Why do tanks crash?

[abcha0s]

So here’s how the numbers break down.

The first 4 questions were a group. There were 88 votes in this section:

My tank has suffered a full crash – 17%
My tank has suffered a partial crash – 32%
My tank has never crashed, but has potential issues – 37.5%
My tank is bullet proof – 13.5%

It’s almost a 50/50 split between those who have had a crash and those who haven’t.

The next category was intended to identify why tanks crash. It was hard to phrase these causes as I didn’t want the poll to be too long. Regardless, there is some good information that came back.

The major causes of tank crashes (for those who voted) are:

#1 (16 votes) - Equipment Failure
#2 (12 votes) – Disease or parasites
#3 (11 votes) – Electrical Failure
#4 (10 votes) – Temperature deviation

Water Chemistry had the second most votes at (13) but I am disqualifying the response as it seems that this is the end result from almost all failures and not specifically a root cause.

Each person will learn their own lessons from these statistics. For me, the results tell a number of things.

1. Most crashes are avoidable. Perhaps not all of them, but the more aspects of your system that you control and monitor, the less likely a crash will occur.
2. Controllers are really an essential part of any complex reef system. The trick is to use the controller to monitor and alert on critical system failures, not to respond to them. Responding to a false alert (false positive) can quickly lead to a real crash. It is better to keep the reef keeper in the process.
3. Buying good quality hardware is probably worth the expense or worth searching for something used.
4. Redundancy is important. Two is usually better than one.
5. Quarantine really is an important part of this hobby. Those who don’t quarantine risk losing everything.
6. Split essential components across multiple electrical circuits. Ensure that you tank won’t crash if a breaker is tripped.
7. Blackouts (Power Failures) do occur. Have some kind of strategy for eventually dealing with this.
8. All heaters are untrustworthy. A secondary temperature controller is essential.
9. Temperature needs to be controlled both up and down as it deviates from the ambient room temperature. Heat waves are scary things.

No doubt the list goes on and on. Perhaps the point is simply to weigh the risks associated with every aspect of your system. There were quite a few people (myself included) that indicated they were aware of a potential flaw but hadn’t fixed it yet. These are calculated risks.

I don’t actually believe that a tank can be “bullet proof”. Every aspect of my system is redundant, but I can still imagine a dozen scenarios that would lead to a crash. It could be as simple as knocking a food container into the tank.

It seems that once something goes wrong, there is a cascade effect ultimately leading to bad water. It’s important to have a plan for detecting and responding to the initial failure before it is too late. For example, when I dumped half of a reactor filled with Kalkwasser into my tank, the pH shot up to around 11.5 – I was able to bring the pH back down using Vinegar. I did not lose anything. Had I tried to solve this problem with water changes, I probably would have lost the tank.

Another interesting question might have been - How many people come back to the hobby after a full tank crash?

Presumably, these aren't the people hanging out on Canreef, but my guess is that many a good reef keeper is lost to a tank crash.

Anyways, an interesting question and interesting results. Thanks for the discussion.

- Brad