Pulp Fishin's A Series Of Unfortunate -A extreamly long rant

Pulp Fishin · 07/12/2008, 02:13 PM

My last 36hrs have tested me greatly but now the worse seems to be over I have the time to sit down and tell you all about it. Get comfey this may take awhile....

Lucky for me I had Thursday & Friday off work this week so I decided to finally oder a CUC that would do the job on my 135FOWLR and some other goodies I'd been after for a long time. I called the week before and placed my order to arrive Thursday. Sure as there are fish in the sea, Thursday 13:34 I'm down at London airport only to find out they have nothing for me. :roll: They said they close at 7 and they would have my order for me by then for sure. So 6:45 I fill my car up at $1.34/l and take another long drive to the airport. I get down there too see the guy leaving for the day with no package for me. I'm starting to worry. So I go home after they say that if it come in before midnight I'll get a call from a girl at the airport. I think not too worry since there wasn't much I could do.

I get home to find the landlady putting a note on my door saying that because the people who live above me put fat & coffey grinds down their sink I had to pay $229 because their old central system backed up in my sink. Even the plumber said that it wasn't our fault but apparently we have to pay for it.

I got home and went to my tank and gave it their dinner of Cyclop-eeze & Mysis mix. I took the skim cup of my Deltec and after cleaning put it back. Trust me, that at this point everything in my tank/sump was fine!

I went to sit down and had a smoke while I checked a few things on the internet. I'm not sure but I'd say about 30min passed since I fed my tank so I knew the food would be gone so I went back and was about to turn off the lights when I noticed my feet were wet! :cry:

I couldn't see where the problem was comming from but I knew my acrylic sump I just got last January had sprung a leak. I out of a bit of luck had 3 empty pails and a juice jug right there so I cut the power & started bailing like I was on a sinking ship! Out of hysteria I fogot to reach up and lift my return abover the waterline so before I realised it another few gallons had syphoned back into my sump.

Not sure how long I was draining my sump for mabby 15-20min, but after getting all the water out with the jug & towels to sop up the last of it I sat back for a much needed smoke to calm my nerves. I was thinking dammage control. I have a QT tank thats 30x12x14 not sure how big that is I think 23gal, I have this curing baserock with tap/saltwater. So I drained the small tank of the bad water and used 100% of the water from the 135 and rock as well so I pray for no cycle. I left the powerheads on for flow and figured that for the night I had done all I could do.

By the way no word on the shipment as of this point.

I decided that after a day like that I needed a strong drink. I thought tequila wasn't gona be strong enough to help the day I had. 2 shots of Absinthe later a lot of things felt better!

I set all the house fans on the carpet which too my amaisment had only taken in about 5-15gal max.
Since my tank is 135 and there is 150gal in the system, this could of been so much worse then it was.

I set all the fans in the house on my wet carpet and went to bed.
9am I'm just waking up when I get a call that my shipment came in. 20hrs after it was supose to be here(oh and what a 20hrs it was). So I run out for more smokes(yes I smoke a lot) and got my order and raced home too acclimate what I could to my QT tank.

The 2 slabs of frozen food I got arrived like Jelly but other then that the livestock seemed fine.
I started aclimating but there was no way I would be able to get a CUC ment for a 135into a 23gallon tank. I called my friend Darren(HABS#1) and he knew my situation and has a 75gallon that reacently had its CUC depleated so I figured who better to unload my snails on then him!

I also know that I want to get the final things ready to get my 65gallon diamond corner tank going if possible. So we decided too meet at our LFS, lucky for me I had left my coral beauty & blond naso tang I had bought 2 weeks before there to stay QT'd for a few weeks. They found the peace I needed to hook up my 65 since it was used and a bit dirty he was nice enough to give it me free of charge!

I sent Darren off with a few bags with about 35snails and a green clown goby. I'm sure they will be better off with him right now. I raced back home to take over aclimating dutys from my girlfriend(what a amaising girl I have that can acclimate inverts) and arround 2:30pm 4.5hrs after I started the process I got the first fish/shrimp into my tank! After I got my order in I 1/3 filled my 5.5gal tank and started catching the livestock that was in my 135(T-24hrs since the sump broke and nothing but powerheads going). I even mannaged to find my Emerald Crab I hadn't seen in three weeks, and for the first time since I got them I had all 3 of my fighting conches in the same place. In total I spent from 10am-8:00pm acclimating the whole lot but it was done! One of my green Chromis had a small red spot on his side so I decided to leave him in the 135 with powerheads and just hope for the best for him.

