My Worst Nightmare Came True(Tank Crashed)

[Travis]

Well, it happened. The tank crashed big time. Here is a shot of the tank taken a month ago:

<img src=http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17792full_tank_12-30-03__Small___Custom_.jpg>

This shot was taken 2 months after the tank's 3 year anniversary.

[Travis]

Here is what the tank looked like when I got home from work this morning:

<img src=http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17792full_tank_crash.jpg>

[reefscapes]

Holy cow! Sorry for your loss (es). What happened?

[ldrhawke]

Sorry sorry sorry....a beautiful tank before. Any thoughts on the cause?

[SPC]

WOW, sorry to hear about this, Travis!:(

No warning at all?
Steve

[SoKaL ReeFiN]

OMG, I'm soo sorry, what happened??

[nanocat]

Frightening. I confess I just expect the tank to look like it did in the morning, when I come home from work.

That would surely be one heck of a bummer.

[ADS]

That's awful-sorry for the losses.
Any changes that might have precipitated that event?
Adam

[Travis]

The crash happened because of my own ignorance and stupidity. There were 2 factors that caused the tank to crash.

1)float activated kalkwasser reactor
2)gate valve on overflow drain

I have always used a gate valve on my overflow drain line to adjust it so it is less noisy. The overflow is external and there wasn't enough room in it for a durso. This worked flawlessly for 3 years but it did always make me a bit nervous. Last night while I was at work the valve either a)became clogged with detritues/calcium buildup or b)became clogged by a critter. It wasn't completely clogged, just enough to restrict some of the flow. This caused the tank to slowly overflow onto the floor.

My tank has an automated top-off system. The ro/di unit is connected to a float valve on a 5 gallon bucket so it keeps the bucket full. There is also a float switch in the sump which activates my kalkwasser reactor when the water level lowers. The feed pump for the kalkwasser reactor is in the 5 gallon bucket. Because the reactor is activated by a float switch it kept running all night long because the tank kept overflowing. Of course I just added 2 1/4 cups of kalkwasser to the reactor 2 days ago. This all got dumped into the tank.

When I got home the apartment smelled like s**t and my tank, refugium, and xenia filter were completely white. I walked up to the tank and my I noticed that the carpet was soaking wet so I shut down all the pumps. After identifying the problem I opened the drain valve and turned the pumps on. Then I checked the ph on my monitor and it read 9.88 so I began adding vinegar to lower it. I knew action needed to be taken FAST so I got a couple people to run and get some ro water from the water company since it would take way too long with my own unit.

While they were gone I kept an eye on the tank. It was covered in white stringy slimy stuff. I mean COVERED. Some of the acros were covered to the point where you couldn't even see what color they were. The rocks were covered, the sand was covered, everything was covered in it. Every few minutes I would use a turkey baster to blow the stuff off the corals and rocks and let it collect in a filter sock. I removed the fish that were still alive and all of my clams which didn't even seem affected by the disaster and put them in a tub with fresh saltwater that had been aerating for a couple days.

Ended up getting enough water to do a 64 gallon change. Just finished that about an hour ago. I'll update with more later as things progress/digress.

[Travis]

Forgot to add that the crash was preventable in two ways.

1)no valve on overflow drain
2)use a dosing pump to feed kalkwasser

Here is a picture of the white slimy stringy stuff that I was talking about. Sorry it's such a bad pic.

<img src=http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17792white_stringy_slime.jpg>

My best guess is that it is from the cucumbers that reside in my tank. I have 2 tigertails in the display, 2 in the xenia filter, and a brown turd cuke in the fuge. If anyone else has any ideas as to what it could be feel free to chime in. I just can't seem to get rid of it. I blast it off the rocks and corals and try to siphon it out but there is just sooo much of it. I guess it will just take time.

[Travis]

Thank you all for your sympathies. I hope that others will be able to learn from my mistakes.

Here is a picture of the survivors. I bet they have quite the story to tell.

<img src=http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17792survivors.jpg>

Notice how happy the clams still look. This is how they looked while they were still in the tank too.

[vinstr]

Travis, so sorry about that!!
I just read another post a few days and the same thing happened to another guy and amazingly most of the stuff survived!! Hopefully this gives you some hope- his PH was also off the charts for awhile and the tank was all cloudy, too
I'll try and find the thread and post a link- good luck!

