A cautionary tale

rgulrich · 05/08/2013, 08:12 PM

Too much work, too many things on the schedule, and a list of personal requirements to boot. Throw that in the mix with an out of town business trip and last minute maintenance of filter cleaning, carbon and gfo replacement, and then refill the kalkwasser reactor, and well, the results were a crashed reef.

Saturday was busy reviewing a proposal for work and pushing to get it done and delivered by the afternoon - I was leaving for Montreal first thing Sunday morning for five days, and had a series of things to do before I left the house in the hands of my significant other. Managed to finish with work, finish the briefing slides, and begin aquarium maintenance. In the middle of refilling the mix for the kalkwasser reactor, the phone rings - some silly ... marketing company. Just enough for me to lose count of how much calcium hydroxide I've put in the mix, apparently. I finish with the maintenance and then quickly pack up to go to significant other's house for a bonfire/picnic with many friends and acquaintances in attendance (read: attendance expected).

Headed back to the house after 3-4 hours to finish packing and finish up a few light chores, printing out last minute instructions on dog care and fish feeding, and then pass out for a few hours to get up early and head to the airport.

Decide to take one last look at the aquaria before I step to the car, and the reef is milk white. Period. Can't see more than an inch or two in. I know exactly what happened at that moment, reach in and disconnect the kalk reactor/auto top off. Remove the fill line from the reactor to bypass and put it directly into the sump. I see my Purple Tang just barely hanging on, my Tomini was already upside down, and no sign of any of my other fish. My only cleaner shrimp was already gone as well.

I have no time, and head out trying to figure out what I could do to hand off this disaster to my significant other who is just expecting to feed the fish. Didn't come up with anything simple enough to execute other than to let everything settle out and remove the dead livestock.

So, after tonight's phone call back, I know realize that I have a Purple Tang, a Percula clown, and two "engineer gobies" that have somehow survived. My maxima (I've had for 4+ years), Derasa (6+ years) and purple Squamosa (over 10" and over 6 years as well) didn't make it. I'm betting all of the coral is done as well. She's going to try to remove the clams tonight if she can. I do have a number of hermit crabs that are doing pretty well, and a report of at least one peppermint shrimp that made it. Oh, and this was a 180 gallon reef (please note the use of the past tense).

There is a moral of sorts to this story. Do your aquarium maintenance. If you are leaving for a period of time and plan on performing your maintenance before you depart, make it the priority and hope everyone understands - then check your work, preferably using a checklist. If you are in the middle of something critical (I now consider working with calcium hydroxide critical), ignore the phone until you are finished - that's what the answering machine is for.

This truly is a great hobby, and I've had many years of enjoyment with it. I'm still planning on setting up the 300 DD I've moved into place for the remaining inhabitants, and hope that they can forgive me for the pain I've inadvertently caused. And I'm so sorry for the losses I've incurred. Please learn from my experience...

Cheers,
Ray...still in Montreal and dreading certain aspects of my return home.

d-man · 05/08/2013, 08:18 PM

Sorry to hear. I too am a lil worried as I leave for panama in a week. So my plan is to do my water change and maintenance on sat. Therefore the tank will have 3 days of monitoring before I leave. During this time I will use very light kalk maybe even none as my top off since I have two part going and most of my levels will hopefully be replenished via water change. I have two people feeding my tanks and looking after it and will leave my lfs number just in case.
Have fun with your new build though. Lessons can always be learned.

Badkarma88 · 05/08/2013, 08:47 PM

Sorry to hear that. I need to sit down and write out some detailed instructions for a few different situations in case I'm at work and something happens. I'm a flight paramedic and work a 24 hour shift every 4 days.

Nitro069 · 05/08/2013, 08:55 PM

Sorry to hear that, reminds me of the time that my dosing pump timers failed in the on position. when i got up in the morning it was like looking into a giant glass of skim milk. my heart sunk to my stomach. I had to do the same thing, walk away after shutting off the pumps and hope for the best.

Good luck to you.....hope everything works out.

Erock9er · 05/08/2013, 09:56 PM

Sorry to hear what happened. Your story is helpful for new reefers like myself to learn. Enjoy your new build.

rgulrich · 05/10/2013, 09:13 AM

Update:
Made it back in late last night, took a quick peek but decided to wait until this morning to do a bit more detailed inspection.
The remaining fish look to be in surprisingly good shape, although the Red Sea Purple Tang is quite a bit more shy at the moment. I'm hoping he'll come out of it. He's the only one I haven't been able to get a thorough examination of, but he's quite active in his "hiding spot".
Here are some more interesting results: Trachyphyllia geoffroyi, Euphyllia divisa, Pssammocora survived and appear in to be in great shape. Lobophyllia 100 percent loss, Labyrinthine (encrusting) brain coral 80 percent loss, all sps 100 percent loss.

