Aquarium Fire

[Tropical Paradise]

Fellow Reefers,


End of November last year, I got a call from my father at home. He told me that my aquarium was on fire. By the time I got home, he had already put out the fire. However, the whole house was covered in black soot. The fire originated from the light fixture. I had a CSL 2x96W PC light fixture that sits on top of the aquarium.

The plastic part of the fixture had melted and fused with plastic braces on the aquarium. Light, filter, water movement, and heater was gone. The water had soot in them. I lost the whole tank. Restoration company came and cleaned the whole house from top to bottom. Soot had gotten into every horizontal surface, including inside of the drawer. Carpet in my dining room was replaced. Dining room and hallway were repainted. Some drapes had to be replaced as well. I lost the whole tank.

I guess the lucky thing is, I didn't lose the house. If it weren't for my father being there. I would sure lose everything. After two days, the water begins to foul. There were no heat, no filter, no light. I could not save the tank because I could not seperate the light and the tank. The tank has been covered with some plastic to keep out the ordour. Then, I saw a miracle happen right in front of my eyes. I saw my small Ocellaris Clown clining to the surface, because there were no oxygen in the water. I quickly grab a small net and scooped him/her up. I then proceed to rinse him/her with RO water. I then placed him/her in a small 5 gallon tank that had some liverocks and just a air bubble filter.


To this day, the luck Ocellaris is still alive. I am in the process of rebuilding a reef tank. I am in the stage of curing my liverocks.

If anyone can host some pictures for me, I'd like to post some images of the tank after fire.

Thanks!

[DJ88]

Kai,

Send them to me
Can't host them tonight but tomorrow I can.

[Tau2301]

Incredible story, can't wait to see pictures of the clown.

Is this the same clown fish in the movie Nemo?

[Tropical Paradise]

Thanks Darren, Sent you those pics.

[DJ88]

Got them.

I have to take off now for the evening. But I'll post them here tomorrow.

Pretty scary pics..

Cheers

[smokinreefer]

holy
glad to hear that you and your family are safe.

[DJ88]

[Canadian Man]

Wow
That's awful

[Tropical Paradise]

my colt coral (spawned once), my cleaner shrimp, my clown, my Derasa Clam....


There's a saying in Chinese that "Old Ones don't go, new ones will not come"

[Delphinus]

I'm very sorry for your loss.

What would you say are the lessons learned here? Please share your thoughts on this. What was the original failure? Have you spoken to the manufacturers and the retailers? Unfortunately, stuff happens sometimes, but they need to know about this nonetheless (even if they absolve themselves from liability, they need to be told).