[discocarp]

I'm so sorry for your losses. Having had a completely stocked 125 crash on me (cracked heater), I really feel for you. Its a horrible, horrible feeling.

I'm going to use this oppurtunity to preach a little so others can avoid this. I'm NOT trying to give you a hard time.

With float switches and kalk reactors (or even fresh topoff) it is CRITICAL to restrict the input flow to a drip that is only slightly faster than what you need. If you drip it in at that small rate, only slighhtly exceeding your evap rate, if the float fails you won't end up annihilating your tank. The other option is a dosing pump. Either way, this stuff HAS to be added slowly. Not only is it better for your tank, it will save your butt if your float fails.

Floats are extremely useful, but you HAVE to plan for their failure. They will, sooner or later, for one reason or another.

Peter

[Sloth]

Oh man that's my worst nightmare that I worry about every time I open my apartment door. Good luck cleaning it all up. Did you have any euphilia? My hammer coral made plenty of white stringy stuff when I was FW dipping it awhile back.

At least your fish and clams are OK. I bet your other stuff will be OK too. At least you weren't on vacation at the time or something.

[Jim in santa barbara]

Ouch, automation definatly has it's drawbacks. Glad you had survivors. How's it doing now?

[reefrider]

man dude that suxs! i have a motto if its made its made to break. sorry to hear about the lost

[smiller]

Sorry to hear about this. I know it is tough to swallow after all of the hard work you put into it. There are a bunch of us out here that can relate with your situation. I lost most of mine in November after over three and a half years.

[Travis]

I just read another post a few days and the same thing happened to another guy and amazingly most of the stuff survived!! Hopefully this gives you some hope- his PH was also off the charts for awhile and the tank was all cloudy, too

Yes, it does give me a little hope. Please share the link if you find it.

With float switches and kalk reactors (or even fresh topoff) it is CRITICAL to restrict the input flow to a drip that is only slightly faster than what you need. If you drip it in at that small rate, only slighhtly exceeding your evap rate, if the float fails you won't end up annihilating your tank. The other option is a dosing pump. Either way, this stuff HAS to be added slowly. Not only is it better for your tank, it will save your butt if your float fails.

Sad thing is I've always been one to think it won't happen to me. I was aware of all this but still ignored it. I guess I learned the hard way.Did you have any euphilia? My hammer coral made plenty of white stringy stuff when I was FW dipping it awhile back.

No euphyllia, just sps corals and some xenia in the xenia filter.

At least your fish and clams are OK.

Well, the clams are all ok but 3 fish still aren't accounted for.

How's it doing now?

Not good. The stringy stuff is still all over. About 70% of the corals are bleaching at the tips and it is spreading down into the colonies. Some others are beginning to RTN. Looks like it may be a total loss as far as corals go.:mad:

[Travis]

I lost most of mine in November after over three and a half years.

I remember reading about your caps dying. What was the final outcome? Was it from stirring the sand in the fuge? Your tank was/will be again beatiful. Must really suck to go from TOTM to crashing.

[Sloth]

Somebody local give this guy some frags when he gets this sorted out!:(

[Moreta]

So sorry Travis!! :(

[Algae Blenny]

Thats horrible. You think stuff like this only happens to other people. Hopefully more corals will survive than you expected.

[smiller]

I lost all but a handful of my 50-60 SPS. My few softies made it, along with my clams and fish. The fuge sandbed is my best guess, but of course it is just a guess. I know it is difficult to believe right now, but it does get better mentally sooner than you would think.

[LOTUS50GOD]

damn that sucks...

[cyclgrl]

Sorry to hear about your crash. That's absolutely terrible.

I think Minh had a crash caused by the same thing last year. Really scary stuff.

[wazel]

That bites. Good luck with the rebuild

[NewMariner]

Dude that tank crash pic looks like a big mushroom cloud....it was nuked:eek1: :eek2: :eek1: :eek2:

Sorry to hear about your loss......

[joefish]

I feel for you man , All that work to make a beautiful work of art , not to mention the loss of life . :(
Well , good luck for a quick recovery .

