BRS members Reefing catastrophes

[Cpage101]

Let’s talk about reefing catastrophes we have encountered in our reefing journeys.
Causes, lessons learned and how we corrected them and also how put safeguards in place so this does not happen again.
I have learned a lot on 10 years and you should always try to design your systems operations with 2 or 3 safeguards. This is especially with heaters, dosing, ato and water flow. let’s hear some stories from our members.

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Let’s talk about reefing catastrophes we have encountered in our reefing journeys.
Causes, lessons learned and how we corrected them and also how put safeguards in place so this does not happen again.
I have learned a lot on 10 years and you should always try to design your systems operations with 2 or 3 safeguards. This is especially with heaters, dosing, ato and water flow. let’s hear some stories from our members.

I'll bite. Where do I begin, lol. How about my first tank circa 2003-2004 and washing it on my parents front lawn with Ivory dish soap. Or was it the time that, I added a mason jar of salt to my sump but in a different place than normally and spike my S.G./salinity through the roof killing 55+ high end sps coral.

 

[Duds]

Back when I first started in my teenage year I had a few whoopsies. Once I added salt right into my display in a panic when I noticed a salinity drop, of course landed on a bunch of coral and burnt them quite badly.

I used to run a magnum 350 canister filter and I use to alternate between running carbon and the paper filters. I had quite a supply of filters that I had sort of an assembly line for cleaning them. They would get rinsed off go in bleach then go in a dechlorinator sort of deal and then before they go back in vigorous rinsing and smell tests. Im sure you can see where this is going so being a teenager and not paying attention I grabbed the wrong filter put it in my canister filter housing and sent bleach into my tank. My clownfish I believe were the only survivors fish wise I did catch it very quickly but only so much a water change and running carbon can do. At one point I gave up with the paper filters and just ran carbon and a sock and that always gave me the best results (might have one for the 40 breeder hehe which I still need to get a build thread up for that’s cycling in the basement, I’m trying I keep getting busy lol)

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

How about the time I had an Oceanic 70 gallon on a third floor apartment and when you walked through the room, sometimes water would splash out over the rim. #funtimes
What about the same apartment and having a 45 gallon spring a slow leak on a vertical seam near the bottom and then having it blow out completely while at work. Landlord and tenants below were not happy to say the least.

Another time, I had just gotten laid off and was late on rent by 2 weeks, landlord came by and cussed out my then pregnant GF in front of my 2.5 year old daughter. He and I got into it when I got home from work that day and he decided to pull the master breaker for my apt. rendering everything useless while away for the weekend at my parents place. You know that smell, of rotten flesh and death? I remember like it was yesterday. Could never prove that he pulled the breaker but he was the only one with keys to that area of the basement.

 

[thrillreefer]

Our own carelessness is one thing. But sabotage is next level bad!

I recently had an old, old Rio powerhead blow up in tank. Wife came home and said, what’s the burning smell from the downstairs tank? Uh oh. Was spewing black stuff and whole basement stank of burnt rubber. Fish were unfazed but BTAs, RFAs and even GSP shriveled up so tiny I thought they were toast. Massive water changes + carbon actually saved nearly all. And it did kill some stubborn cyano so I guess a win? Good excuse to upgrade flow in both tanks!

 

[Cpage101]

Our own carelessness is one thing. But sabotage is next level bad!

I recently had an old, old Rio powerhead blow up in tank. Wife came home and said, what’s the burning smell from the downstairs tank? Uh oh. Was spewing black stuff and whole basement stank of burnt rubber. Fish were unfazed but BTAs, RFAs and even GSP shriveled up so tiny I thought they were toast. Massive water changes + carbon actually saved nearly all. And it did kill some stubborn cyano so I guess a win? Good excuse to upgrade flow in both tanks!

that’s pretty scary glad everything worked out

 

[Reefer508]

Almost had one just Saturday. Came home after a 2 week stay in Florida and had to catch up on maintenance. While away I started getting bad temp, ph, salinity and ORP readings from my Apex. I had tank sitter do a video chat so I could see tank and everything was fine. I decided that it was just dirty probes. So while trying to do water changes, clean skimmers ect on 4 tanks I had probes soaking in citric acid. That water was around 62 degrees and I forgot to turn apex controlled heater off. When I was putting probes back in the water it felt real warm. I then noticed fish were extra active and all the RBTA and coral looked pissed off, that's when it dawned on me, DUH. Tank was at 88. I'm guessing I was very close to cooking the whole tank. Luckily everything looks okay. 25+ years reefing and still making rookie mistake.