Right now I have a big day of setting my 65g up tomorow. Hopefully using used water/rock/sand from the 135 will cut a cycle down on it because the sooner I have another tank going the better. Sadly because the stand lets the filter go in though the top the entire tank has to be broken down and when it is I'll be taking the sump back to the store, I would hope that since its less then a year old I'm at least good for in store credit for it. Another thing I'm glad I got it from a place here in London so its not far to take back.

There is now a overpacked 23gallon tank to deal with. Its currently home to 2 clowns, 1 chromis, a green clown goby, 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 fire shrimp, 6 sexy shrimp, 2 harlequin shrimp, a linkia starfish(which is harleqin shrimp food), a emerald crab, 3 fighting coches and about 40-60 assorted snails.

I'm sad that just as my 135 was really getting going that its has to go back to square 1!
Still I see that I must had the best luck possible for the situation. Yes good luck, not only was I home when it broke but I walked to my tank and found out probbly less then 4 or 5min after the break happened or a lot more then 10gallons would be lost.
Also my livestock concidered they were at least 48hrs in trasit I didn't lose much just about 7-10 Mexican Turbo snails and 2 cerith snails and things don't look good for one of my chromis. Other then that everything seems happy(except for the blue linkia starfish, hes probbly mad I cut off one of his arms for the harlequin shrimp).

I must say my sprits for the hobby has been beaten after this ordeal but its not broken!
I will take this as a experiance to learn from, overall I think I handled it very well.
It won't happen overnight but I'm already looking forward to returning my 135FOWLR to its former glory!

Pulp Fishin · 07/12/2008, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pulp Fishin
My last 36hrs have tested me greatly but now the worse seems to be over I have the time to sit down and tell you all about it. Get comfey this may take awhile....

Lucky for me I had Thursday & Friday off work this week so I decided to finally oder a CUC that would do the job on my 135FOWLR and some other goodies I'd been after for a long time. I called the week before and placed my order to arrive Thursday. Sure as there are fish in the sea, Thursday 13:34 I'm down at London airport only to find out they have nothing for me. :roll: They said they close at 7 and they would have my order for me by then for sure. So 6:45 I fill my car up at $1.34/l and take another long drive to the airport. I get down there too see the guy leaving for the day with no package for me. I'm starting to worry. So I go home after they say that if it come in before midnight I'll get a call from a girl at the airport. I think not too worry since there wasn't much I could do.

I get home to find the landlady putting a note on my door saying that because the people who live above me put fat & coffey grinds down their sink I had to pay $229 because their old central system backed up in my sink. Even the plumber said that it wasn't our fault but apparently we have to pay for it.

I got home and went to my tank and gave it their dinner of Cyclop-eeze & Mysis mix. I took the skim cup of my Deltec and after cleaning put it back. Trust me, that at this point everything in my tank/sump was fine!

I went to sit down and had a smoke while I checked a few things on the internet. I'm not sure but I'd say about 30min passed since I fed my tank so I knew the food would be gone so I went back and was about to turn off the lights when I noticed my feet were wet! :cry:

I couldn't see where the problem was comming from but I knew my acrylic sump I just got last January had sprung a leak. I out of a bit of luck had 3 empty pails and a juice jug right there so I cut the power & started bailing like I was on a sinking ship! Out of hysteria I fogot to reach up and lift my return abover the waterline so before I realised it another few gallons had syphoned back into my sump.

Not sure how long I was draining my sump for mabby 15-20min, but after getting all the water out with the jug & towels to sop up the last of it I sat back for a much needed smoke to calm my nerves. I was thinking dammage control. I have a QT tank thats 30x12x14 not sure how big that is I think 23gal, I have this curing baserock with tap/saltwater. So I drained the small tank of the bad water and used 100% of the water from the 135 and rock as well so I pray for no cycle. I left the powerheads on for flow and figured that for the night I had done all I could do.

By the way no word on the shipment as of this point.

I decided that after a day like that I needed a strong drink. I thought tequila wasn't gona be strong enough to help the day I had. 2 shots of Absinthe later a lot of things felt better!

I set all the house fans on the carpet which too my amaisment had only taken in about 5-15gal max.
Since my tank is 135 and there is 150gal in the system, this could of been so much worse then it was.

I set all the fans in the house on my wet carpet and went to bed.
9am I'm just waking up when I get a call that my shipment came in. 20hrs after it was supose to be here(oh and what a 20hrs it was). So I run out for more smokes(yes I smoke a lot) and got my order and raced home too acclimate what I could to my QT tank.

