So last thursday we had a power outage here down in olympia.... i lost some water volume from my tank due to a faulty syphon break...my tank is a 140 with a 90 gallon sump...i run it pretty much wide open as in skimmer runs non stop ... return pumps on both scwd and main return run wide open no down time... any way so after the power outage i added water and returned the salinity back to my normal operating parameters..so now the water and the sand are turning black ... all the fish died two clowns, a tang, a six line and purple psuedo...still got a couple of corals that havent succumb but they are acting wierd probably gonna remove them to another tank tonight...my question has anyone experienced a phenom like this before.... i have had minor crashes but this has killed everything from shrimp to snails to bristle worms, featherdusters, hermits everything....I have a ceath tank and will be breaking it down and reorganizing my reef efforts....I have had this tank for many years and its been flawless...it has been a great tank all along... It alsmot makes me think i had a pump go bad and shock the tank but there all gen x pumps and never had that kind of issue....anyway any hlep or suggestions will be appreciated...
Ummmm there's a blackhole in my tank
- Thread starter jrock4224
- Start date
Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:
Xtremedave67
Well-known member
jumping this thread, for personal education....sorry to hear about this 
Herefishyfishy
Smart Bass
Sorry for the loss, but need a lot more info for any educated replies.
Need ALL tank parameters before, during, and after the water loss.
Any other equipment, dosing systems, additives, temp, etc.
Need ALL tank parameters before, during, and after the water loss.
Any other equipment, dosing systems, additives, temp, etc.
Yeah my tank has been so awesome i stopped notating any parameters a year ago other than salinity , ph, and a few and even then i haven't checked them in a month or so....i guess i got what i deserved stop checking ...get burned...probably good since i was getting bored with it and was thinking of redoing it ....i have a larger tank that i was gonna use a 280 but i think for now i will transfer my stuff thats still alive to a nano and regroup. I have never seen water turn black... i seen it turn green in my planted tank but never black. just wierd how a power outage would cause this cause i only lost about 5-8% of water volume for about 4 hours...just wierd how it blew up
Herefishyfishy
Smart Bass
When you say BLACK, is it more red/bluish or brownish?
TJL
copod
I would test for everything you have kits for and bring water sample to LFS for testing for what you don't have kits for. This information will hopefully give you some clues to what may have actually happened. This could be valuable information and the death of all your livestock wont be in total vain.
Todd
Todd
All right so talking with a buddy... i think the best alt is to just break the tank down and start over....i am never gonna fix whayt is happening and plus this tank was just a experiment to see what i wanted to use and to learn about reef keeping... well i learned plenty and am now gonna make the decisions to break her down take a break re tool with monitors, apropriate plumbing and do another build... i got this starfire tank i been sitting on for about 3 years...6x2x3.5 tall that i wanna use... i got a 200 gallon acrylic sump, and i think i wanna work towards getting that up and running...been using this bare bones set up pretty successfully for the better part of 5 years and i think its time to move on...I am gonna transfer all my planted stuff to this tank that tanked...(hahahaha) and have a nano for a bit befoer i go buck on the other tank later this year...so heres my question, wha do i do with my live sand to revialtalize it...heres my thought a 30 gallon nano to save the few corals i have left...then i am going to transfer all my live roick and sand to a tote that's ruoughly 120 in size..gonna build some crating to keep the live rock suspended over the sand bed and try and re-vitalize this sand bed...I plan on using a limited light schedule twice a day fr 4hours at a time, i might use t-5 to keep power consumption down ... I will contiune to use my kent skimmer, and a gen x pump for circulation... probably some form aof a spray bar around the outer parameter of the tank...I have about 250 lbs of sand and about 350 lbs of live rock i wanna preserve... a friend was telling me i should boil the rock and restart it at the same time...and i agree if i was concerned aboit hitch hikers, buit i have used all this rock and have never had a hitch hiker problem...any ideas on this techinique... i migght do it to a few rocks that were over come with star polyps...(yeah im that guy ... thought softies were neat till they over took my tank and i had to manual remove them due to overtaking expensive pora's) now i keep softies on stand alone rocks away from reef structure... anyay i am looking for any advice on my plan and what you guys have experienced and what worked best... i used to be on here all thetime but my tank has been porblemless for a lng time and hadnt checked back....and is there a Chris witort on here.... building a huge tank down in mccleary wa...he gave me a acrop that was awesome and i havent been able to locate him on here...thatnks everyone i will post a pic of my black hole so you can all point and laugh at me ....tell me Im a noob and i should wear a helmet
no i mean black....like the gulf of mexico black(wait thats brown down there) but this is black...like black... i have never seen this before oh and its getting blacker with a sweet film on the water....I will break out the test kit tonight and post what i find if you promise to point and laugh at me. the sand is turning black on the top surfaces too....its not good ... oh i forgot the best part ....IT STINKS.... like a sewage treatment plant...plain old poopie smell...figured it was from my live stock dying....
