My Tank crash - Hopefully you can learn from my experience :(

[ComfortablyNumb]

loumaggs: did someone advise you that there were negative posts here? Is that why you came back so quickly? Previously, you hardly ever responded to your own threads or questions in them..is why I'm asking.

There have been some legitimate questions posted as to how your tank crashed so quickly...no one here seems to have experienced anything like that, despite almost all of us having experienced power outages, many of far greater duration in tanks much more heavy loaded than yours.

We're not saying it didn't happen of course, its just your explanation of why it happened seems rather unusual (tank ran out of o2 in an hour or so) compared to anyone here's experience.

Again, not to say it didn't happen like you said it did, but if you are going to hold yourself out as an expert while soliciting donations from us, you must expect questions like these.

*edit* My sympathies for your loss...nobody enjoys seeing beautiful fish like that die.

[loumaggs]

No one pointed it out to me, I normally post and then come back to check, I make my videos in an effort to help beginners. Not experts, I've been doing this nine years now so I know a little but I never claim to be an expert.
I've given my explanation in the video, everything which I know pointed to tank losing oxygen. I had a reasonably heavily stocked tank and I think that probably contributed to it. The only thing I did the night before was clean the glass.

Originally Posted by ComfortablyNumb

loumaggs: did someone advise you that there were negative posts here? Is that why you came back so quickly? Previously, you hardly ever responded to your own threads or questions in them..is why I'm asking.

There have been some legitimate questions posted as to how your tank crashed so quickly...no one here seems to have experienced anything like that, despite almost all of us having experienced power outages, many of far greater duration in tanks much more heavy loaded than yours.

We're not saying it didn't happen of course, its just your explanation of why it happened seems rather unusual (tank ran out of o2 in an hour or so) compared to anyone here's experience.

Again, not to say it didn't happen like you said it did, but if you are going to hold yourself out as an expert while soliciting donations from us, you must expect questions like these.

*edit* My sympathies for your loss...nobody enjoys seeing beautiful fish like that die.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Originally Posted by loumaggs

No one pointed it out to me, I normally post and then come back to check, I make my videos in an effort to help beginners. Not experts, I've been doing this nine years now so I know a little but I never claim to be an expert.
I've given my explanation in the video, everything which I know pointed to tank losing oxygen. I had a reasonably heavily stocked tank and I think that probably contributed to it. The only thing I did the night before was clean the glass.

Not only was your tank reasonably heavily stocked, the fish you kept were mostly large tangs and other species that require heavily oxygenated waters to thrive. Once circulation was lost, these large tangs would have been the first to go and then it would have been a cumulative effect in a very negative way since each death would have depleted the oxygen level even faster and create a dead zone at the bottom layer of water, which is of course where the living fish would settle to conserve energy (Murphy's Law at work). Without the energy to stay near the surface, those fish would have been the next to succumb to oxygen deprivation. This is my theory of what happened in your tank.

Anthony

[ComfortablyNumb]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

Not only was your tank reasonably heavily stocked, the fish you kept were mostly large tangs and other species that require heavily oxygenated waters to thrive. Once circulation was lost, these large tangs would have been the first to go and then it would have been a cumulative effect in a very negative way since each death would have depleted the oxygen level even faster and create a dead zone at the bottom layer of water, which is of course where the living fish would settle to conserve energy (Murphy's Law at work). Without the energy to stay near the surface, those fish would have been the next to succumb to oxygen deprivation. This is my theory of what happened in your tank.

Anthony

Here's a vid of a friend's tank (Cabinetman) who posted earlier in this thread. This tank went without power for over a half a day and its full of big tangs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PEHCTBfDXQ

From his post on pg 2: "Something ain't right. I don't doubt she had a mass die off but I don't thing 4 hours without power did it. I've got 3 times the bioload and I've had power go out for half a day before and I lost nothing. Id like to know what really happened."


I don't think o2 levels drop that fast to fatal levels (1 hour or so as OP claims) when this tank went over 12 hrs with no
fatalities.

[rsisvixen]

From the speed of the tank crash I can only guess that even though all looked well that the tank was red lining on Dissolved oxygen content already and the power out pushed it over the edge.

I didn't hear a mention of a protein skimmer, and maybe surface agitation wasn't sufficient to maintain high enough levels of dissolved oxygen for the amount of bioload to sustain them once circulation stopped.

Although the bacteria would have been the last thing to die rather than the first, and probably via ammonia spike rather than lower lvl's of oxygen

[Dearth]

Every tank reacts differently it depends on so many factors like how much live rock, how stocked is the tank, how many high maintenance corals and fish are there, how easily do they become stressed and so on. All that factors in

Remember just because one tank will do well with no power for 12 hours does not mean every tank will react in the same way some do well others can crash in a matter of hours

I learned very early on in this hobby there is no such thing as standard or baseline everything involved in this hobby is a guideline there is nothing standard in this hobby at all and it is something that too many people in the hobby forget.

My personal opinion is that people here are disbelieving because loumaggs posted the video and didn't follow up and are less inclined to believe her story and that the fact she is on so many sites which by the way doesn't bother me but aparantly it bothers a lot of people but each to their own

[Myka]

Lack of oxygen is really the only thing that will kill that fast in a power outage.

[ComfortablyNumb]

Heat could have killed the fish too. Poisoning is also a possibility. Over-dosing meds or additives also. To say 02 deprivation is the only possible source is short-sighted in my view.

I know some tanks are different than others, but the same laws of physics and chemistry apply to all. I have never heard of any reef tank failing due to oxygen deprivation in such a short period of time as the OP surmises. It doesn't make any sense given the vast bulk of evidence indicating otherwise from practical experience by well experienced keepers here and elsewhere.