The 2 slabs of frozen food I got arrived like Jelly but other then that the livestock seemed fine.
I started aclimating but there was no way I would be able to get a CUC ment for a 135into a 23gallon tank. I called my friend Darren(HABS#1) and he knew my situation and has a 75gallon that reacently had its CUC depleated so I figured who better to unload my snails on then him!

I also know that I want to get the final things ready to get my 65gallon diamond corner tank going if possible. So we decided too meet at our LFS, lucky for me I had left my coral beauty & blond naso tang I had bought 2 weeks before there to stay QT'd for a few weeks. They found the peace I needed to hook up my 65 since it was used and a bit dirty he was nice enough to give it me free of charge!

I sent Darren off with a few bags with about 35snails and a green clown goby. I'm sure they will be better off with him right now. I raced back home to take over aclimating dutys from my girlfriend(what a amaising girl I have that can acclimate inverts) and arround 2:30pm 4.5hrs after I started the process I got the first fish/shrimp into my tank! After I got my order in I 1/3 filled my 5.5gal tank and started catching the livestock that was in my 135(T-24hrs since the sump broke and nothing but powerheads going). I even mannaged to find my Emerald Crab I hadn't seen in three weeks, and for the first time since I got them I had all 3 of my fighting conches in the same place. In total I spent from 10am-8:00pm acclimating the whole lot but it was done! One of my green Chromis had a small red spot on his side so I decided to leave him in the 135 with powerheads and just hope for the best for him.

Right now I have a big day of setting my 65g up tomorow. Hopefully using used water/rock/sand from the 135 will cut a cycle down on it because the sooner I have another tank going the better. Sadly because the stand lets the filter go in though the top the entire tank has to be broken down and when it is I'll be taking the sump back to the store, I would hope that since its less then a year old I'm at least good for in store credit for it. Another thing I'm glad I got it from a place here in London so its not far to take back.

There is now a overpacked 23gallon tank to deal with. Its currently home to 2 clowns, 1 chromis, a green clown goby, 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 fire shrimp, 6 sexy shrimp, 2 harlequin shrimp, a linkia starfish(which is harleqin shrimp food), a emerald crab, 3 fighting coches and about 40-60 assorted snails.

I'm sad that just as my 135 was really getting going that its has to go back to square 1!
Still I see that I must had the best luck possible for the situation. Yes good luck, not only was I home when it broke but I walked to my tank and found out probbly less then 4 or 5min after the break happened or a lot more then 10gallons would be lost.
Also my livestock concidered they were at least 48hrs in trasit I didn't lose much just about 7-10 Mexican Turbo snails and 2 cerith snails and things don't look good for one of my chromis. Other then that everything seems happy(except for the blue linkia starfish, hes probbly mad I cut off one of his arms for the harlequin shrimp).

I must say my sprits for the hobby has been beaten after this ordeal but its not broken!
I will take this as a experiance to learn from, overall I think I handled it very well.
It won't happen overnight but I'm already looking forward to returning my 135FOWLR to its former glory!

heyfredyourhat · 07/12/2008, 02:29 PM

Glad that you are still very positive and ready to keep going! I know it would be a very tough decision for myself to start over. It is so easy to just pull the plug when things turn sour.

I guess another positive thing is that you can change anything you had originally found as "troublesome". I know that if I had/could start over things would be a little different!

Pulp Fishin · 07/12/2008, 02:33 PM

yeah your right I wasn't very happy with the sump itself so when things are back on track i'll get a 2nd chance to set up a sump that I'll be happy with.

heyfredyourhat · 07/12/2008, 02:40 PM

I had another RO/DI flood the other day and i just wanted to tear the tank down and say F-... it! Getting tired of cleaning up water!

Sk8r · 07/12/2008, 02:43 PM

Oh, my. Quite a day. I wish you good luck and a smoother tomorrow---all of us who've been a while in this hobby have had days like that. But it doesn't make them easier.

Pulp Fishin · 07/12/2008, 02:45 PM

I'm not usually a person that gives up easy in fact I don't know when to quit which isn't always a good quality to have!
I guess it may have been my saving grace in this situation.

Michael · 07/12/2008, 02:46 PM

yep weve had em, days like this are days to forget, have a whiskey and try to forget all about it, if thats possible

Pulp Fishin · 07/12/2008, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sk8r
Oh, my. Quite a day. I wish you good luck and a smoother tomorrow---all of us who've been a while in this hobby have had days like that. But it doesn't make them easier.

Thanks I'm not gona act like its the end of the world. The sun still rose today so things will go on after my bad day.
I think it does help just to know that whatever happened to me I'm sure sombody else out there wasn't so lucky! I just thankfull for what they tought me in Scouts-Always Be Prepared!

