Tank Crash. Lost all my corals :(

[OCDP]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Basically you're letting the algae run out of nutrients as well as giving them no light to thrive. Its mostly the no light thing that gets rid of it, I found putting a handful of hermits in there as well got the job done as they had nothing else to eat but the algae.

Yeah it is a pain in the arse doing it for more than couple of months, I found that it depends on how much algae you have and the type of algae, browns seem to die off more quickly than say, green hair algae. For GHA it took a minimum of 6-8 weeks (this was on another batch of rock I "cooked" mostly I just didn't want to use it and was going to take it back to the store but never got around to it. It lived in a rubbermaid tote for about 8 months). At the time I cooked my rock I really really hated my tank and never spent more than a few minutes topping up the FW and feeding the fish. So really not looking so critically at the tank helped in my case

It certainly can't hurt just doing it short term although you won't see the full benefits. If nothing else it will at least leach out any gack into a different water source other than your tank. I doubt the algae will diminish much though, it can live for quite awhile without any light before it finally kicks off.

Well that all makes sense. I don't have a full blown algae outbreak though, but there's a bit of hair algae that's driving me mad. I was just going to add some snails to take care of it... and perhaps a sea hare. It doesn't even cover all my rocks, just a few of them and there's only a few patches per rock, so I am debating as to whether or not it's worth cooking, or just giving the rocks to someone for super cheap or for free, and just replacing them myself.

I think they do need a good rinse after all this though, so I'll take some of the smaller pieces and rinse them out tonight.

I guess I need to decide if I want to shut the tank down for a couple months (seeing as I do have fish and a few corals alive), and cook the rock.. or if I suck it up, rinse and scrub the rocks, get rid of the worst pieces , get some snails and a sea hare, and start over that way.

I was about to upgrade my tank as well, so if I were to do that.. I could remove my sand bed which would get rid of quite a bit of nutrients, rinse and scrub my rock, and so on...

I dunno what to do ??? Upgrading and scrubbing/rinsing the rocks and removing the bad pieces and replacing them sounds best.. and with the addition of some snails and a sea hare, things might clear up pretty well.

Whatever I decide on I want to act as fast as possible. Upgrading would give me the motivation to clean the rocks up and get a couple new pieces, remove the bad ones.. I'll also be able to get rid of that damn sandbed.

[Jaws]

Sorry to hear about that Scott. This happens to be one of my biggest beefs. I've listened to peoples experiences and it absolutely floors me when I hear about someone loosing all their livestock because of an equipment malfunction. When I started this hobby I decided that I would spend the money and buy the best stuff recommended for the tank size I have. You would think that when you spend that kind of money that the things you buy should stand up but that's hardly the case. I've had a problem with almost every piece of my equipment. In my opinion, when you spend $1000 on something, you shouldn't have to worry about it failing in the first six months. When it's something like a chiller or a heater too, either of these can have catastrophic consequences on your tank. Eventhough it's just a timer that malfunctioned it ended up costing you a fortune and is just another example of bad equipment. I think I'm going to start a thread on this and hear other people's experiences too. Good luck with your tank. I have no doubts you'll be able to turn everything around.

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by OCDP

Well that all makes sense. I don't have a full blown algae outbreak though, but there's a bit of hair algae that's driving me mad. I was just going to add some snails to take care of it... and perhaps a sea hare. It doesn't even cover all my rocks, just a few of them and there's only a few patches per rock, so I am debating as to whether or not it's worth cooking, or just giving the rocks to someone for super cheap or for free, and just replacing them myself.

I think they do need a good rinse after all this though, so I'll take some of the smaller pieces and rinse them out tonight.

I guess I need to decide if I want to shut the tank down for a couple months (seeing as I do have fish and a few corals alive), and cook the rock.. or if I suck it up, rinse and scrub the rocks, get rid of the worst pieces , get some snails and a sea hare, and start over that way.

I was about to upgrade my tank as well, so if I were to do that.. I could remove my sand bed which would get rid of quite a bit of nutrients, rinse and scrub my rock, and so on...

I dunno what to do ??? Upgrading and scrubbing/rinsing the rocks and removing the bad pieces and replacing them sounds best.. and with the addition of some snails and a sea hare, things might clear up pretty well.

Whatever I decide on I want to act as fast as possible. Upgrading would give me the motivation to clean the rocks up and get a couple new pieces, remove the bad ones.. I'll also be able to get rid of that damn sandbed.

