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Tank crash survivors

john90009

NJRC Member
I was wondering who here has had there tank decline greatly or even crashed and has found a way to survive it and continue and not give up. A month ago my alk spikes with a wc and ever since then sps have been declining its so hard to watch frags that you payed so much for and grew since they were little burn and die away even with stable parameters i feel like giving up : / cause i dont know even if everything dies and some make it that my luck they will just perish later and all new sps will perish to.
 

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
I am coming out of a tank crash (power outage) and lost a bunch of SPS. I also had roughly 10 pieces that had almost all the flesh gone, but still had some left (like a half inch or less). I cut off the pieces and remounted them hoping for the best. I still lost a few of those but a bunch are now looking a lot better. It took about 3 weeks to see if the were going to make it or not and I think it might be even longer to tell. I know the feeling of seeing colonies die out when they started as frags. Good luck and don't quit, I had a really fun time restocking as well.
 

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I've been through a few tank crashes, and somehow, someway, I've rebounded from them.

The first was my 240g cracking, it was only running for about 2 weeks, so I didn't lose any livestock, but imagine that happening after taking months to setup the system.

The second was when I came home from work and found all my fish dead. We're talking an Emperor Angelfish, tangs, clowns, the list goes on...why it happened was/is still a mystery.

The third was when I got sick and tired of the new tank I purchased to replace the cracked tank. It was acrylic and much too tall to work on...I was just about to give up and sell everything when I decided to downgrade a bit and get a glass tank.

I'm so glad that I haven't given up. I love this hobby too much to not have a tank running!
 
I'm still in the process of recovering from a tank crash. All I did was move my 90g to the other side of the room and I lost lots of sps. I also wanted to give up. If it wasn't cause I spent so much time plumbing my tank down to the basement, I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. Right, now I'm trying to figure out why my acans are melting away. So much money wasted.
 
In the middle of a war with a simple pathetic lifeform known as bryopsis. Honest - who would have thought a simple plant would make one want to throw the towel in?!!!? I swear this algae is in cahoots with magnesium sellers because I'm cornering the market on Tech M!!!!
 

john90009

NJRC Member
after my alk spike the tips started burning but i have my parameters stable for more then a week now and yet still healthy ones show the signs of failure lol. stinks because i lost my pink watermelon chalice and now my miami hurricane chalice is receding. I know restocking would be fun but i wish i could figure out when they will stop declining, so i can look to better days. I was trying to figure out what it could be if it wasn't the alk but i keep finding no answer : /. Some of my pieces were finally just turning into mini colonies now im almost loosing my whole shades of fall- atl crayola- iv seen no one who has the specific ones that i have.
 

rodclement

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I think I am always recovering from a crash of some sort... ;D
My most recent was a bubble tip dying and killing my beloved clams and some corals, fish didn't mind at all...go figure...

Rod
 

john90009

NJRC Member
hah yeah iv never had a problem with my fish and for some reason the clams haven't show any signs of anything they are acting normal : / do you guys think if i put a healthy sps frag in my system to show if something else is in the water? if it dies then its not from the alk swing?
 
I upgraded from a 90gal with lots of corals and fish went on to the 125 built from scratch(ie stand,sump etc) just to lose most of my corals and fish(what I have left fit into a 55) I wanted to give up too,but I enjoy this hobby....or Im a complete idiot..lol Hang in there is what I can say and in time it will come back..gd luck
 
What happened bud, sounds like a bad day. look for more than a alk swing, something get in the tank, any ammonia or high nitrates. how are my zoos, they should not be affected that much by alk, the Kedds Redds are a very strong strain. Nothing else I can double check your water and have a few extra pieces to get you going again (N/C) use my cell
Greg
 

john90009

NJRC Member
hey greg i was trying to get in touch with you- thx for the offer- hows the blue millie doing? also yeah the zoas are loving the bottom of my tank-also that red macro algae i have in my sump is growing in very nicely. this swing happened awhile ago like superbowl sunday or even before. I have had my parameters stable now for awhile and its not turning around i brought my water to get tested at 2 fish stores. it seemed when they used the salifert kits like mine they got the same numbers and the other store used ap or something which i can tell isnt accurate.
 

john90009

NJRC Member
only bad thing is one store got 5-10 nitrates so a. this could be the problem .b. was caused by the problem. which ever it is all i need to know is i need to get it down just dont know how much weekly water-changes i should do i think imma stick with 12 gallons the corals are kind of used to that regime.
 
BM is doing great, has 9 buds starting to branch. That Red Macro came from Mnats tank and every body loves it. Ill PM my Number, have Ora p and G Birds nest, Red Monti and some Diges you may want. look at the crash as a opportunity to start the work of art over. My main display has gone from Mixed to Softy to Zoo and now Mixed again with more SPS, and largely over crowded Again. PM sent
greg
 
Hopefully I have to the point where I no longer buy wild collected corals, all trades and propagation. That to me is real conservation. Doug, take care of this kid if you can, hate to see he had losses, he has given away more stuff then most that I know.
Greg
 

john90009

NJRC Member
lol your to kind greg, but as on now tank is in a waiting period i snipped all dead pieces in hopes some will recover- now the hobby is a waiting game, i wouldn't wanto add more corals with ones still dyeing in fear that the dieing ones could cause a chain reaction. greg ill give you a call in the future as of now its a waiting game.
 
mr_X said:
look at all of the coral we kill. :'(

And somehow coral reefs are five to ten thousand years old and then a piece of them makes it into our living rooms and we have to recreate the ocean. There are many times when I wonder how mixing salt in a trash can and running massive lights and pumps is replicating the ocean. :(
 
Mbodell said:
mr_X said:
look at all of the coral we kill. :'(

And somehow coral reefs are five to ten thousand years old and then a piece of them makes it into our living rooms and we have to recreate the ocean. There are many times when I wonder how mixing salt in a trash can and running massive lights and pumps is replicating the ocean. :(

We don't replecate the ocean or even a samll piece of natural reef. We provide barely adequate conditions for these corals, fish and other inverts to adapt to and survive, and yes, even thrive, in for a time at least. Being a closed system, the slightest imbalance exposes how really bad at this we are!

To my knowledge I have only aquacultured and propagated corals, there are no wild collected corals in my system. And I won't do it until I am certain I can support them.

.. And that may be a while! :p
 
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