TANK CRASH!

[russell_wiley]

Well, I got home the other day to my air conditioner broken & my house a whopping 92 degrees! Needless to say, I started to get concerned. I had to wait until the following afternoon for the AC guy to come fix the problem. It took until today for my house temp to return to normal. I did a water change yesterday, but when I came home tonight, most of my SPS's were bleached & everything else looked angry as could be expected. I have NO idea what to do next. Should I just take it all down, clean it up & start over? I don't want to quit, but I really have no idea how to fix this! Anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Russ

[dandy7200]

Stay calm, don't make decisions about the future of your hobby in the next 48hours Start making water, when you feel you have enough, make more. Get some carbon. Get a polyfilter. Bleached doesn't = dead. Monitor your water parameters very closely. You want to avoid any type of fluctuation to the water for already stressed corals. Cut your lighting hours by 75%.

[Origami]

Bleached doesn't = dead. Monitor your water parameters very closely.

 

Agreed. Get things stable again. Watch for signs of decay - ammonia, nitrites, etc. Perform frequent water changes to keep the ammonia below 0.25 ppm if you can. Slowly bring your lights back on line and watch to see if your corals begin coloring up again as their zooxanthallae are repopulated. Be patient.

[Boret]

If you need any RODI water or Carbon let me know. Good luck!

[dschflier]

I would be happy to send you some carbon as well. Let me know if you need any.

[russell_wiley]

Should I take everything out & clean it up?

[Coral Hind]

Should I take everything out & clean it up?

 

I don't know, we need more info before we can give you any advice. You never stated what the death toll was, if any. Bleached corals can regain their color and angry ones can become happy again.

[Jan]

Should I take everything out & clean it up?

 

At the very least do water changes until you get parameters back on track.

[Jon Lazar]

Should I take everything out & clean it up?

 

No. Leave the corals alone.

 

- If they're only bleached and still have tissue on the skeleton, then they'll recover eventually if you can keep them otherwise healthy.

 

- If they're dead and all the tissue has come off, then taking the skeletons out isn't going to help anything. There's very little tissue on sps corals to begin with, so it's unlikely to cause a rise in ammonia. Regardless, the tissue is already loose in the tank, not on the coral skeleton.

 

Good luck!

 

Jon

[khalid]

I feel your pain Russell. :( I just moved to my new place this weekend and I guess my tank didn't like being relocated to well and crashed. I lost all my fish, SPS in display and frag tank, 2 clams already, and many tears!!!! I can't believe how all that time and work just went downhill that fast. Now I am setting a new tank and will have to start all over and spend more money getting the frags I already had. Hope it works out with you!

[OldReefer]

I once lost my whole SPS tank when I dropped a stupid copper connector in the sump. Go with lots of carbon and poly pads, God speed.

[Boret]

I once lost my whole SPS tank when I dropped a stupid copper connector in the sump. Go with lots of carbon and poly pads, God speed.

 

For how long was the copper connector in the sump??

[OldReefer]

It was the connector off of a power adaptor from one of my fans. The adapter was still plugged in. It was in the sump 6 hours. The current + the saltwater dissolved all of the metal on the connector in just a few hours. I bumped it in before I went to bed, and by the morning I had 90 gal of dead SPS.

[Boret]

It was the connector off of a power adaptor from one of my fans. The adapter was still plugged in. It was in the sump 6 hours. The current + the saltwater dissolved all of the metal on the connector in just a few hours. I bumped it in before I went to bed, and by the morning I had 90 gal of dead SPS.

 

Wow.... you really have to be careful what can fall in the tank!!!

 

Russell, how is you tank coming along? The offer for RODI water is still available.

[russell_wiley]

Thanks for the help, guys! The tank is slowly showing signs of life again. I lost quite a bit of my SPS & my toadstool is looking rough. But othere than that, I think it will make it.

-Russ