Last edited:
Herefishyfishy
Smart Bass
I would venture the black is the effect in lieu of cause. It sounds like a MASSIVE bacterial bloom from a huge spike in nutrients above what the system could handle.
The nutrient spike was from a die-off. And what started the dieoff could have been high temp, fast change in PH, or many others. This assumes no toxins got in...
The nutrient spike was from a die-off. And what started the dieoff could have been high temp, fast change in PH, or many others. This assumes no toxins got in...
no its in a sealed cabinet with doors for access ... i imagine its from die off cause its killing everything there are pods floating the rim, worms climbing out of tank,, huge tube worms dieing on the sand bed, huge, and anything thats still living is climbing towards the water level.... i magine its was a combo of a ph spike and super salinity change when maybe a i added back in new salt water for top off from water loss...two pumps went bad too so maybe stray voltage got into the tank and caused it....i used to have this yellow wrasse that clued me into some for of a voltage issue till i ground strapped my setup....he would swim towards the top then have a seizure for a second and float down... I know sounds wierd but once i grounded everything better it went away...and he was fine....man i miss my little yellow guy... i am a sucker for a good wrasse hole..anyway i agree i think its from the die off the water issue...
ps my local fish store aint worth a crap... they got into this business not knowing much so going there looking for advice is like asking a serial killer for a ride home....there getting better but still i wouldn't think they would have much to add...
oh and the temp never gets above 82 even when i sshut the tank down over night for maintnenceI am thinking it was a avalanche...two clowns died at once that started the nutirent issue then a massive invert die off and i cant tell you when my wrasse, psuedo or tang died I aint seen them since the day this started...
oh and the temp never gets above 82 even when i sshut the tank down over night for maintnenceI am thinking it was a avalanche...two clowns died at once that started the nutirent issue then a massive invert die off and i cant tell you when my wrasse, psuedo or tang died I aint seen them since the day this started...
Last edited:
johnpeezy
Banned
I think i read somewhere that pumps burning up can leach toxins into your setup, but I could be wrong
now imagine the same picture but black everything....oh snap , boo tang in that photo too... he got scared by something a bout a year ago and commited suicide on my shop floor... he was replaced by a scopas tang, wanted a chevron but was too cheap to buck up for a 100 dollar tang....six line in the lower was a long laster fish...
i thought i read that too....thought maybe that contributed to my issue...but i havent disassembled the sump yet...since the pump stopped working after the outage... i run surge protectors to avoid from stray voltage and spikes that could casue pump issues but wierd...so the outage we had went like this power wentout around 11 pm came abck on only to pop the transformer up the street instantly and then the power obviously went back out for about another two hours... its wierd to cause im right onthe edge of a grid too... when the power came abck on the first time... it satyed on acorss the street and was stillout for us... god if i have to listen to my wife one more time during a power outage say..." im calling pse, Im pissed the power is on across the street... why isnt ours on..." um honey notice how everyone on our side of the street is without ... we are on the edge...of the grid.... " I dont believe you i am calling them...... did you pay our power bill..." yes honey, well it could be everyone on this side to the street didnt pay there bills but i wll go next door and ask....man women...she keps saying how i killed the tank too...shes calling me a fish murderer...hahahahaha i guess so
Myteemouse
NOTHING
you have rotting fish in your tank??
Theres your "black problem"
you said "two clowns died at once that started the nutirent issue then a massive invert die off and i cant tell you when my wrasse, psuedo or tang died I aint seen them since the day this started.""
massive rotting life will do all kinda of crazy stuff.
Theres your "black problem"
you said "two clowns died at once that started the nutirent issue then a massive invert die off and i cant tell you when my wrasse, psuedo or tang died I aint seen them since the day this started.""
massive rotting life will do all kinda of crazy stuff.
Herefishyfishy
Smart Bass
Picky picky picky:lol:
wow thanks for stating the obvious...yeah i havent retrieved anything...and to be techinical i got lots of rotting stuff right now... my buddy is on me right now to do a bare bottom to avoid these occurances but thats not really my cup of tea... i keep telling him show me a glass bottom ocean and i will show you my bare bottom tank...
Last edited:
Herefishyfishy
Smart Bass
If you could capture the smell and bottle it, all sorts of uses.
1. Getting rid of in-laws
2. ditto door to door salesmen
3. Attracting raccoons
4. Conversation starter
5...
1. Getting rid of in-laws
2. ditto door to door salesmen
3. Attracting raccoons
4. Conversation starter
5...
