Quit or start over?

[The Guy]

Oh that sucks , But if you truly love the hobby, learn from what has happened and move forward. yes it's an expensive loss, but it is what it is.
Vortech good quality yes, but the open front end of the wet side steered me away from using them. If you have to use sponge guards to keep the critters out you might as well go with an in tank pump IMO.
Stay with it you'll be glad you did.

[Wildechild_01]

Definitely not throwing in the towel, not the first tank crash I've experienced but definitely the most expensive one to date.... that said, with the water change completed and the lights and flow up and running again looking like i may be okay with the LPS, and lets be honest, if the zoa's don't make it I should probably go back to keeping freshwater Betta's. As i type this the LPS corals are starting to extend again and there is a little bit of extension on the birdsnest. Glad i caught it quick, there was about 8 hours between the last time i looked at the tank and when i found it this morning, just shows how quick things can go south. Skimmer is Skimming away, and i need to head to Calgary to pick up some salt and more carbon.... waterchange worked out around 90G on a 120G + 20G sump system will probably do another change this afternoon depending on readings. I am hoping that with the flow, skimmer, and amount of live rock things level out fairly quick... with 4 Clown fish in the tank its a pretty small Bio-load, the hermit crabs are super active all over the tank getting what i missed, will probably pick up more of them today as well...... oh well... Time to keep going and start planning the re-stock

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by sphelps

I've come to accept these kinds of mishaps and/or crashes are part of this hobby and IMO if you're not willing to accept that yourself then you should quit because it's really just a matter of time. Wishful and unrealistic thinking to believe it can't and won't happen to you. That said the clean up does suck but the rebuild is worth it, starting over gives new opportunities

this is so true. i felt like tossing in the towel late last year when i lost most of my sps and all of my rics. i never did pinpoint the issue and am calling it my first crash. did a 90% water change and just carried on. a couple months later and it seems the tank has hot a milestone in its maturity and my sps pieces which remain are encrusting back over the dead branches. it's really exciting to watch and overcoming these things can be more rewarding then simply having good luck and success without any hardships.

i vote start over (which you seem to be doing).