 

[thrillreefer]

Yesterday, came back from a 3 day ski trip. Friday before leaving, all fish were happily eating, nothing abnormal to note. Restock and set autofeeders, check top off, etc.

Return Monday and 3 fish look great, but Kole tang nowhere to be found. 6 months healthy, active; no new fish added for months. But after 30 hours no sign, no corpse, no dried out jumper. Just gone. All other fish and corals look awesome. Params check out. What the heck?? No idea what I did wrong this time but still, catastrophe.

Reefing can be a cruel mistress sometimes.

 

[Cpage101]

Yesterday, came back from a 3 day ski trip. Friday before leaving, all fish were happily eating, nothing abnormal to note. Restock and set autofeeders, check top off, etc.

Return Monday and 3 fish look great, but Kole tang nowhere to be found. 6 months healthy, active; no new fish added for months. But after 30 hours no sign, no corpse, no dried out jumper. Just gone. All other fish and corals look awesome. Params check out. What the heck?? No idea what I did wrong this time but still, catastrophe.

Reefing can be a cruel mistress sometimes.

did you check your overflow towers. i find my clown in there 2x

 

[s_kelley]

June 2019, I'm at work and my oldest son calls me freaking out saying I need to get home ASAP because there is water everywhere. I blast home to find that the wall anchors I used (that were supposed to hold hundreds of pounds) to attach my two LED brackets, had ripped out of the wall. This caused the lights to fall and smash the front panel of my 80g rimless. Now if this wasn't bad enough, the 80g was plumbed through the floor down into my basement fish room and into a 200g square trough sump. And if that wasn't enough water that sump was plumbed into a 300g round trough that I had all kinds of fish and corals in, essentially it was my indoor reef pond. So all this water was being pumped upstairs by the giant hammerhead pump I needed due to the high head pressure required.
I killed the power, salvaged what I could, put livestock into brute barrels and hit up Boston Reefers saying help and come take what you can! Prob. gave away 10K worth of stuff out of frustration, but everything was saved and found homes. Due to sizzling outlets and light fixtures in the basement ceiling shooting sparks, had to have an electrician come out to keep my house from burning down.
I've been tankless since then, sold that house a few years ago, got another one, and now spending my $$ on other hobbies but still stay a moderator on here to keep my reef addiction at bay.
I will have another tank eventually, still have the reef bug!!

 

[thrillreefer]

did you check your overflow towers. i find my clown in there 2x

I know, was really hoping for this but no... Still no trace. And no cat/dog that would have eaten a jumper

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

June 2019, I'm at work and my oldest son calls me freaking out saying I need to get home ASAP because there is water everywhere. I blast home to find that the wall anchors I used (that were supposed to hold hundreds of pounds) to attach my two LED brackets, had ripped out of the wall. This caused the lights to fall and smash the front panel of my 80g rimless. Now if this wasn't bad enough, the 80g was plumbed through the floor down into my basement fish room and into a 200g square trough sump. And if that wasn't enough water that sump was plumbed into a 300g round trough that I had all kinds of fish and corals in, essentially it was my indoor reef pond. So all this water was being pumped upstairs by the giant hammerhead pump I needed due to the high head pressure required.
I killed the power, salvaged what I could, put livestock into brute barrels and hit up Boston Reefers saying help and come take what you can! Prob. gave away 10K worth of stuff out of frustration, but everything was saved and found homes. Due to sizzling outlets and light fixtures in the basement ceiling shooting sparks, had to have an electrician come out to keep my house from burning down.
I've been tankless since then, sold that house a few years ago, got another one, and now spending my $$ on other hobbies but still stay a moderator on here to keep my reef addiction at bay.
I will have another tank eventually, still have the reef bug!!

Damn, that's crazy. Appreciate all that you do for the club and can't wait to see you at a meeting and hearing about your new system.

 

[Mike Lemming]

I had a significant catastrophe last year. I was in the process of setting up a new tank after a move so, I had my corals and a few fish in a 20g all in one holding tank. One day, I was just exchanging my ato reservoir and at some point must have bumped the wire for my ink bird temp controller. The probe came out of the water and my heaters continued to heat the tank. When I finally realized, the tank was at 109 degrees and killed everything. I tried to revive anything and everything but was too late. RIP to those corals and fish.