I can't thank my girlfriend enough for doing everything she could to help out - including removing the dead livestock and repeatedly emptying and cleaning the protein skimmer - even though she's not even an aquarium person, let alone a reefkeeper.

The water is clear, the kalk and precipitate has settled out of solution, and I'm mixing up a hundred gallons for a water change.

Mother Nature does pack some surprises for us, and some of our members of our reef keeping hobby quite literally amaze me with their resiliency.

TankStudy · 05/10/2013, 11:10 AM

Well, I'll be extra cautious today. I have these corals I ordered that didn't go thru the first time and they took a little longer then anticipated on the second shipment and so I have a shipment coming in today, the day before I leave town.

I'll make sure to double check everything. EVERYTHING.

Squidmotron · 05/10/2013, 11:23 AM

Dude. I've done that like 3 times. In my case, I'm amazed at how most everything survived.

zachfishman · 05/10/2013, 01:11 PM

Quote:

...and last minute maintenance of...

Any time the words "last minute" come up in reefing, it ends badly. I have to constantly remind myself at work not to adjust the kalk drip, reactor effluent, etc if I'm less than an hour from clocking out.

PikkaGTR · 05/10/2013, 01:18 PM

sorry to hear about that mishap
I will be sure to triple check all things done to the reef from now on

shaggss · 05/10/2013, 05:27 PM

Sorry for your loses. I travel for work and I can guarantee when something goes wrong, it will be while I am away. Murphy has a lot to answer for!

05/08/2013, 08:12 PM	#1
rgulrich greybeard Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: MD Posts: 893	A cautionary tale Too much work, too many things on the schedule, and a list of personal requirements to boot. Throw that in the mix with an out of town business trip and last minute maintenance of filter cleaning, carbon and gfo replacement, and then refill the kalkwasser reactor, and well, the results were a crashed reef. Saturday was busy reviewing a proposal for work and pushing to get it done and delivered by the afternoon - I was leaving for Montreal first thing Sunday morning for five days, and had a series of things to do before I left the house in the hands of my significant other. Managed to finish with work, finish the briefing slides, and begin aquarium maintenance. In the middle of refilling the mix for the kalkwasser reactor, the phone rings - some silly ... marketing company. Just enough for me to lose count of how much calcium hydroxide I've put in the mix, apparently. I finish with the maintenance and then quickly pack up to go to significant other's house for a bonfire/picnic with many friends and acquaintances in attendance (read: attendance expected). Headed back to the house after 3-4 hours to finish packing and finish up a few light chores, printing out last minute instructions on dog care and fish feeding, and then pass out for a few hours to get up early and head to the airport. Decide to take one last look at the aquaria before I step to the car, and the reef is milk white. Period. Can't see more than an inch or two in. I know exactly what happened at that moment, reach in and disconnect the kalk reactor/auto top off. Remove the fill line from the reactor to bypass and put it directly into the sump. I see my Purple Tang just barely hanging on, my Tomini was already upside down, and no sign of any of my other fish. My only cleaner shrimp was already gone as well. I have no time, and head out trying to figure out what I could do to hand off this disaster to my significant other who is just expecting to feed the fish. Didn't come up with anything simple enough to execute other than to let everything settle out and remove the dead livestock. So, after tonight's phone call back, I know realize that I have a Purple Tang, a Percula clown, and two "engineer gobies" that have somehow survived. My maxima (I've had for 4+ years), Derasa (6+ years) and purple Squamosa (over 10" and over 6 years as well) didn't make it. I'm betting all of the coral is done as well. She's going to try to remove the clams tonight if she can. I do have a number of hermit crabs that are doing pretty well, and a report of at least one peppermint shrimp that made it. Oh, and this was a 180 gallon reef (please note the use of the past tense). There is a moral of sorts to this story. Do your aquarium maintenance. If you are leaving for a period of time and plan on performing your maintenance before you depart, make it the priority and hope everyone understands - then check your work, preferably using a checklist. If you are in the middle of something critical (I now consider working with calcium hydroxide critical), ignore the phone until you are finished - that's what the answering machine is for. This truly is a great hobby, and I've had many years of enjoyment with it. I'm still planning on setting up the 300 DD I've moved into place for the remaining inhabitants, and hope that they can forgive me for the pain I've inadvertently caused. And I'm so sorry for the losses I've incurred. Please learn from my experience... Cheers, Ray...still in Montreal and dreading certain aspects of my return home. __________________ The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. Albert Einstein Current Tank Info: 360 degree walk around 300 DD island–4 300W & 2 165W ViparSpectra, 4 Kessil A350W, 2 A360WE, 3 XF150, 1 XF250, 1 XF350 Gyre along with 2 PP40 and 2 IceCap 3K gyre for robust current. Basement 150 gallon RubberMaid sump, SKIMZ skimmer, DCP18000

