ReefMon June 4, 2003 Share June 4, 2003 I had an "issue" with the 180 last night, the GFI on my main circulation pump tripped and we lost every fish in the system.... Here's the last full tank shot I have on file... All corals seem fine, but I was only able to recover the body of the Desjardinii and one anthia. MIA are the Powder Blue, Flame and the Dottyback (sorry Scott) . I'm watching the ammonia levels now, I may have to rip the tank apart to recover some of the missing bodies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gatortailale June 4, 2003 Share June 4, 2003 Sorry to hear about your loss. :( Let me know if I can do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JFish June 4, 2003 Share June 4, 2003 Man that sucks...sorry to hear that happened, what exactly killed the fish though? How long was the power out? Is that big clam dead too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ROBZ June 5, 2003 Share June 5, 2003 MAn Im really sorry to hear that :( :( :( ... really sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chideloh June 5, 2003 Share June 5, 2003 Sorry about your disaster, Glenn. :( David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMsAquarium June 5, 2003 Share June 5, 2003 Sorry to hear that Glenn. That really hurts. Have you considered plugging a battery pack between your GFI and the harware? You know the kind used for computers and that gives some power for a while. I've read a thread on RC about a similar issue and somebody did that. Apparently, some units deliver enough juice for the heaters and powerheads/pump(s) for a few hours. The unit specs were not mentionned but it might be worth considering it. Take care, JM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest phillipw June 5, 2003 Share June 5, 2003 Sorry for your loss... I would think the likely cause would have been low O2 levels. I saw information on reef central about a battery powered airpump that plugs into your AC line and turns on when it senses a power failure. They connect it to an airstone to help keep the O2 level up during a loss of power. I don't remember the vendor in the post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest phillipw June 5, 2003 Share June 5, 2003 I found the link for the airpump... http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product....Id=3695 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquariaUSA June 6, 2003 Share June 6, 2003 d*mn! Sorry to hear about the loss. How long do you estimate the power was out? By any chance was there a voltage surge from the pump? (wondering if a certain brand of pump:O), which may have tripped your GFI? Was the tank temperature irregular when you first found the disaster? I generally use the airpumps on the above thread, they are pretty cheap, but have found they do not always work (contacts corrode pretty fast near battery in high humidity rooms/enclosures) if they are not kept clean. As for UPS-APCs, I talked at length a while back with a lead tech at APC, and the higher priced units are the only ones that can really help in a short outage (one small circ pump, heater, standard output light) <3 hours if you are lucky. Hope things turn around for ya! Wish you the best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefMon June 6, 2003 Author Share June 6, 2003 Yes, the fish suffocated due to loss of the return pump, even though 4 powerheads were still running :( I had just done some maintenance (removed the overflow plumbing to clear a blockage) and apparently knocked my make up water line off and it dumped onto a power strip, thus tripping the GFI to my main pump and skimmer. I went to bed around midnight, and discovered the problem around 6:30 so it was off for 6½ hours at the most. The main pump is an Iwaki 55, and there is no such thing as an affordable UPS that will run it for anything other than a couple of minutes. I do have several battery operated pumps, and a 6.5 KW generator for power outages, but nothing is automated, yet.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier June 6, 2003 Share June 6, 2003 Very sorry to hear that Glenn. I'm a little shocked that they would die to lack of O2 with the powerheads still running. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EZTimes June 6, 2003 Share June 6, 2003 Very sorry to read about your experience - temporarily takes some of the fun out it. I have a similar setup with my 180 and recently setup a remote sump (about a 30' run) powered by an Iwaki 70 and "assumed" the extra 100 gallons would minimize any downtime problems. How big was your sump? Also, I ran 5 separate GFI lines from the fuse box to the fish tanks because I had an occasional GFI trip (power surge?) for no apparent reason. No problems since then. I tried to balance the load to keep water moving if one tripped, however, I see no way around the Iwai 70 going down short of putting in a second return pump. Two smaller pumps might be a good idea if the big pump ever quites. Do you know if a remote sump pump really needs to be on a GFI circuit? Please post any solution you find, as I am sure others are in ,or might be, the same situation. Best regards, Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgasmd June 6, 2003 Share June 6, 2003 Sorry to hear about your troubles. That suck hairy a....s, and I know because I ahve been there myself. I'm a little shocked that they would die to lack of O2 with the powerheads still running. I agree. It is hard to see how this was the reason alone unless there was a significant temp drop or something else. My power went out this last weekend while I was out of town and when I came back I found my times and everything in the house about 3.5 hours behind in time, so I pressume that is how long it was gone. Did not loose a thing. If I ahd not seen the clocks and such out of sink, I would not have known. In the next house, I will ahve a ventilation system and an automatic generator connected to the system so the heater, pumps and one light is connected to it. Alberto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReefMon June 6, 2003 Author Share June 6, 2003 It is hard to see how this was the reason alone unless there was a significant temp drop or something else. The temp was at 78 when I discovered the problem. (Normal is 80-83) Here's my guess, with the amount of corals and my very vibrant flatworm population, the O2 was consumed MUCH faster than usual. In fact, I lost my cleaner shrimp, but the one that's been stuck in the overflow (spent 45 minutes that night trying to get him out) survived. All other inverts seems fine, urchins (were trying to climb out) 2 peppermint shrimp were out of hiding (didn't even know they were still in the tank!), hitchhiker crabs still fine, and the flatworms, no decrease in numbers.... I'm thinking it's a good time to do something drastic about the FW's.... Anyone tried flatworm eXit yet?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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