# tank disaster ........ help



## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

hey everyone , after a wondrful weekend away at a resort ...in orangeville
i came home to disaster ... my 29 gallon bio cube ,and my 5.5 gallon nano tank crashed . i came home to all my fish dead. 2 clowns ,1 damsel , blenny . now i have to be honest i did a water change before i went a way to both tanks , i use R.O water i didnt test anything when i changed my water so i have no test results of the before to compare too. i usually let my salt water sit and warm up to room temperature and let the salt totally dissolve with a heater and power head .this is did not do this time .
so my test results from tank #1 -29 gal bio cube 
R.O= 0
salinity 1.025 
A= 0-0.25
no3= 80 ppm -----------------usually i am at 0-5.0 ppm steady for the last year or so .
no2 =2.0-5.0------------------usually 0
p.h= 7.8-----------------------last test was 8.4
k.h=14 
mg=1500 
i dont have any other test kits to chk anything else 


tank 2 is completly crashed nothing has survived all the crabs and featherdusters are done . pepermint shrimp and sexy shhrimp 
test results to follow .


not sure what i have done wrong .i will add pics tonite was just gonna do a water change .and clean up the bodies so any help would be greatly appreciate thanks 
tom


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

What was the feeding schedule before the trip? What equipment are you using and are they still working as of now? 
Top of my head could be contaminates, introduced dir into your tank or your last water change water?
Heater failure? 
Power outtage during the trip?


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

Double tank crash.... I'm leaning more towards power outage.
This sucks big time.


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## Omis (Dec 27, 2010)

My guess would be power outage as well. One weekend is a pretty short time for catastrophe. Check with your neighbours if this was the case.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank*

well i was thinking my thermometer went for a shit .. just chked put two thermometers temp inside tank 75 deg f.
power failure .... no clocks are flashing 
feeding schedule once a nite flakes and algae wafers periodically 
my freshwater tanks have no issues . i didnt do water change with them but fish are all ok in there 
equipment is just a bio cube knock off .protein skimmer ,pump/ tanks been runnign for about a year and half no issues 
the twig coral not sure of the name was not like that on the tips before we left . 
should i do another water change


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## HOWsMom (Jan 3, 2012)

Looks like something was really REALLY off in the water this time


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

no one else was at home? not accusing any denis the menace...but i had an incident where my little niece were kindly feeding my fish with her crayons. the water could be off the city might spike the chlorine that day, do you use conditioner?


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

But the corals are fine?


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank*

teh hammer coral looks a little receeded but seems to be ok since i have turned lights on . 
teh zoas are ok 
the twig coral has exposed twigs was not like that before we left was completely covered in teh pink stuff .not sure what the coral is called or what the covering would be called .
i am thinking i may have shocked the tank by not heating up the water before i added it to the tank with the salt.

should i do a water change tonite


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

I crashed my reef once by not warming up the new water and letting the salt dissolve overnight. You mess with the chemistry and gas exchange, etc. by not giving it time to balance out. That's almost surely your culprit. The pH and kH would have gone all over the place as the water mixed.


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## Holidays (Apr 18, 2010)

yes that might be the culprit.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

What's your Alk usually? 14 dKh is really high. I'd aim for half that at 7 dkH.

The unheated fresh mix is probably your culprit. Improperly mixed water can have a pH that's way off and is very low in oxygen due to things dissolving and the water being relatively oxygen poor when it comes out of the tap/RO unit. Also, if the temp differential was big enough and caused a few critters to die, it could have caused a bacterial bloom relatively quickly suffocating other things and causing them to die.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank*

i am leaning towards that as well. but am very inexperianced in the diagnosis of this .
i still dont understand why the twig thig was dwindling away .did i do that .
how do i get teh alk and dkh down . 
my results of the small nano tank are way off

a= 8.0 ppm
no3 =80 ppm
no2=5.0 ppm
p.h =8.0
salinity was high at 1.028


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank*

yes i did use chlorinater i use prime .

well i must say i am totally pissed at myself ,this tank had no probs for over a year and the fish were quite happy with no issues . completly pissed at myself . the only thing that has survived in the big tank is the watchmen goby . a few crabs a star fish and sea urchin .the only thing in the other tank i can see that survived is a small star fish , a few crabs and hermit crabs al the shrimp are gone and the feather dusters . damn i am pissed i did a small water change on this tank as this one was way out of wack .
i am holding off changing the water on the big tank till the water warms up and dilutes the salt . anyways thanks for the help everyone 
tom


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## TypeZERO (Jul 20, 2007)

Things like this happen in any hobby, I say just pick yourself up and keep going on. Best thing is trying not to make the same mistake again.


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## tom g (Jul 8, 2009)

*tank results*

well today i came home did some water tests the numbers havea dramatically dropped . of the 29 gal cube tank 
a=.25
no3=10 ppm
no2=0
p.h=8.0
k.h= 13 dkh

teh small nano tank is a write off i have been doing huge water changes to clear up all the dead debris thats in that tank . i will start from scratch again and see if i can get it close to where it was before and enjoy the tank like we used too .
all the bristleworms are dead . does anyone know where to get bristleworms and copepods to get this tank going again 
thanks again 
tom


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## 50seven (Feb 14, 2010)

tom g said:


> all the bristleworms are dead . does anyone know where to get bristleworms and copepods to get this tank going again


Just get some live sand/ sump grunge from another reefer. Might take time, but it'l grow


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