Taking the Plunge

[Schwe]

well, let's find out!
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1548073

[Schwe]

Looking back at growth...

Duncan:
June 2008


January 2009 (under actinics)

[Schwe]

hmm... I got an email that 2frosty4u replied to this thread at 10:26AM but I don't see anything?

[2frosty4u]

I did try and make a couple of posts earlier but for some reason the were rejected. I was going to say that you seem to have some nice growth happening there. WTG. I was also tryingto post a story of my misfortune this week. I'll try again so you can read the whole story in the next post.

[2frosty4u]

I wanted to share a scary story about an event that happened earlier this week with my display tank. I will be posting this on a few fellow reefers threads to get the message out so bare with me if you see this post more than once. Earlier this week on Wednesday my wife came up from the basement which puts her in the dining room where my DT is located. When she entered the room she commented to me that she smelled something like a burning smell. I went to investigate, but was unable to find anything that would explain what she was smelling. While looking for the cause of the wife’s mystery odour, I did not smell a burning smell or anything so I figured it wasn’t anything to worry about. On Thursday morning I went into the basement to feed my FOWLR tank and take care of some minor maintenance issues. When I came back up stairs I smelled a burning odour this time and saw smoke filling the air. I started by looking under the tank stand where my aqua controller and my closed loop pump are located along with my MH ballasts. I found no problems. I looked on the rear of the canopy where the Icecap ballast and my ocean motions 4way are located and again no problems. Finally I opened the lid on my canopy and alas FIRE.....
The lights where all on, both 250W MH’s and two 110W VHO actinic, except one of the waterproof end caps for the VHO T12 actinic was burning and had started to spread to the wooden canopy. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!!
I would have expected the GFI to pop if there was some sort of a short in the end cap but that never happened. It was so strange seeing half of the end cap engulfed in flames and melting, while the lights were still working. I safely put the fire out after unplugging the Icecap ballast that drives the 2 VHO bulbs.
I’m not really sure what caused the end cap to erupt into flames after 2 years of no issues but I feel that I may have bumped the bulb during some routine maintenance that may have slightly unseated the bulb prongs and this may have caused some arcing at the contact points in the end cap which created heat and ultimately caused the end cap to catch on fire. Thankfully I was at home when this happened or the results would have been disastrous. The fire would have spread for sure and I would be homeless now if it wasn’t for the luck of being home at the time.
I would like to say that I will never take my wife’s smoke smell comments for granted ever again even when I don’t smell it. She must have a better sniffer than I. I recommend that all my fellow reefers take a minute or two and check all your electrical connections for loose, frayed, salt creep covered, loose bulbs or anything else you can find out of the ordinary to hopefully prevent you from experiencing a similar scary fire.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Schwe
Looking back at growth...

Duncan:
June 2008


January 2009 (under actinics)

I love Duncans but there so darn expensive up here.

[Schwe]

I got the frag for $14.99, for "one head," even though a second bud was on there. Do you have any reef buddies to get a frag from? If I knew how to frag mine I would send you a piece. Then again, with our sub-zero temps currently, you'd get a Duncan Popsicle!

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Schwe
I got the frag for $14.99, for "one head," even though a second bud was on there. Do you have any reef buddies to get a frag from? If I knew how to frag mine I would send you a piece. Then again, with our sub-zero temps currently, you'd get a Duncan Popsicle!

ah thanks--that would have been nice of you---I'll keep looking for a frag of it.

[Schwe]

Seriously cap. When the weather warms up a bit I'll make sure to have someone instruct me on how to clip off a couple heads for you if you haven't found a reasonably priced piece.

