Yesterday was one of the worst days I have had in a long time. If you've been reading the member showcase you'll see that I had just been putting the finishing touches on my 30 gallon nanoreef. It was primarily a shallow water SPS with a few zoos and LPS thrown in for the fun of it. Well, yesterday while I was gone at school, my heater cracked, filled with water and blew the circuit breaker, and the tank sat that way for the next 7 hours til I got home (I was able to look at the light timer and see what time the power had shut off). The tank had dropped all the way to 62* and it was all over by the time I got home. I have lost every fish except for my yellownose goby and lost all crustaceans except for one cleaner shrimp and the pistol shrimp paired up with aforementioned goby.
However, the worst part is that it appears I am going to lose pretty much every SPS in the tank; most of them have already shed their tissue and are just white skeletons, the rest of them are bleached severely and the polyps are unresponsive leading me to believe they are not going to pull through.
I have to be honest, this has been kind of devastating. Just last week I had made the last, finishing touches; buying some frags from BrandyB (who is awesome) and a group of really cool stuff from Barrier Reef (Cy is also awesome). While it is definitely a big financial loss, it was also a major creative outlet for me, I spent countless hours aquascaping, moving things around, adjusting flow so that corals were happy, etc. The tank went well over budget, and I honestly have no way to really restore it to what it was for some time.
Here's a short list of the cool frags/colonies I've lost:
purple bonsai
paletta blue
chips acro
blue tenuis
green pocillipora
red/green pocillipora
oregon blue tort
bali slimer
microphthalma stag
green body/blue tip stag
purple rim monti cap
orange monti cap
And the stuff that REALLY hurts to see go (I had only had these a week!!):
ORA blue cali tort
ORA borealis
BRA blue-tip rose millepora
Sunset millepora
The only ones that so far have survived:
blue maxima clam
derasa clam
purple polyp monti cap
sunset monti
ORA red planet acro (hard to believe, but this coral appears to be one tough hombre)
Honestly, I'm probably going to just shut the tank down for now. I am not comfortable having a tank now without proper insurances such as a computer/controller that can text or call me if anything is out of whack, not to mention I am never buying another glass tube heater. That's another thing that really ticks me off, is that it was a rena cal excel, supposedly a top line glass heater. It was in the refugium in its plastic/rubber holder, so nothing hit it. Apparently just heat cycling on and off over enough time was enough to crack the glass. When I pulled it out of the tank the entire bottom inch of the heater was detached. I've done a huge water change and put in a massive bag of carbon, but the tank still smells like an electrical fire, not to mention that the entire room now smells like curing liverock.
I will have another reef, I have not given up on the hobby, but I do need a break and this has been a terribly depressing way for this tank to end.
However, the worst part is that it appears I am going to lose pretty much every SPS in the tank; most of them have already shed their tissue and are just white skeletons, the rest of them are bleached severely and the polyps are unresponsive leading me to believe they are not going to pull through.
I have to be honest, this has been kind of devastating. Just last week I had made the last, finishing touches; buying some frags from BrandyB (who is awesome) and a group of really cool stuff from Barrier Reef (Cy is also awesome). While it is definitely a big financial loss, it was also a major creative outlet for me, I spent countless hours aquascaping, moving things around, adjusting flow so that corals were happy, etc. The tank went well over budget, and I honestly have no way to really restore it to what it was for some time.
Here's a short list of the cool frags/colonies I've lost:
purple bonsai
paletta blue
chips acro
blue tenuis
green pocillipora
red/green pocillipora
oregon blue tort
bali slimer
microphthalma stag
green body/blue tip stag
purple rim monti cap
orange monti cap
And the stuff that REALLY hurts to see go (I had only had these a week!!):
ORA blue cali tort
ORA borealis
BRA blue-tip rose millepora
Sunset millepora
The only ones that so far have survived:
blue maxima clam
derasa clam
purple polyp monti cap
sunset monti
ORA red planet acro (hard to believe, but this coral appears to be one tough hombre)
Honestly, I'm probably going to just shut the tank down for now. I am not comfortable having a tank now without proper insurances such as a computer/controller that can text or call me if anything is out of whack, not to mention I am never buying another glass tube heater. That's another thing that really ticks me off, is that it was a rena cal excel, supposedly a top line glass heater. It was in the refugium in its plastic/rubber holder, so nothing hit it. Apparently just heat cycling on and off over enough time was enough to crack the glass. When I pulled it out of the tank the entire bottom inch of the heater was detached. I've done a huge water change and put in a massive bag of carbon, but the tank still smells like an electrical fire, not to mention that the entire room now smells like curing liverock.
I will have another reef, I have not given up on the hobby, but I do need a break and this has been a terribly depressing way for this tank to end.
(yet another reason why this stunk so bad, I was having a great week and this put a decided damper on it). As for anyone who is willing to offer a free frag, I would be extremely grateful, and once the tank is back up and running, I'd do my best to return the favor. However, I would need to take a rain check for now, I'm now in the process of moving the tank over to my wife's apt as I move out of my current apt. Should be a ton of fun moving a reef tank . . .