07/12/2008, 02:33 PM	#4
Pulp Fishin Were all mad here. Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: London Ontario Canada Posts: 608	yeah your right I wasn't very happy with the sump itself so when things are back on track i'll get a 2nd chance to set up a sump that I'll be happy with. __________________ Reef Central Corner Club Aquarium Dumpster Diver Extraordinaire Money talks, mine says "Good-Bye" Current Tank Info: RIP:60g Pentagon Reef 100lbs LR 20g Sump Deltec Mce 600 Mag 750 250W Metal Halide & 2x39W T5's Phosban ReactorX2 5gal refugium 36xTO RIP:135G FOWLER /Agressive

07/12/2008, 02:43 PM	#6
Sk8r RC Mod Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 34,628 Blog Entries: 55	Oh, my. Quite a day. I wish you good luck and a smoother tomorrow---all of us who've been a while in this hobby have had days like that. But it doesn't make them easier. __________________ Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.

07/12/2008, 02:45 PM	#7
Pulp Fishin Were all mad here. Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: London Ontario Canada Posts: 608	I'm not usually a person that gives up easy in fact I don't know when to quit which isn't always a good quality to have! I guess it may have been my saving grace in this situation. __________________ Reef Central Corner Club Aquarium Dumpster Diver Extraordinaire Money talks, mine says "Good-Bye" Current Tank Info: RIP:60g Pentagon Reef 100lbs LR 20g Sump Deltec Mce 600 Mag 750 250W Metal Halide & 2x39W T5's Phosban ReactorX2 5gal refugium 36xTO RIP:135G FOWLER /Agressive

07/12/2008, 02:46 PM	#8
Michael NTTH Rookie Help Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gloucester, England,UK Posts: 7,808 Blog Entries: 6	yep weve had em, days like this are days to forget, have a whiskey and try to forget all about it, if thats possible __________________ Don't be afraid to ask questions, we in the new to the hobby are here to help you [For My Tank Spec,Photo Album,Articles and website, click on my name] MY Very Kindest and Warmest Regards , MIKE Current Tank Info: I have a 92 gal Corner Tank, and way too many pieces of equipment to list really, (proud member of the reef central corner club)