[melev]

Originally posted by 2frosty4u
I wanted to share a scary story about an event that happened earlier this week with my display tank. I will be posting this on a few fellow reefers threads to get the message out so bare with me if you see this post more than once. Earlier this week on Wednesday my wife came up from the basement which puts her in the dining room where my DT is located. When she entered the room she commented to me that she smelled something like a burning smell. I went to investigate, but was unable to find anything that would explain what she was smelling. While looking for the cause of the wife’s mystery odour, I did not smell a burning smell or anything so I figured it wasn’t anything to worry about. On Thursday morning I went into the basement to feed my FOWLR tank and take care of some minor maintenance issues. When I came back up stairs I smelled a burning odour this time and saw smoke filling the air. I started by looking under the tank stand where my aqua controller and my closed loop pump are located along with my MH ballasts. I found no problems. I looked on the rear of the canopy where the Icecap ballast and my ocean motions 4way are located and again no problems. Finally I opened the lid on my canopy and alas FIRE.....

The lights where all on, both 250W MH’s and two 110W VHO actinic, except one of the waterproof end caps for the VHO T12 actinic was burning and had started to spread to the wooden canopy. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!!

I would have expected the GFI to pop if there was some sort of a short in the end cap but that never happened. It was so strange seeing half of the end cap engulfed in flames and melting, while the lights were still working. I safely put the fire out after unplugging the Icecap ballast that drives the 2 VHO bulbs.

I’m not really sure what caused the end cap to erupt into flames after 2 years of no issues but I feel that I may have bumped the bulb during some routine maintenance that may have slightly unseated the bulb prongs and this may have caused some arcing at the contact points in the end cap which created heat and ultimately caused the end cap to catch on fire. Thankfully I was at home when this happened or the results would have been disastrous. The fire would have spread for sure and I would be homeless now if it wasn’t for the luck of being home at the time.
I would like to say that I will never take my wife’s smoke smell comments for granted ever again even when I don’t smell it. She must have a better sniffer than I. I recommend that all my fellow reefers take a minute or two and check all your electrical connections for loose, frayed, salt creep covered, loose bulbs or anything else you can find out of the ordinary to hopefully prevent you from experiencing a similar scary fire.

I'm glad you are okay.

It is imperative that the bulbs are firmly seated against the socket before you screw the waterproof endcaps snug. If there is any gap at all, or the end cap is slightly angled rather than flush up against the bulb, arcing and fire is possible.

You can't just 'get by' with VHO endcaps. It has to be right, and it has to be securely affixed to the canopy or light rack frame.

[2frosty4u]

Originally posted by melev
I'm glad you are okay.

It is imperative that the bulbs are firmly seated against the socket before you screw the waterproof endcaps snug. If there is any gap at all, or the end cap is slightly angled rather than flush up against the bulb, arcing and fire is possible.

You can't just 'get by' with VHO endcaps. It has to be right, and it has to be securely affixed to the canopy or light rack frame.

I agree with you 100%. The endcaps were not secured as good as I thouht they were to the light rack and that will be changed as soon as I rewire and reinstall the lights.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by Schwe
Seriously cap. When the weather warms up a bit I'll make sure to have someone instruct me on how to clip off a couple heads for you if you haven't found a reasonably priced piece.

thanks and I'll send you some coral in return

[raen]

Hey guys, Duncans are super pricey here too. A single head is about $35.00. I love them, but am waiting to find a great deal.

[timschmidt]

Sounds like a frag swap waiting to happen.

[Schwe]

Bad news... it looks like my bad luck wasn't through with me yet.

I lost ALL of my fish in less than a week. The Kole had a touch of ich in the QT and was not happy in a 20G with a pair of clowns, so I added them to the tank in hopes of the ich being a stress-related thing. Well, he really rebounded and was looking wonderful. Then I added the pair of Cardinal's and things were still good. The Kole was a bit bossy for a couple of days but eventually everyone settled down. He even seemed to chum it up with all of the fish after a few days.

Then, one morning I noticed that although he was eating well and had a fat tummy, it seemed like his head was skinny? The next day after work he was dead. I also found one of the cardinals pressed against a rock from flow. I removed both of them.