[this is me]

Sorry to hear about that bro!

[Tarasco1]

Sorry about your loss. Although my tank didn't look as good as yours, I had a heater malfunction that cooked most of the stuff in my tank. You'll get more attached to the survivors now, if you're like me.

[Ewan]

I'm so sorry for your losses.

My wife bought a litermeter III for me for Christmas (so that we could take a vacation longer than 4 hours without me panicing). The day after it arrived, my float switch stuck for the first time since I purchased it three years earlier. My 29 gal tank took 3 gallons of kalkwasser.... overflowing the sump etc.

The Litermeter was wrapped in pretty paper under the tree.

Surprisingly, everything survived, and it ended my HA algae cycle, as it was a 3 month old tank. It was the first piece of good luck I've had in this hobby so far, and I've had a reeftank for 9 years now.

Learn from your mistakes. I've made every mistake possible. In the end, I've always been able to chalk it up to experience.

Best of luck. Nice looking clams, BTW.

E.

[Travis]

It is now about 12 hours after I noticed the disaster. The water is still milky but most of the white stringy stuff is gone. The good news is that I found my lawnmower blenny and he is still alive. It's my girlfriend's favorite fish and she was pretty devastated when she thought he was gone. The bad new is the corals are looking pretty bad. The majority of them look like this with receding tissue:

<img src=http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17792bad.jpg>

A few still look ok like this one with full polyp extension:

<img src=http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17792good.jpg>

Sorry about the pics. I've only had the actinics on today. The corals are bleaching so I didn't think 400 watt halides would help them much.

[Navarone]

So sorry man. I'm terrified that something like that will happen to me. I'm really most worried about the tank over flowing somehow, that would be horrible since I'm upstairs and have wood floors.

I really hope alot more pulls through than you think will. Good luck.

[Travis]

Thanks again all, for your sympathies.

I think Minh had a crash caused by the same thing last year. Really scary stuff.

I think I remember that one. IIRC, his tank crashed because his skimmer went crazy and overflowed all over, triggering his float activated kalk reactor to add an excessive amount of kalkwasser through the night.

You'll get more attached to the survivors now, if you're like me.

Yeah, I can already feel it. Poor little guys went through quite the ordeal.

My wife bought a litermeter III for me for Christmas (so that we could take a vacation longer than 4 hours without me panicing). The day after it arrived, my float switch stuck for the first time since I purchased it three years earlier. My 29 gal tank took 3 gallons of kalkwasser.... overflowing the sump etc. The Litermeter was wrapped in pretty paper under the tree.

Now that is bad luck. For once in this hobby patience(waiting til Christmas to open it) didn't pay off. Good to hear everything made it.

[ENS]

Just want to chime in with my sympathy for you.

My tank crashed the week of Thanksgiving while I was on vacation, due to a cracked/exploded heater (there was a long thread about it). Believe me, I understand what it is like to come home and find your tank gone - clams were empty shells, corals bleached lookign and dead, fish dead, etc.

I have, however, enjoyed the process of re-establishing my tank -- other than that first weekend of having to completely clean it out and scrub/rinse everything out and scoop out 100lbs of tainted livesand, etc - - and even like the way I've rearranged the liverock better. Two months later everything is looking wonderful again ... but I am of course still slowly replacing the clams and corals.

Hang in there.
Good luck.

[v10king]

I'll chime in too. My tank crashed due to a failed return pump and my non thinking. After my return pump failed while I wsa on vacation, I get home and notice the water level is low and the topoff sensor is beeping indicating error (tunze). I go and look and all corals are ok because I have a closed loop mag 950 and only the tip of one coral was bleaced due to it being out of the water with the halide on. I figure out whats wrong with the pump and clean it and put it back in. At this time my corals looked fine. Once I turned on the return pump and started circulating the water my corals all started RTN'ing it was the worst site I ever saw. My clams were all messed up looking the whole tank was a mess. Sensing somthing wasnt right I pulled the clams as fast as I could and put them in the old tank. I went to bed and the next day every acro was dead. I lost 3 of my 4 clams. I figured out that my calc reactor was circulating the sump water (15gallon sump) for like 2 days and the ph had to of been like <6 really low. I must have shocked the hell out of the corals. Funny thing is I have a ph meter but it was broken and I was awaiting a replacement from milwaukee at the time. My dumb luck oh well things will be better. I had to start over again and it hurt pretty bad. Sorry to hear about your troules figured my story would make you feel better.

