62G Starfire Reef [40x18x20]

[michika]

OMG Josh, this is terrible. I feel for you. I am so sorry.

[kien]

Sorry to hear Josh. That is just bad luck !

[lastlight]

good luck bro that really sucks.

where i live i'd never leave my door unlocked. i'd suggest having a few kids or downgrade neighbourhoods to heighten your perceived need for security =)

[JDigital]

Should be an interesting tank to go home to after work..

As for locking.. I lock that door all the time usually, just something caught my eye in the tank and took me out of my routine I guess.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to inspect much before leaving for work. but none of the fish were floating or stuck to the powerheads. But Im not sure what effects that sort of temp drop will have.. Fingers crossed that the temp can get back up to something a bit better over the course of the day. The door is LOCKED for sure now.

Maybe it's a sign to just shut this puppy down.

[kien]

My tank temp dropped significantly in the spring when I had a 24h power outtage. I only lost two fish and a few corals. I was expecting much worse. It may surprise you how resilient some organisms are.

[FishyFishy!]

Originally Posted by kien

My tank temp dropped significantly in the spring when I had a 24h power outtage. I only lost two fish and a few corals. I was expecting much worse. It may surprise you how resilient some organisms are.

Totally agreed. I had a heater break on a 30 gallon once. The temp went down to 56 F from 79-80 F (sorry... all my stuff is in Fahrenheit). Everything but a clam survived.

I've got my fingers crossed for you mang.

[JDigital]

Well got home and had a look at the damage..

Copperband Butterfly - Dead.

All other fish.. seem ok so far.. Wrasses have a couple spots of ich, will keep an eye on them.

Acans - ****ED OFF! closed up and puking out stringy gunk.

Zoas - Seem to could care less, all open and looking fine.

SPS - ****ED OFF! 1 colony is likely to STN on me. Every tip of every branch is white skeleton. My Blue Stag is looking pretty rough, the coralites do not look healthy at all but no noticeable skeleton showing yet. All other SPS has FULLY retracted polyps right now. The only one that looks even remotely unfazed is the Montipora Confusa colony.

Duncan Frag - Fully retracted polyps.

Hammer Frag - 90% retracted

The temp when I got home had risen to 20.4C. I have since added another heater to help out a bit before the lights go out.

Ultimately I feel it could have been a LOT worse, but who knows what the long term affects will be over the next week or two.

I put some HC-GFO online tonight to help battle any PO4 I will get from the 1) dead fish, 2) possible STN of SPS.

Finger crossed!

[JDigital]

Well...

I pulled the plug on the old setup and have decided to start from scratch, literally.... I spent a solid 5.5hours last night scraping, scrubbing, draining and cleaning out the system as best I can.. Not sure how to get much more out of my sump, pretty difficult pulling a syphon from a few inches off the ground, and I've got no pumps/powerheads that work for this duty so I will have to live with the left over water sitting in there I guess. haha I'm gonna see what else I can do tonight to get more waste water out but there is really only about 2-3 gallons sitting in the sump right now.

I picked up some new rock, Pukani Dry Rock. Really nice pieces and was able to come up with my aquascape in the store (photos below).

I really think this is the best thing to do.. The old rock just left too many chances for me to miss something when scrubbing/peroxiding the misc algaes only to possibly have more issues down the road. Not to say that I won't face challenges starting over, but I feel its a safer option.

Here are a few pics of the pukani rock I picked up and what my aquascape will look like... This was a very UNSTABLE design in the store so I picked up some "Fijicrete" to cement the pieces together. Hoping to get started on that tonight.










Fingers crossed!!