won't make it.

The only saving grace is that my fish are all OK.

Now, if I can get through the next few days without a massive ammonia spike I'll be in the clear. Back to square one from a coral point of view, but most things with heartbeats seem ok (most of my snails got nuked).

Could be worse...

Thats what happens when they set the timer bars for your alk and vodka dosing wrong and dose 3g of alk and 26oz of VSV in less then 12 hrs... And this pic was taken a week later...
Over $5k in dead corals and 90% fish death

[Snaz]

Originally Posted by asylumdown

On the upside, on of my fish had a few spots of ich. Those appear to be gone now...

Could be the calm before the ich storm. Those few spots might have spawned zillions that are now maturing in the sandbed and will emerge with a vengeance shortly. If you fish are stressed now they might be more susceptible to ich, if you have a quarantine tank it might be worth getting it ready if that is how you approach ich. This is a great ich article:P
http://www.reefland.com/forum/marine...ths-facts.html

[fishytime]

sorry to hear about the tank trouble Adam.....I'd offer a couple frags too, if I weren't 300k away.....