[Alaskan Reefer]

If your rebuilt tank remotely resembles the original, you'll have much to be proud of.

Sorry for your loss.

[Frick-n-Frags]

Sheeeite! That makes ME sick. I can't imagine the gut wrench of realization that must have belted you when you saw that.

I have actually had nightmares about tanks breaking etc, that's how nervous I am too.

Stepping back, I would note that certain "automation" techniques have certain potential problems and need further safeguards installed. One almost needs a PLC or Octopus with a salinity or pH probe to kill any freshwater/kalk makeup in case of unusual water loss. You definitely have me thinking.

Just a weird coincidence, but I'm designing a control system for a metal press and I have to be super careful that I have checks and alarms on all functions of the machine so no one gets their arm cut off or so the machine doesn't destroy itself.

Well, I'm going to pour another gallon of diluted kalkwasser now (my makeup water) in my "ultra ghettoMax 5000 upside down gallon milk jug with holes in the cap kalk dispenser" and be just a little less envious of y'all who don't have to jerk around with this anti-automation solution on a daily basis (sometimes twice daily in the winter)

[smiller]

Originally posted by Frick-n-Frags
Well, I'm going to pour another gallon of diluted kalkwasser now (my makeup water) in my "ultra ghettoMax 5000 upside down gallon milk jug with holes in the cap kalk dispenser" and be just a little less envious of y'all who don't have to jerk around with this anti-automation solution on a daily basis (sometimes twice daily in the winter)
:)

[OrionN]

I am sory to hear about your tank. As you are aware, My tank did essentially the same 8 months ago. I have a liter meter kalk dosing pump now, and a self shutoff skimmer colecting cup.
It seem like you were luckier becasue you cought it early enough. My tank were essentially a total loss.
Good luck
Minh

[guitarfish]

I am a total pessimist when it comes to my tank. I add makeup water manually (well, I turn on a MJ1200 and it's pumped in, then I turn it off). I drip calc manually. I clean my skimmer every few days and don't use an extra collection container. Even with this simple system, I worry about floods, etc.

Really sorry to hear about your tank crash, I'd be devastated. At least you caught it pretty soon after it happened, and saved a lot of stuff. FWIW, your tank was really sweet before this happened.

[sw-addict]

Just wanted to say that we are very sorry for any losses. Our tank crashed just befor christmas we only lost fish, I can only imagine what it feels like to see 3 years worth of reefing beauty clouded and dying. I hope everything come out better than you expect it may.

[Jagermeister]

I just had the exact same thing happen to me. The cloudiness of the tank is precipitated calcium. My pH shot through the roof and I used vinegar to try to lower it.

So you probably don't want to hear this but.....I lost all my acros, all my zoo's, and all my lps.

I lost two tangs (blue and yellow), all the astrea and stomatella snails, all the emerald crabs, and two cleaner shrimip.

What survived? A pair of clownfish, watchman goby, mandarin goby. Oddly enough all the clams looked great through the entire ordeal and I still have them.

The xenia is making a comeback after completey melting. There's a handfull of Nassarius obsoleta snails that made it and probably all the hermit crabs made it. Plus a tough little peppermint shrimp made it.

I think the sand bed is completely in tack. I still have tons of spaghetti worms waving their tentacles all about. I also still have tons of feather dusters.

I dosed Amquel pretty heavily for about a week to try to avoid a giant ammonia spike. I think I've succeeded for the most part. I'm not seeing a rise in nitrates or nitrites. I attribute this to the fact that the deep sand bed is still intact, along with the refugium.

I do have a major algae situation now. I'm going to be ordering a cleanup crew here pretty soon to take care of that.

So it's been about three weeks since it all happened and except for the algae and lack of corals the tank looks pretty good. I can't figure out how the clams, which are supposed to be extremely sensitive to water quality and what not, are looking the best they've ever looked and looked great through the entire ordeal.