 

[lxDarkxl]

I bought a used 40 gallon breeder drilled. Had it running for a few months. Never noticed any cracks of any sort. The back was already painted black. Held water. One day at work, I dropped my phone and cracked my screen first thing in the morning. Bad luck. I came home and my tank sprung a leak through a crack where it was drilled to one of the corners. Coincidence or sheer bad luck? I leaked about a good 30 gallons of water to the downstairs apartment. They weren’t happy. I lost all of my live stock because I didn’t have a back up plan or tank. My studio apartment smelled like the ocean. To this day I still don’t know if there was a fracture crack I missed or maybe the petco stand wasn’t leveled.. or maybe a bolt or something wasn’t seated flush. The only bright side out of this was the maintenance guy deemed it as a small leak and the landlords did not get involved.

 

[Cpage101]

I bought a used 40 gallon breeder drilled. Had it running for a few months. Never noticed any cracks of any sort. The back was already painted black. Held water. One day at work, I dropped my phone and cracked my screen first thing in the morning. Bad luck. I came home and my tank sprung a leak through a crack where it was drilled to one of the corners. Coincidence or sheer bad luck? I leaked about a good 30 gallons of water to the downstairs apartment. They weren’t happy. I lost all of my live stock because I didn’t have a back up plan or tank. My studio apartment smelled like the ocean. To this day I still don’t know if there was a fracture crack I missed or maybe the petco stand wasn’t leveled.. or maybe a bolt or something wasn’t seated flush. The only bright side out of this was the maintenance guy deemed it as a small leak and the landlords did not get involved.

That would be my worst nightmare

 

[GasGuzzler]

My last reef tank I had was a gorgeous SPS 120. I went away for a week to Cozumel and had a neighbor come feed the fish and top off the tank. I had the food pre-portioned in shot glasses in the freezer already, so it was just take one out and drop it in. Easy. So I get home, he managed to top off the tank perfectly, which I was worried about. However, the tank was completely white and I couldn't see more than a half inch inside it. I didn't have automatic dosers or anything and never told him to add anything to the tank except water and food. Then I saw it. There were 6 popsicle sticks floating near the overflow. He avoided the shot glasses of food and stuck piña colada popsicles in the tank every day I was gone. I had no words. Everything died and I stopped reefing in that instant.

 

[Cpage101]

My last reef tank I had was a gorgeous SPS 120. I went away for a week to Cozumel and had a neighbor come feed the fish and top off the tank. I had the food pre-portioned in shot glasses in the freezer already, so it was just take one out and drop it in. Easy. So I get home, he managed to top off the tank perfectly, which I was worried about. However, the tank was completely white and I couldn't see more than a half inch inside it. I didn't have automatic dosers or anything and never told him to add anything to the tank except water and food. Then I saw it. There were 6 popsicle sticks floating near the overflow. He avoided the shot glasses of food and stuck piña colada popsicles in the tank every day I was gone. I had no words. Everything died and I stopped reefing in that instant.

yikes!

 

[DylanCameron]

80g shallow in a 5 person college apt (1st mistake, lol). It was my girlfriend's birthday so we had some people over in the yard. Around 11:30 or so, we get a noise complaint so we decide to take it inside. Similar to BiGGie, 2nd floor and if you were just walking by the tank in a hurry you could see the water move.

Well, having 20 of us singing and dancing in the same room definitely cause some water movement, and after a few minutes we started to smell some burning plastic and saw smoke coming from behind the tank! Water had sloshed over the back glass and onto the power supplies and one of the went up in flames. We were lucky that we knew where the extinguisher was and we got it put out pretty quickly.

We were moving later that month so I had already begun the process of parting out a lot of the fish and corals, and I was working at LTR at the time so I was able to bring anything that remained to the shop the next morning. No power on the tank overnight except for a spare powerhead to get some water movement, all my main equipment was either fried or covered in the extinguisher powder.

Lessons learned? Keep electronics out of the splash zone

 

[Drichards]

Biggest catastrophe was trusting My girlfriend to fill up the ATO. She didn't know you had to shut it off. Kitchen was a swimming pool. She was out on the deck getting a tan

 

[Xhxxh]

Anyone had used a toothbrush used to clean the protein skimmer and algae scrubber to brush your teeth? I did
I placed the toothbrush next to the sink after cleaning. I picked it up to brush my teeth the next morning. I did not notice it until i finished brushing when my clean toothbrush was still up in the rack.