280g Inwall

[Buccaneer]

Hey T ... any recent pics of the tank?

[monza]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Hey T ... any recent pics of the tank?

Your tanks still up and running Steve? Thread with pics?

Dave

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by monza

Your tanks still up and running Steve? Thread with pics?

Dave

Hey Dave ... dont know how I missed this ... tank is up and running ... just got first diatom bloom ... getting it slowly automated

Your tank still up and running?

[monza]

I have a new one as well, newish I guess… not updated thread much. Up and running for a while now, kinda neglecting it currently.http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=97100

Dave

[Delphinus]

I'm pushing myself to write this post. This week I have been battling the worst strep throat I've ever had in my life, and it has zapped a lot of my energy. My dad has had spinal surgery this week and his recovery is not going too well, and on account of me probably being contagious still I can't even go visit. So, the amount of guilt I am feeling right now is probably fair to say is "above average."

But each journey has a beginning and an end .. and oh, what a journey this tank has been. But this chapter has very much come to an end.

We took off for an overnight trip for Canada Day to enjoy the summer weather and have some lakeside time. Every time I go away from the tanks, there is this irrational fear "that something will go wrong" but under usual circumstances, you find that this fear is unfounded, when you come home and find everything humming along just fine.

But the fear is meant to be irrational ... not well founded. This time, it was correct.

We came home and the smell of death as soon as entering the front door was significant. With dread I went downstairs and to my horror there was nearly everyone who not even two full days prior were all swimming around, lying dead. Clams were dead. Rose BTA's were dead. Dead urchins. Dead mushrooms, dead gorgonians. Dead snails.

My beautiful lavender tang - gone. My buddy the Red Sea sailfin, a fish I have cared for 15 years - 15 years! - dead. The anthias pair. The pyramid butterfly pair. The trigger - Oh God - the Crosshatch trigger - dead.

At this point, the rabbitfish and the lieutenant tang were still alive, as were my clownfish, their two gigantea carpets, and a filefish. I knew I had to get them out.

Unfortunately the rabbitfish and the lieutenant tang died in transport enroute to temporary housing. The stress of capture, the journey itself, or they were compromised to begin with - who knows.

As soon as I touched the glass though, I understood what had happened. The tank was as hot as a hot tub. The powerheads were all off. The controller - the piece of equipment that was meant to safeguard the inhabitants - was in the end what did them all in. Such an amazing set of circumstances to come together to fail in this manner - everything was off but the heater was on.

The Apex itself appears to be unrecoverable. I cannot login to it, and it does not appear to be functioning when powered on. The little screenpad display unit is backlit, but no information appears. So I can't tell what exactly has failed or when. I have a feeling it actually happened shortly after we departed late on Tuesday (there was a tremendous electrical storm that night in the city).

I am surprised to learn my heater could heat the tank so much. I thought it was only about 2 watts per gallon but perhaps I am mistaken on that. Ironically, a few weeks ago my 65g also had a heater failed in the stuck-on position, but the tank only got to 27 deg C - it's just not capable of pushing too far beyond that. But in the big tank - it must have been 40 degrees or warmer.

For now, the survivors are moved into my 65g fowlr. I can't understand how the carpets and clowns survived this event, they are incredibly tough buggers. My female clownfish is probably 18 years old at this point - she's one of the first fish I've ever purchased when I got into this hobby in the late 90's. Battle scarred and a little weary looking, but still kicking.

One clam seems to have survived - for now. And the filefish. Seems to be adjusting to his new home.

Of course, time will tell whether they indeed recover after such a trauma. I'm not making any predictions at this point.

And so, I'm left at a cross roads. I'm not emotionally ready to rebuild this tank. In fact, what I really want to do is empty it for now. It is entirely possible I will not rebuild. A part of me feels that if I were to rebuild and reset, it cheapens the respect and love that I had for those fish and creatures.

So, I may decide to start selling the equipment. Unfortunately, to remove the tank will require some demolition of walls, so this choice has to be made very carefully, and I don't think I'm in the right frame of mind to make any decision of that magnitude.

However, the tank does need to be emptied and shutdown at this point. So I will probably start selling the rock in the coming days to weeks.

The hobby has taught me so much. You nearly end up with the equivalent of a process engineering degree when you take everything into account, balanced with ecology and biology and a maybe measure of psychology as well (human and non human for that matter). And, while it also teaches us of loss and grief, while perhaps a necessary step as with all things, these are but a small piece of the overall picture. I choose to remember the highlights.

I am not quitting the hobby. I still have a 65g FOWLR (if the carpets and clam live, I guess I can call it a "reef"), I still have a FW tank. I will continue on. Live and learn.

If I can offer any lessons from this, I think I would summarize it thusly:
- redundancy and safety can not be overdone. If your heater is controlled by an electronic controller, consider a secondary controller as well. For example, this catastrophe could have been avoided if I had used a Ranco inline with the Apex outlet. Heck there are 12v and 24V versions of Ranco - you could run one of those on a battery so to keep the power supplies isolated.
- Never use a heater overrated for the volume. It just seems inevitable that a heater will one day freeze in the "on" position. Even investing in a controller is no guarantee this will be avoided. I thought my heater was not too much for my tank, but apparently I was mistaken. So take a moment and question yourself whether you're exposed to this risk as well, and consider downgrading your heater if need be.

[Aquattro]

As someone who always has something to say, I have nothing. I'm sad to read this.

[lastlight]

That's a tough read Tony but I'm glad we haven't lost you to this series of events. Shut down and make the big decisions later. Get well and focus on the family. As always if you need help call me. I'm really good at manual mucky labour. I even enjoy it so don't hesitate.

[gregzz4]

Geez Tony ... I'm sorry for all your grief and loss.
Hope Pops recovers quickly.

I'm one of those redundancy freaks. Pretty much everything I have is backed up by something, and I keep separate baskets for all my eggs.
Even so, thanks for posting your hardware failures. Hopefully it will save someone in future.

As Brett said, just take a step back while things calm down and we know you'll set it back up again.

🍺

[FishyFishy!]

Damn Tony. Im sorry to hear this. Its always sad.

If you need any help with the shutdown or the cleanup, just give me a shout.

[Doug]

That really sucks Tony. Sorry about your tank & its inhabitants. Esp. one you have had for so long. Loosing my clowns would break my heart.