The next day, the clowns were covered in the worst ich outbreak I have ever seen. They were WHITE and their fins tattered, the male clown looked like his skin was melting off of him. I started to setup a FW dip with ph buffer and a heater... I came back in the room and he was stuck to a powerhead, barely breathing. I pulled him out immediately and put him in the FW dip. He just lay there, then started to breathe easier. He flipped around a couple of times, but seemed to be feeling some sort of relief. I didn't want to stress him with the FW dip too much longer, and put him in the QT. He just lay there and I knew he wouldn't make it. I tried to catch the female but she evaded me.

The remaining cardinal seemed to be fine, but refused to eat.

Yesterday the clown was missing and I couldn't find her anywhere.

Last night the Cardinal was having trouble staying upright and really fighting the powerheads.

Today I found the clown floating near the overflow in middle stages of decay and flushed her. The cardinal is missing.

I don't know what the hell happened. It's like I had a strain of super-ich or something. Or some other aggressive disease.

Saying that I'm feeling dejected is an understatement. I think I'm going to leave the fish alone for a while and concentrate on my corals. They're happy as a pig in poop. Open, vibrant, and growing like crazy-- so I can't suspect water quality being an issue.

I've always wanted to take a conservative route in medication, not wanting to subject my fish to copper or other chemicals unnecessarily.

Well, this is just too much loss. When I decide to brave the waters of fish again, I am doing prophylactic copper treatments and extensive quarantine. School starts Wednesday and I don't need nor can handle the stress of this. Corals are much more forgiving at this point.

Before the power outage, I seemed to be one of the blessed ones-- now I stand among the ranks of the cursed.

[Schwe]

Never mind, I just found the Cardinal. It was in the same place the other cardinal was... bu it was in a big pile of goo... just like Marc found his beloved clownfish.

[otrlynn]

Schwe, not much to say except than I'm so sorry about your fish. A break from fish will be a good thing for the tank. Six to eight weeks of it lying fallow should rid the tank of ich. You can use the time to concentrate on school and think about what fish to add when you are ready.

[Schwe]

Originally posted by otrlynn
Schwe, not much to say except than I'm so sorry about your fish. A break from fish will be a good thing for the tank. Six to eight weeks of it lying fallow should rid the tank of ich. You can use the time to concentrate on school and think about what fish to add when you are ready.

My plan exactly.

I'm aiming for graduating at least Magna Cum Laude.

[melev]

I'm sorry to read about all of this. It seemed like everything had taken a turn for the better several weeks ago. It would be nice to know what spawned this situation.

It's a good sign that all the corals are fine. You better do an ammonia test on the tank due to the recent deaths. And plan on a water change.

[Schwe]

Yeah, I have to pick up a new bucket of IO after work and get working on that. After the deaths and all of the nutrients in re water, my zoas have never looked happier and have doubled in size. I'm hoping they're sucking a bunch of bad joojoo out of the water until I can do that water change today or tomorrow.

[raen]

Wow Lesya, so sorry. I hope that when you do get more fish, they will be way more happy and healthy. Congrats on your grades. That is something huge to say! WTG!!!

[maroun.c]

Verry sorry for your Losses.
As you say you don't like to go the chemical route subjecting your fish to unnecessary Copper... why not go for a Hypoosalinity for 4-5 weeks in Q tank for all new additions and then increase the salinity, observe the fish for 1 more week in Q tank and then transfer to DT. this has been my way of introducing fish to my tank mostly for Ich prone fish like tangs....
Problem is when you have one of those fish in your DT in your tank then I believe it's best to have all your new additional fish go through this treatment to avoid subjecting fish that had already passed the ciritical introduction period....

[Electrobes]

I just got done reading the thread and must say you have an enormous amount of patience. I hope the reef takes a turn for the better soon and stays that way!

[Rae C.]

Sorry to hear that Schwe. Glad the corals are a source of happiness for you.

[timschmidt]

ouch...