07/12/2008, 02:13 PM	#1
Pulp Fishin Were all mad here. Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: London Ontario Canada Posts: 608	Pulp Fishin's A Series Of Unfortunate -A extreamly long rant My last 36hrs have tested me greatly but now the worse seems to be over I have the time to sit down and tell you all about it. Get comfey this may take awhile.... Lucky for me I had Thursday & Friday off work this week so I decided to finally oder a CUC that would do the job on my 135FOWLR and some other goodies I'd been after for a long time. I called the week before and placed my order to arrive Thursday. Sure as there are fish in the sea, Thursday 13:34 I'm down at London airport only to find out they have nothing for me. :roll: They said they close at 7 and they would have my order for me by then for sure. So 6:45 I fill my car up at $1.34/l and take another long drive to the airport. I get down there too see the guy leaving for the day with no package for me. I'm starting to worry. So I go home after they say that if it come in before midnight I'll get a call from a girl at the airport. I think not too worry since there wasn't much I could do. I get home to find the landlady putting a note on my door saying that because the people who live above me put fat & coffey grinds down their sink I had to pay $229 because their old central system backed up in my sink. Even the plumber said that it wasn't our fault but apparently we have to pay for it. I got home and went to my tank and gave it their dinner of Cyclop-eeze & Mysis mix. I took the skim cup of my Deltec and after cleaning put it back. Trust me, that at this point everything in my tank/sump was fine! I went to sit down and had a smoke while I checked a few things on the internet. I'm not sure but I'd say about 30min passed since I fed my tank so I knew the food would be gone so I went back and was about to turn off the lights when I noticed my feet were wet! :cry: I couldn't see where the problem was comming from but I knew my acrylic sump I just got last January had sprung a leak. I out of a bit of luck had 3 empty pails and a juice jug right there so I cut the power & started bailing like I was on a sinking ship! Out of hysteria I fogot to reach up and lift my return abover the waterline so before I realised it another few gallons had syphoned back into my sump. Not sure how long I was draining my sump for mabby 15-20min, but after getting all the water out with the jug & towels to sop up the last of it I sat back for a much needed smoke to calm my nerves. I was thinking dammage control. I have a QT tank thats 30x12x14 not sure how big that is I think 23gal, I have this curing baserock with tap/saltwater. So I drained the small tank of the bad water and used 100% of the water from the 135 and rock as well so I pray for no cycle. I left the powerheads on for flow and figured that for the night I had done all I could do. By the way no word on the shipment as of this point. I decided that after a day like that I needed a strong drink. I thought tequila wasn't gona be strong enough to help the day I had. 2 shots of Absinthe later a lot of things felt better! I set all the house fans on the carpet which too my amaisment had only taken in about 5-15gal max. Since my tank is 135 and there is 150gal in the system, this could of been so much worse then it was. I set all the fans in the house on my wet carpet and went to bed. 9am I'm just waking up when I get a call that my shipment came in. 20hrs after it was supose to be here(oh and what a 20hrs it was). So I run out for more smokes(yes I smoke a lot) and got my order and raced home too acclimate what I could to my QT tank. The 2 slabs of frozen food I got arrived like Jelly but other then that the livestock seemed fine. I started aclimating but there was no way I would be able to get a CUC ment for a 135into a 23gallon tank. I called my friend Darren(HABS#1) and he knew my situation and has a 75gallon that reacently had its CUC depleated so I figured who better to unload my snails on then him! I also know that I want to get the final things ready to get my 65gallon diamond corner tank going if possible. So we decided too meet at our LFS, lucky for me I had left my coral beauty & blond naso tang I had bought 2 weeks before there to stay QT'd for a few weeks. They found the peace I needed to hook up my 65 since it was used and a bit dirty he was nice enough to give it me free of charge! I sent Darren off with a few bags with about 35snails and a green clown goby. I'm sure they will be better off with him right now. I raced back home to take over aclimating dutys from my girlfriend(what a amaising girl I have that can acclimate inverts) and arround 2:30pm 4.5hrs after I started the process I got the first fish/shrimp into my tank! After I got my order in I 1/3 filled my 5.5gal tank and started catching the livestock that was in my 135(T-24hrs since the sump broke and nothing but powerheads going). I even mannaged to find my Emerald Crab I hadn't seen in three weeks, and for the first time since I got them I had all 3 of my fighting conches in the same place. In total I spent from 10am-8:00pm acclimating the whole lot but it was done! One of my green Chromis had a small red spot on his side so I decided to leave him in the 135 with powerheads and just hope for the best for him. Right now I have a big day of setting my 65g up tomorow. Hopefully using used water/rock/sand from the 135 will cut a cycle down on it because the sooner I have another tank going the better. Sadly because the stand lets the filter go in though the top the entire tank has to be broken down and when it is I'll be taking the sump back to the store, I would hope that since its less then a year old I'm at least good for in store credit for it. Another thing I'm glad I got it from a place here in London so its not far to take back. There is now a overpacked 23gallon tank to deal with. Its currently home to 2 clowns, 1 chromis, a green clown goby, 2 cleaner shrimp, 2 fire shrimp, 6 sexy shrimp, 2 harlequin shrimp, a linkia starfish(which is harleqin shrimp food), a emerald crab, 3 fighting coches and about 40-60 assorted snails. I'm sad that just as my 135 was really getting going that its has to go back to square 1! Still I see that I must had the best luck possible for the situation. Yes good luck, not only was I home when it broke but I walked to my tank and found out probbly less then 4 or 5min after the break happened or a lot more then 10gallons would be lost. Also my livestock concidered they were at least 48hrs in trasit I didn't lose much just about 7-10 Mexican Turbo snails and 2 cerith snails and things don't look good for one of my chromis. Other then that everything seems happy(except for the blue linkia starfish, hes probbly mad I cut off one of his arms for the harlequin shrimp). I must say my sprits for the hobby has been beaten after this ordeal but its not broken! I will take this as a experiance to learn from, overall I think I handled it very well. It won't happen overnight but I'm already looking forward to returning my 135FOWLR to its former glory! __________________ Reef Central Corner Club Aquarium Dumpster Diver Extraordinaire Money talks, mine says "Good-Bye" Current Tank Info: RIP:60g Pentagon Reef 100lbs LR 20g Sump Deltec Mce 600 Mag 750 250W Metal Halide & 2x39W T5's Phosban ReactorX2 5gal refugium 36xTO RIP:135G FOWLER /Agressive

07/12/2008, 02:29 PM	#3
heyfredyourhat Premium Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: BC Canada Posts: 963	Glad that you are still very positive and ready to keep going! I know it would be a very tough decision for myself to start over. It is so easy to just pull the plug when things turn sour. I guess another positive thing is that you can change anything you had originally found as "troublesome". I know that if I had/could start over things would be a little different!

07/12/2008, 02:40 PM	#5
heyfredyourhat Premium Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: BC Canada Posts: 963	I had another RO/DI flood the other day and i just wanted to tear the tank down and say F-... it! Getting tired of cleaning up water!