Tank a total loss after power outage

[xpawn]

Hi everyone.

I suffered a total loss of my tank during the power outage caused by the ice storm. What steps to take to start over? I've removed all dead coral and fish. should I drain the tank and start with new water?
I'm sure the nitrates are off the chart. It's very painful to see all my hard work, patience and money be destroyed.

Terrell Johnson

[papagimp]

Correct on removing all the dead livestock, I would run a set of tests just to see where you're sitting. Wouldn't water change just yet, see if they're is any ammonia/nitrite in the tank, good chance, and let it re-cycle if so, then do a typical water change to bring nitrates back down and you know where to go from their.

So sorry to hear about this. Many of us have had some type of crash at some point, so you're not alone. If you need any assistance getting things setup again, ya got my number

[Travis L. Stevens]

This completely my opinion as there will be MANY options in starting over.

1a) Test water quality. We all know it isn't going to be good, but it will be a great indicator on how bad you are. If you typically maintain 0 nitrates, and your test show that you only have 20, then just let your tank run like it always did (without light; don't want algae) until the nitrates are converted. Do regular water changes as things settle. Once converted and things are fine, start restocking from the ground up slowly. Add a piece of good liverock or two to get a jump start on critters and wait a while for them to establish. Then move on to the next step which is most likely either hardy fish or corals depending on your cup of tea. If this is not the case, look down at #1b

1b) If you aren't blessed with the above scenario and have unbelievably bad water parameters, I would "cook" your rocks. This is especially handy if you had any algae problems in the past. Take all your rocks, put them in a bin or garbage can, add a heater and some sort of water flow, cover it so as little light can get in as possible, and let it sit. The no-light will kill off the algae, and it will allow the rock a chance to convert all the nasties to nothing. Every week or so, do a small water change and test the water. Wait until there are 0 nitrates. If there is still algae on the rocks (if you had any to begin with), cover it up and wait longer until it dies. Rinse and repeat until the rocks are algae free, no more crud is on them, and water quality is fine. You'll have prestine live rock ready to be used. Don't worry about any living animals or bacteria as they will survive fine without light. This might be the best opportunity to pick up some healthy, cheap live rock and toss it in there. Some of the best, freshest liverock comes in with algae, and this is the best time to kill it off.

2a) Quiet simply, toss your old sand, and add new. Can be costly, so I avoid this. But I'm cheap

2b) Carefully rinse your old sand little by little. You want to wash out the grime from the death, decay, and leftover fish poopy, but you don't want to wash away the finer grains of sand. Just wash a little at a time until it's clean, set it aside, and grab another couple handfuls. When washing your sand, try to avoid tap water. Sand will easily trap contaminants and chlorine. I learned this the hard way. After washing, spread the sand out on a tarp and let it dry completely. You could take a hair dryer to it if you wanted, but you don't want to blow it away as it dryers. It takes some technique to it With all that hard work and elbow grease, you'll have clean sand to use without spending hundreds of dollars replacing it (depending on how much you had to begin with).

3) Now you have clean, good live rock and clean, sterile sand. Put the sand and rock back in the tank and aquascape as you see fit. Wait 2-4 weeks for the rocks and sand to settle and for the biological filters to establish and balance out. You can carefully get a couple cups of sand from tanks you deem trustworthy to help seed your own tank. Do note that Marine Ich and other nasties can be transfered through sand. It's great to get a starter, but is it a risk you're willing to take?

4) Start the typical stocking procedures. buy critter, qt critter, add to tank after qt, watch for cycle, rinse and repeat. In no time things will be running again, and most likely you'll be happier with the outcome. We all learn things that we wished we had known when we first made our tanks. Now is the best time to mourn our losses, start over, and implement these new ideas.

In the end, it's a lot of waiting, but the outcome will be well worth it in the long run. You can take the time between stocking and waiting on the rock/sand to clear by cleaning all your equipment, making sure it is in working order, upgrading, etc. Though it may seem really gloomy right now to lose everything you worked so hard for, you'll find the joys of getting things set up again. I promise. We're here for you Terrell and all others with this unfortunate experience. Just give COMAS members a shot, and we will help you in any way we can.

[jprince58]

I'll slightly modify what Travis wrote:

2c) Devise a plan to mitigate the risk of this happening again. Obtain the necessary equipment (generator, inverter, batteries, cables or whatever), plan out how you'll implement their use, and get them pre-positioned for quick access when you need them.