Ultimately its up to you about what you want to do, but personally, I would get the rock out of the tank, scrubbed (I use a toothbrush or a "dish" brush, something with fairly stiff bristles) and cooking while you decide. Do your larger water changes and then take a step back and decide where you want to go with this tank. Putting some snails or hermits in with the rock while it cooks might speed up the process as they'll eat what they get and in this case its only the algae on the rock

[OCDP]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Ultimately its up to you about what you want to do, but personally, I would get the rock out of the tank, scrubbed (I use a toothbrush or a "dish" brush, something with fairly stiff bristles) and cooking while you decide. Do your larger water changes and then take a step back and decide where you want to go with this tank. Putting some snails or hermits in with the rock while it cooks might speed up the process as they'll eat what they get and in this case its only the algae on the rock

Yeah, good call.. thanks Christy.. I'll let you all know what happens with the tank. My friend that babysat the tank said he would help me out with replacing stuff, so maybe he'll just help replace the rock, that would be a huge help and would save a lot of hassle. Then I can move on with my upgrade and be DONE with all this... and decide what I want to do with the tank. I think a clown/anemone/zoo tank sounds sweet, with a couple nice sps peices.. but that's baout it.

Anywhoo, I'll update later. Thanks again all

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by OCDP

Yeah, good call.. thanks Christy.. I'll let you all know what happens with the tank. My friend that babysat the tank said he would help me out with replacing stuff, so maybe he'll just help replace the rock, that would be a huge help and would save a lot of hassle. Then I can move on with my upgrade and be DONE with all this... and decide what I want to do with the tank. I think a clown/anemone/zoo tank sounds sweet, with a couple nice sps peices.. but that's baout it.

Anywhoo, I'll update later. Thanks again all

Perhaps fit a better timer and chiller into your budget

[OCDP]

Originally Posted by christyf5

Perhaps fit a better timer and chiller into your budget

No no, my timer is fine. It was my friend that made the mistake!

My timer was set to come on at 5am - 2pm (to avoid too much heat during midday) He came AFTER 2pm (lights off) and I told him how to turn the lights on to feed the fish, and told him to turn them off afterward. Somehow, someway, he forgot to turn the lights off. I don't quite know how they were stuck on for as long as they were, but they were. So, had he would have turned the lights off, I would have been fine.

The sad thing is, I probably didnt even need him to come over on Sunday , I was only gone 3 days.

He felt pretty horrible, as did I, but oh well, what's done is done I guess. He did say he owuld help replace stuff, so I may take him up on that offer.. I never realized how much more problems this would cause unfortunately.

The chiller, yes.. I'll have to consider one of those guys now.

[Kabong]

Heres some links for the mini chiller's.
I havent seen them on any canadian sites,
But I've seen a few guys with them so I presume there is a source.
For the Ice-Probe
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...be.asp?CartId=
For the Micro-Chiller
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...ler.asp?CartId=

[OCDP]

Originally Posted by Kabong

Heres some links for the mini chiller's.
I havent seen them on any canadian sites,
But I've seen a few guys with them so I presume there is a source.
For the Ice-Probe
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...be.asp?CartId=
For the Micro-Chiller
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...er.asp?CartId=

Man those things are cool, thanks for posting Tim. I am going to look into these for next summer . I never even knew these existed... guess I should do a little more research huh

[OCDP]

Oh yeah, a little update: I just spoke with my friend and, being the good friend he is.. he has agreed to help pay for some new live rock. I will then use the old rock and cook it, then it can be re-used in my new setup.

I think it's a pretty nice deal... I get to rid my tank of the worst pieces of LR and replace them with new ones... I think when I replace them, I am going to vacuum out the sandbed. No more sand for me... too much of a pain these days.

[reeferaddict]

Hey Scott - just one final word. I just had someone look after my tank for the first time a couple of weeks back, a local LFS owner who knows his stuff. He did a great job, (only had to stop by once to fill the Auto Top Off in a week), but I had told myself before I left that even if I came home to a fresh seafood broth that I couldn't hold him responsible.

While your friend has made you an honourable gesture by offering to replace the rock, I'm sure it was an honest mistake and he was as horrified as you were - otherwise I doubt he would have made the offer. IMHO I would let it go, and in fact he would be the best candidate to watch it if you left again - he certainly would be a lot more wary of problems that may arise. Like I said in my earlier post - everyone can learn from this, but that's just my opinion....