05/08/2013, 08:55 PM	#4
Nitro069 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Posts: 100	Sorry to hear that, reminds me of the time that my dosing pump timers failed in the on position. when i got up in the morning it was like looking into a giant glass of skim milk. my heart sunk to my stomach. I had to do the same thing, walk away after shutting off the pumps and hope for the best. Good luck to you.....hope everything works out. __________________ If it was easy, everyone would do it........ Current Tank Info: 75 gallon reef, 20 gallon acrylic sump, 6x54w ati dimmable sunpower, reef octopus nwb150 skimmer, 2 mp40w, RKE with net module, brs dual reactor(gfo and carbon), brs peristaltic dosing pumps(cal and alk).

05/10/2013, 09:13 AM	#6
rgulrich greybeard Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: MD Posts: 893	Update: Made it back in late last night, took a quick peek but decided to wait until this morning to do a bit more detailed inspection. The remaining fish look to be in surprisingly good shape, although the Red Sea Purple Tang is quite a bit more shy at the moment. I'm hoping he'll come out of it. He's the only one I haven't been able to get a thorough examination of, but he's quite active in his "hiding spot". Here are some more interesting results: Trachyphyllia geoffroyi, Euphyllia divisa, Pssammocora survived and appear in to be in great shape. Lobophyllia 100 percent loss, Labyrinthine (encrusting) brain coral 80 percent loss, all sps 100 percent loss. I can't thank my girlfriend enough for doing everything she could to help out - including removing the dead livestock and repeatedly emptying and cleaning the protein skimmer - even though she's not even an aquarium person, let alone a reefkeeper. The water is clear, the kalk and precipitate has settled out of solution, and I'm mixing up a hundred gallons for a water change. Mother Nature does pack some surprises for us, and some of our members of our reef keeping hobby quite literally amaze me with their resiliency. __________________ The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. Albert Einstein Current Tank Info: 360 degree walk around 300 DD island–4 300W & 2 165W ViparSpectra, 4 Kessil A350W, 2 A360WE, 3 XF150, 1 XF250, 1 XF350 Gyre along with 2 PP40 and 2 IceCap 3K gyre for robust current. Basement 150 gallon RubberMaid sump, SKIMZ skimmer, DCP18000

05/10/2013, 11:23 AM	#8
Squidmotron Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Plano, TX Posts: 675	Dude. I've done that like 3 times. In my case, I'm amazed at how most everything survived. __________________ .................................................. Current Tank Info: 210 Gallon "Mixed Reef" Tank (84 inches wide)

05/10/2013, 05:27 PM	#11
shaggss Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Hong Kong Posts: 1,709	Sorry for your loses. I travel for work and I can guarantee when something goes wrong, it will be while I am away. Murphy has a lot to answer for! __________________ NEVER get eye level with an infants anus! New build, planning stages. 30 x 20 x 20", Geisemann Spectra 250W with Radium, Profilux controller, Profilux doser 2, Fluval SP4 return pump, Life Reef 28

05/08/2013, 08:18 PM	#2
d-man Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: San Diego, ca Posts: 2,732	Sorry to hear. I too am a lil worried as I leave for panama in a week. So my plan is to do my water change and maintenance on sat. Therefore the tank will have 3 days of monitoring before I leave. During this time I will use very light kalk maybe even none as my top off since I have two part going and most of my levels will hopefully be replenished via water change. I have two people feeding my tanks and looking after it and will leave my lfs number just in case. Have fun with your new build though. Lessons can always be learned.

05/08/2013, 08:47 PM	#3
Badkarma88 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 50	Sorry to hear that. I need to sit down and write out some detailed instructions for a few different situations in case I'm at work and something happens. I'm a flight paramedic and work a 24 hour shift every 4 days.

05/08/2013, 09:56 PM	#5
Erock9er Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: OKC Posts: 27	Sorry to hear what happened. Your story is helpful for new reefers like myself to learn. Enjoy your new build.

05/10/2013, 11:10 AM	#7
TankStudy Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 242	Well, I'll be extra cautious today. I have these corals I ordered that didn't go thru the first time and they took a little longer then anticipated on the second shipment and so I have a shipment coming in today, the day before I leave town. I'll make sure to double check everything. EVERYTHING.

05/10/2013, 01:18 PM	#10
PikkaGTR Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 50	sorry to hear about that mishap I will be sure to triple check all things done to the reef from now on