After running on generator power for several days and avoiding the catastrophe, I'm convinced more than ever that a standby generator (or at least some form of backup power system) should be considered an essential piece of reef aquarium equipment.

[xpawn]

Thanks for all the information, I had good water parameters before this happened. my refugium/sump had become very effective at removing nitrates and phospates. I agree some form of backup power system is an essential piece of reef equipment. I plan on getting generator as soon as possible. I'll start the recovery process this evening.

Terrell J.

[bryon0508]

personaly i would remove everything dead and let it cycle it will fix itself.
mother nature is good at that. the only time she cant fix it is when we meddle in it.

what im proposing may take a while and a few water changes but your system might actualy be stronger in the end, for all the benificial bacteria will halfto populate to quite large numbers to get rid of the bad stuff. so when you did finaly add another fish it might not have that big of animpact on the system

this is just my opinion and what i would do. and if things just keep getting bad do what travis says. he knows his stuff

[Travis L. Stevens]

Jeff, I'll modify your modification Instead of 2c, let's make it a number 5 and consider it a necessary step and not optional

Bryon, I would tend to agree, but I would have a concern with the amount of die off in the tank that some of the nutrients will build up in the sand only to become something difficult to deal with later. Yes, theoretically, all organic nutrients will break down in time, but chances are it will get tucked away somewhere, and it will most likely be in the nooks and crannies in the rocks, in the sandbed, and on the sandbed in dead areas. A complete breakdown of the rocks and cleaning of the sand is just extra special precaution; not necessarily a have-to-do thing. In addition to the full breakdown, you can shake out, swish, turkeybaste, and blow out your rocks to get all that deep down gunk out.

[bryon0508]

eather way would work, neather is realy a quick fix. it just sucks to have this kind of problem.

if looking into a generator there are some that runs off natural gas, that would be a permanent adition to your house if you wish to do so. but it would be able to run more than just the fishtank it would be able to run you heater, lights,well (if running off one), and anything else that you wish to have all you would see is a box in your back hard about the size of your ac unit.

http://norwall.com/Guardian_7_10_13.htm

i took a quick google and this was a quick find

[jpitts101]

Terell, when you get your tank stable let me know. I have some frags and corals i'll donate to get you started again, sorry to hear about your loss.

[xpawn]

That natural gas generator would be great to have. I can't afford to spend that much. I'm planning on buying a used one or a price reduced.

[bryon0508]

i hope to have one installed on my deam home

[jprince58]

Originally posted by Travis L. Stevens
Jeff, I'll modify your modification Instead of 2c, let's make it a number 5 and consider it a necessary step and not optional

Agreed, but the point I was trying at least infer was that it should be something considered **BEFORE** acquiring livestock.

[jprince58]

Originally posted by bryon0508
... if looking into a generator there are some that runs off natural gas, that would be a permanent adition to your house if you wish to do so. but it would be able to run more than just the fishtank it would be able to run you heater, lights,well (if running off one), and anything else that you wish to have all you would see is a box in your back hard about the size of your ac unit.

You don't need a permanent standby generator to run most of your house. A decent portable system will handle everything, but the highest watt gobbling appliances in your house. Assuming you're not running a lot of MH lights (remember, this is a temporary, stop-gap solution to a power outage, not a permanent replacement for commercial power), your common run-of-the-mill 5000+ watt generator will easily run tanks, fridge, furnaces, computers, TVs, most lights, etc., and still have power to spare. Granted, you won't be able to power an electric range, dryer or A/C unit, though. A 10-15kw automatic system would be nice, but there are certainly other ways to go about this without a second mortgage.

[xpawn]

jpitts101, Thanks for the offer. I'm sure it will be a while before I'm able to add anything.

[xpawn]

Should I disconnect my refugium or leave connected?

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by jprince58
Agreed, but the point I was trying at least infer was that it should be something considered **BEFORE** acquiring livestock.

Gotcha. Let's move it to #3 or 4 and move the rest down

[Travis L. Stevens]

Originally posted by xpawn
Should I disconnect my refugium or leave connected?

I would leave it connected. Any help in nutrient reduction right now is going to be very helpful.

[Brent Porterfie]

I also have a few frags you are more than welcome to, zoo, leather

[Serra]

Terrell-
I have some chaeto if you need some more in your fug.