# Almost had a disaster



## htjunkie (Jul 20, 2012)

Found out last night my tank was leaking and had a puddle of water at the back of the cabinet on the floor, had to get a Rubbermaid tote to move all my livestock over with some live rocks. Hope they're okay in there with a heater and a powerhead for now.

The tank is being looked after for re-sealing, spent the whole night emptying the tank and what a late night, however, it could be worse I guess!

My sump is still filled with water and I have live rocks in it, should I leave the water there? I have no heater nor powerhead to keep water moving in there? I do have a skimmer if that could be helpful I can turn it on to keep water moving.

Aside from that, I have a Home Depot bucket holding rest of live rocks from display tank, filled with tank water and a heater in there. I don't have a powerhead in the bucket.

When I get the tank back, do I need to do another cycle? I will have to wait a week for the tank to come back. I just hope everything will be okay.


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## advanced reef aquatics (Apr 20, 2009)

You will go through a cycle, how long it depends, if the tank was established for a while, you may want to consider new gravel.


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

you can find some really cheap powerheads...... I would definetely keep heater and powerhead in the sump, if you dont have a powerhead, the skimmer may help, but can you put some pumps with an airstones? ( depending how big the sump is you might need more movement)
For the live rock, same thing, air stone is must, heater, if you can, otherwise keep it in room temperature. 

You will go through a whole cycle again, as you took all the substrate out and the beneficial bacteria, try to keep as much water from the tank as you can, but to use it you;ll need to keep it alive too or that will go bad,

Keep your hopes up. I did something very similar and re-cycle a tank with coral, anemones and fish and they all survive.... good luck, that really sucks, I must say, unless is an expensive tank..... i would get a new one, no taking chances


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

New gravel is a safe and smart idea. You can clean the existing gravel but it might not work. I tried with my tank and I killed quite a few livestock and coral


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## htjunkie (Jul 20, 2012)

I got the tank and in 2 days while getting the tank ready for salinity and water parameters, I put all stock back in the display tank. Unfortunately so far I lost 1 clown fish and my yellow tang is losing a bit of her bright yellow color, although she's still very active in the tank.

I did all the test tonight and ammonia registers nothing, although nitrite registers 0.25, nitrate is 25.

I did another 10-gallon water change today, I hope all my livestock will be fine. What else can I do aside from keeping up with testing water and water change?


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## altcharacter (Jan 10, 2011)

Just hope for the best and keep doing small WC's


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## htjunkie (Jul 20, 2012)

It's so great to see the tank is doing great now. It was reading nitrite for about 2 days straight then nothing, all parameters seem to have gone back to normal. Surprised how quickly the tank recovered.

My clown is too lonely so she's swimming a lot with the tang, don't see them nipping so hope they will be okay. I'll pickup another clown this week now that the tank is back to normal.


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Hi there, I am so glad the tank is doing well. Since you actually removed everything and put it all back on, after a week things calm down, but is about week #2 & #3 when you will have an ammonia spike. Keep checking parameters every 2-3 days and do a water change at least once a week. I went through this with a big tank and never let me guard down... i will say after a month or so you should be all right...


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## 12273 (Nov 3, 2012)

That's crazy! And doesn't seem like my idea of a good time. Glad to see things are on a upswing. 

This post has given me an idea... What if there was a thread dedicated to disasters? I belong to a jeep forum and there is a section called "broken down, need help". It's so people can reach out if there are stuck without having to use tow truck or whatever. What of we had one here where if someone runs into trouble they can make a post and maybe get some help from the community!?! 

Is someone has a crash or needs help with a tear down last minute a helping hand would be good.


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