Tank Crash. Lost all my corals :(

[OCDP]

Hmm, where to begin.. so dissappointing. I went away camping from Friday and got back today.. had a friend watch the tank. Unfortunately my lights got stuck on yesterday from 2pm to 5am or sometime after (could have been til noon) .. and I lost every piece of SPS, all LPS and almost lost my zoos.

So sad.. I have algae everywhere and the house just stinks like rotten garbage. I don't know where I am going from here.. I may sell my tank off or I may let things settle and go with an anemone/clown species only tank. There is just so much gunk everywhere... hair algae is starting to grow like mad..

My only question is... is the death of all the SPS and the LPS (just a frogspawn really) able to cloud my water? I have done an 8g water change (almost 50%) and it's still very cloudy.. not horrible, but not clear by any means.

I don't want to do anything more to the tank, I will let it sit and I have obviously removed all the dead corals and have a fan going in the room

So sad... heats a killer, and I know that SPS are not the right coral for me anymore. I know the LPS don't stand a chance in heat either, but SPS are just too finicky.

Having said that, my trust old red mille colony is still alive! Has some potential .. it will recover.

Anywhoo, just "venting" I couldn't imagine if I would have lost a bigger tank full of SPS.. I'd cry.

[shotzee]

Damn man, that has to be one of the most disappointing that can happen. It is always so fustrating ever time you leave and come back to see your tank not in the exact condition you left it in. It would be terrible to come back and see it completely ruined.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do with the setup.

[Ruth]

Scott I feel your pain. I lost all my SPS this summer due to heat and a skimmer break down. It is so disappointing and frustrating. Don't give up though - you'll get it back.
If it was me I would be doing some more water changes - can't hurt and will get that nasty smell out of there sooner. You may also want to rinse your live rock in some fresh water as well.
I tore down my 44g cube yesterday and put all my livestock in rubbermaid trash cans - today my favorite fish from that tank (niger trigger) was floating belly up.
I know that I can replace him but this fish had a great personality and I really liked him.
So sorry for you tank - but keep you chin up and rebuild. An anemone/clown zoo tank would look great as well.

[Tangman]

So very sorry to here about the fate of your tank, I had the same thing happen to my old 120 gallon before I got a chiller.
So do you still think that a 20 gallon is too small for a chiller ?

[revgeoff]

Sorry to hear/read about your tank.
I know what it feels like to have to start from scratch, it can be very demoralising. When my heater broke in two and fried all my fish, coral and inversts (except, as I found out two weeks later, my 6 line and lawnmower blenny) I decided to quit the hoby. Luckily my wife convinced me keep going.

[Beverly]

Hang in there, Scott. I know you feel really lousy right now, but in a month or so, you'll be back in the saddle again. Now might be a good time to consider "cooking" your rock to get rid of the algae. Don't mean anything punny with that statement BTW, but "cooking" may give you a break from your tank and give your rock a renewed look.

Sorry to hear about your huge loss

[Flusher]

Ouch. That's a lousy way to end a weekend...

My nano reef hasn't gone much higher than 84*F this summer (it usually stays under 82*F, thankfully), but my smaller mantis shrimp tank hits 86*F fairly frequently (no corals, just aipstasia in this tank). I haven't had any problems, though the mantis is far more active at cooler temperatures.

Do you know how hot your tank was? (I guess this question goes out to anyone who's lost livestock to heat issues.)

Originally Posted by Tangman

So do you still think that a 20 gallon is too small for a chiller ?

Do they make them small enough for 20 gallon tanks and under? I don't know much about chillers, except that they're expensive.

[Kabong]

Theres the iceprobe


Around $100, Should do a 20Gal.
Theres even a version you can get thats built right into a HOB filter.

[reeferaddict]

My condolences for your loss, it would be discouraging to anyone.

It seems that all of us in this hobby must go through our individual growing pains to arrive at a comfort zone. My 90 had developed into a soup a couple of years back, and I too was at the point where I just wanted to get rid of it and get out of the hobby. It was taking too much time and money, and it just seemed that I was killing everything I bought...

To the rescue came my girlfriend... she asked some very good questions that I was forced to answer, and let me know that it was allright to really attempt this with the right approach, both timewise and financially. Though she has virtually nothing to do with the tank, her acceptance when I come home with thousands of dollars worth of gear DOES allow me to pursue this in a free manner, because no matter what you WILL pay... especially if keeping delicate species like SPS is in your sights. I thank her for her encouragement, and I take pride in my attempts to make all of this work.

With this hobby, failures create challenges, and sometimes the simplest successes give us the most incredible feeling of accomplishment. Don't give up, we have all been humbled. Those that say they haven't are liars. Our best hope is to learn as much as we can from the failures we encounter, our own or others - thank you for sharing with us and I wish you the best of luck down the road.

[OCDP]

Wow, thanks for all the kind words everyone. Really appreciate it.

Just a small update, but the tank is still quite cloudy and still has quite a stink to it. Is it all the dead tissues that is causing this foul smell? (i have removed all the dead corals) . I did 8g water change yesterday and things were looking alright. I think I'll do another 8g or so tonight . I am skimming heavy as well at the moment.

Ruth - So sorry to hear about all the recent troubles (and losses) Hope everything is back to normal soon. I think I will definitely do more water changes this evening. I also think I'll stick around for a while, I just need the stench and cloudiness gone and I am back in business. The rest is all algae which can be beaten.

revgeoff - Glad your sticking around in the hobby! Sorry to hear about the heater troubles... such a crappy way for a tank to die off, basically melting like mine was and boiling the fish.

Bev - Your right.. in a month I'll be back at it, it's just overwhelming (or was overwhelming) when I came home to that... now I know I just need to get the stench and cloudiness gone and it shouldn't be too , too bad. I think adding some snails (seeing how I lost 90% of mine) will help my case. Cooking the rock is an option as well.

Flusher - I couldn't tell ya how hot the tank got... definitely above 86 though. The tank was warm, even after being cooled.

Kabong - I've never seen anything like that before, that's neat... any links with info on those guys??

reeferaddict - Thanks a bunch for the post.. and I agree that everyone must go through something like this to get to a certain comfort zone. I still don't quite know what I am doing with the tank next, but I'll figure it out soon enough.

I am hoping a few more good water changes and things should stabalize. I'll keep the thread updated as well.

Thanks again everyone.