Tank Crash. Lost all my corals :(

[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....

[OCDP]

Originally Posted by 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....

Yeah, see.. I know he was scared shitless, I would be too. I was very calm about the entire thing, didn't really bother me a whole lot that I lost the corals, more so the following problems and work it creates (he thanked me very much for being so calm and understanding with him about the whole thing). Anyhow, he said he'd replace everything (I would have said the same as well) I told him not to worry about anything, everything was fine. He insisted on replacing things or helping me pay for things. (he just setup his own first ever SW tank) anywhoo, I told him no it's okay... I don't need you to replace anything, we're cool. It didn't seem to matter, he just said okay on Tuesday we'll go to the LFS and I'll get you anything you may need...once again I said it's fine, but he said we'll go... anywhoo....

This morning I was trying to think of how to make this work for him and not only myself (because he just setup his first tank) I told him he can take some of my rock, some bad pieces, some good... and he can have those, and if he'd like to buy me a couple new bigger pieces, then I'd be okay with that ( so at least he gets something out of this deal, and isnt buying a bunch of stuff for me.. I figured I would try to help him out here as well) He still insists he buys me some rock when he goes to the LFS.

It's kind of one of those situations where you have to just go ok ok fine . Don't worry, it's been in my head the entire time, I can't take stuff from him as I know it was a complete honest mistake. I would feel like a douche bag taking stuff from him. He insists though... just one of those guys in one of those situations I guess? If I do end up getting rock, I will be making sure he doesn't break the bank .. there's no need for any of this, he's just being very polite I guess.

I'm in a pickle!

[Matt]

Originally Posted by reeferaddict

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....

OT, reminds me of a business "case study" once related to me. Abbreviated, it goes: young line manager at Ford; accidentally sets the line using yesterday's shift orders; overproduces the wrong things for a full shift, and none of the needed-for-today stuff; line stops, millions lost. Manager tries to resign; Director refuses, saying: "I just spent 3M training you."

In other words, NOTHING teaches like experience.

On topic, Scott, you have my sympathy to go with all the others... I crashed my tank a while ago, and also lost a lot of my corals. Soldier on... Keeping a slice of a tropical reef in the middle of the bald prairie is not for the faint-of-heart, but we few (the bold, foolish ones...) we get to watch something special in our living rooms.