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Saddest day of my reefkeeping existance

JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

So got home from a the long weekend and I saw as I pulled into the driveway my lights were out on the tank.
Every fish except "Nemo" a Hawkeye clown was dead. Tank was 65 degrees same as house and obviously the bigger fish didn't have enough O2. Corals are OK except a couple caps, nems are unhappy but stable, clams OK though they were spawning in an attempt to survive I guess(which just added to the mess).
I did a full brute water change and started making new water. Put in to carbon pads and will replace my other carbon when I get home tonight.
Tank was finally looking good but now it is a mess again.
ARRRRRGGG
 
redfishbluefish

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
James, very sorry to see this. What I don’t understand is that you have a whole house generator, if I remember correctly. What happened?

Also let me know if there is anything I could do to help.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Why does this stuff ALWAYS happen when we're away? So sad to hear this James.

Really hope everything that made it through will stay that way. Let us know if you need any help at all.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Jing_xoxo said:
oh no, im really sorry to hear that. How many fish in total did you lose?
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Hippo and sailfin tang, bangaii cardinal, yellow assessor(I actually found him), coral beauty, female clown. I had some since I set up the tank in 2008.

Yes I have a whole house generator, which took me through Sandy and Irene. But this was just the GFI, I don't know if the power surged or what happened to trip it. I have dedicated circuit for the tank on a good size fuse with oversized wires installed by a certified electrician...I didn't mess around. I have not had any problems with stray current that I know of and the power didn't go out as stove and stuff was fine.

Thanks for all the well wishes. I am going to probably look pick up one clown then maybe wait as long as possible to start to restock. I am going to let everything settle and get better health wise. Depends on my orange cap about a foot across and my idaho grape if they fall apart on me or not. They are so big they are a problem. Otherwise the corals are OK at this point.
 
Mark...

Mark...

That is terrible, sorry to hear. Was your heater on the GFI. With today's cooler temps it was probably kicking on a lot.

You might want to have two smaller heaters on two different circuits as a back up.
 
kschweer

kschweer

Administrator
Staff member
Officer Emeritus
Moderator
Very sorry to hear this I know how devastating a tank loss can be. How old was the gfi? They do have a lifespan which is shortened if it has tripped a lot. Not too sure where you're located, bit like everyone else said let me know if I can help with anything.
 
Mark...

Mark...

kschweer said:
Very sorry to hear this I know how devastating a tank loss can be. How old was the gfi? They do have a lifespan which is shortened if it has tripped a lot. Not too sure where you're located, bit like everyone else said let me know if I can help with anything.
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I was looking at some GFI's online and one brand had an led to let you know when it was no good.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Mark... said:
That is terrible, sorry to hear. Was your heater on the GFI. With today's cooler temps it was probably kicking on a lot.

You might want to have two smaller heaters on two different circuits as a back up.
Click to expand...

That would be a good idea...but they are run off of my controller. I have two heaters for what it is worth. Think it was low O2 that got the fish.
The GFI hasn't kicked off much and not for a while to be honest. Sort of chalking it up to really crappy luck.
That said I think I will probably be getting a pump battery backup, even with generator I guess you cannot be too redundent.
 
Mark...

Mark...

JRWOHLER said:
That would be a good idea...but they are run off of my controller. I have two heaters for what it is worth. Think it was low O2 that got the fish.
The GFI hasn't kicked off much and not for a while to be honest. Sort of chalking it up to really crappy luck.
That said I think I will probably be getting a pump battery backup, even with generator I guess you cannot be too redundent.
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Does your controller alert you via phone for low or high temp etc? The more I hear about these crashes the more I think its a good way to go.
 
dppitone

dppitone

Once you get re-settled, get a UPS and run a heater and powerhead through it. This has saved our system several times from breakers kicking off.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

dppitone said:
Once you get re-settled, get a UPS and run a heater and powerhead through it. This has saved our system several times from breakers kicking off.
Click to expand...

Yep a very very good idea...I am either going to do that or go with the Vortech with a battery backup. May be my Christmas gift to myself.
 
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