Protein Skimmer Power Bar Failure Death Toll....

[ensquire]

Went to work last night and everything was fine, Got up this morning and noticed a carcass in the tank. then another . Noticed that the skimmer was not running, Coralife POS, so i took it out and placed in sink and plugged it in. Working just fine. Power bar not working at all.
So far the casualties are :
Flame Angel
Pink Skunk Clown

MIA:
3 Spot Damsel
Pink Skunk Clown
2 Cleaner Shrimp
Bi Color Blennie

Not Looking Good:
Tomato Clown
Coral Banded Shrimp

Hope the others show up but, doubtful they will as they are usually front and center.
Blennie was one of my favorites.
Least favorite fish are all good , why does it always work like that ???

[globaldesigns]

I find it hard to believe that you are having this issue, from a skimmer not running for the night. Now that the powerbar failed, did you have all your powerheads hooked up to it. You are probably having these issues due to no water movement, no re-oxynation of the water.

Sorry to hear about your issue, I hope things work out and you don't lose to many more.

If I can recommend something.... Get a APC UPS (power bar with built in battery). You then plug in the powerheads into the spots that provide the battery backup. If you ever have a power outage or issues in the future, then the powerheads keep going and hopefully no issues. Remember if no flow, oxygen will run out in the water column.

Good luck!!!

[kien]

oh geez, that's terrible! sorry to hear did the powerbar just die or did it trip? It is amazing how quickly the tank can be deprived of oxygen once its primary source is removed. I suspect that's what happened, unless you had a heater on that powerbar too, well, then it was all sorts of bad!!

[ensquire]

The Skimmer was only thing on the power bar and it failed. but may have been like that for 12 hours . Long time without O2. heading to store right now for back up.
Thanks

[kien]

Originally Posted by ensquire

The Skimmer was only thing on the power bar and it failed. but may have been like that for 12 hours . Long time without O2. heading to store right now for back up.
Thanks

Ya, oxygen can deplete very quickly, especially in a small(ish) tank. I've had this happen myself. Since then I've kept a couple of emergency air pumps and stones on hand just in case.

[globaldesigns]

Again, my concern is that only your skimmer re-oxynated your water. Do you have flow in your tank? Using powerheads at the surface to aggitate the water at the top, helps to re-oxygenate. I would look at how you have things configured, as not having a skimmer running for 12 hours should not kill things. I think your problem is bigger than a bad powerbar overall. IMO...

[ensquire]

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

Again, my concern is that only your skimmer re-oxynated your water. Do you have flow in your tank? Using powerheads at the surface to aggitate the water at the top, helps to re-oxygenate. I would look at how you have things configured, as not having a skimmer running for 12 hours should not kill things. I think your problem is bigger than a bad powerbar overall. IMO...

I have a Coralife 65 skimmer, 2 Koralia powerheads and a fluval 204 so there was still some flow . I agree that it was a quick kill off though. Furthur investagation is needed.

[Carrera75]

Originally Posted by globaldesigns

Again, my concern is that only your skimmer re-oxynated your water. Do you have flow in your tank? Using powerheads at the surface to aggitate the water at the top, helps to re-oxygenate. I would look at how you have things configured, as not having a skimmer running for 12 hours should not kill things. I think your problem is bigger than a bad powerbar overall. IMO...

+1
The fact that your skimmer stopped working has nothing to do with the death of your fish unless that's the only thing moving/circulating the water in your tank.

I have not used a skimmer since day one and my tank does EXTREMELY well, corals grow like crazy and everything is very happy. Fish or corals don't die just because the skimmer stopped working.

Cheers

[daniella3d]

I stop my skimmer each night..never killed anything.

I really doubt this has to do with your skimmer stopping for one night. I have been stopping my skimmer for the night since the tank was started a year ago. I stop my skimmer from 10:00 pm till around 9:00 am, but when I left for vacations the skimmer was off for a week. Nah...something else is going on in your tank. You should verify for disease, if you added something recently. Velvet is not always apparent. Also you should check that your powerheads are doing enough surface agitation.

Right now in my nano 21 gallons I have a 3" blue hippo (sold and going away friday) a 4" kole tang (temporary there) and a blue damsel, all without skimmer. Everybody are top shape. I run the skimmer once in a while, maybe once every 2 days. Neither of my tank have a sump. Simply water agitation with circulation pumps.

Originally Posted by ensquire

The Skimmer was only thing on the power bar and it failed. but may have been like that for 12 hours . Long time without O2. heading to store right now for back up.
Thanks

[The Grizz]

Dude crappy deal! I agree with everyone there has to be another underlying problem to kill that fast. Check your parameters carefully and let us know what they are.