Tank crashes: causes, treatment and lessons to learn.

[Myka]

I had a total loss in the early 90's caused by a heater getting stuck in the "ON" position. Now I use two small heaters of which neither has the ability to cook the tank. In the summer, only one of those heaters is plugged in and it only comes on a bit at night (mostly because my fans run 24/7).

Also in the early 90's I bought a Queen Conch for my 20-gallon tank (not knowing any better). A couple weeks later the Conch died and I was naively oblivious. I came home after school to the whole house smelling like putrid gastropod death. There is no smell in the world that is worse than putrid gastropod death.

My most recent partial crash was about 18 months ago when Caulerpa went sexual in a 20-gallon reef that was overrun. The trigger was me forgetting to plug the heater in for a couple days in the winter and the tank dropped to about 70 degrees. As soon as I plugged the heater back in the Caulerpa got frisky. Luckily I caught it early and only lost one fish. Sadly I lost one fish.

[mrhasan]

I think 99.99% reason for crash is owing a saltwater tank (0.01% is putting a plastic bag in the ocean which in turn chokes a whale)