HTH

[BigBird]

Really sorry about your crash:(

Based on your pictures, it looks like it could have been worse! At least you saved the clams. Have your SPS improved at all? Hopefully it won't be a total loss.

[Travis]

Thanks for the comments, compliments, sympathies, stories, etc. It's good to know I'm not the only one who has gone through this.

Today was a busy day. After classes, a buddy and I spent about 9 hours cleaning out the refugium and xenia filter to make a temporary home for the survivors. The fish and clams are doing fine today but I knew the clams would need some light soon. We removed all but the top 1/2" of the sandbed. We scrubbed all the rocks really good and put them in a separate container to cycle.

ALL the corals are gone.:mad: Most did not appear to be in very good shape last night so I did some major fragging as a last ditch effort to salvage anything. When I got home today all I could do was sit and watch the tissue peel off my most prized pieces and float away in the water.

The apartment absolutely reeks to high heaven. The smell is in the halls and everything. Amazingly there are still 2 fish in the tank that appear healthy but I haven't been able to catch them yet.

Tomorrow I will be tearing down the display, removing the sandbed, scrubbing the rocks and putting them in another container to cycle, etc. It's gonna be another looong day.

On a brighter note I will be moving in about 5 months. I have been planning an upgrade to a 225 when the move takes place. I guess now I won't have to worry about losing my acros in the move.:)

Here is a picture of the unfortunate ones:

<img src=http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/17792graveyard__Custom_.jpg>

There were enough to fill 2 bags. I will bleach them in the sun and use some for decorations around the house and the rest for reactor media. Anyone know if there is anything special I need to do to them before using them as media? Don't want to end up polluting the tank from the die-off.

[Tarasco1]

Wow, that is a sad, sad picture. At least they'll be useful.

[Azizza]

I am really sorry for your loss. :( That is a terrible thing to see

This is why I will never had a Kalk reactor like that in my tank. I do everything manually. I have read to many horror storied like this or Auto top offs and reactors crashing tanks.:eek:

[OrionN]

It was the same with me. The pH spike did not kill everything, but the follow crash did. I removed everything that was living but have no place for them. Most of the clams were alive when I took them out of the tank, but I have to crams them in multiple small container. The person who took the clams have an erran to run befor going home. I did not know that. That was what kill them.

My house stunk up to high heaven for quite a while also. Goodluck. I experienced what you are going through. Other reefer please take note that float valve contro of kalk dosing is a disaster waiting happen.

Minh

[warmstrong]

Man Really sorry to hear about your loss , this has got me thinking for sure , I just started dripping Kalk with a float I mix 5 gallons at a time and this never crossed my mind , although my tank isn't near as beautiful as that i think i will be looking for a gallon jug myself ,

Dan

[Jim in santa barbara]

Travis, I must commend you on maintaining your sanity through all this. I have some zoo frags for ya if you decide to rebuild.

[Travis]

It was the same with me. The pH spike did not kill everything, but the follow crash did. I removed everything that was living but have no place for them. Most of the clams were alive when I took them out of the tank, but I have to crams them in multiple small container.

I think the spike DID pretty much do everything in, it just took an extra day for the tissue to fall off. I don't think there was any chance of recover for any of the acros even if they were immediately removed and placed in a mature thriving system. The montis were different. They were actually all still looking pretty good last night. I still ditched them for 2 reasons:

1)They grow too fast and I don't want to keep them in my systems anymore.
2)I had nowhere else to put them. They would have lived longer in my crashed tank than they would any of my LFS's tanks. There aren't any local reefers that have systems that could support sps.

[Travis]

Travis, I must commend you on maintaining your sanity through all this. I have some zoo frags for ya if you decide to rebuild.

I don't think it has really hit me that this happened yet. Give me a couple more days and I'll probably lose it.:) Actually, I'm taking this as a learning experience and a chance to rebuild a bigger, better, and more reliable system. It also gives me a chance to recure all of my rock which I am happy to be able to do. My rock was infested with myromenia hydroids that I couldn't get rid of. They are photosynthetic so scrubbing the rock and curing it in the dark will hopefully get rid of them. They are a major PIA.

[shanekennedy]

thanks for the info.
i have my litermeter set on max output & controlled by a float to pump in kalk water to tank. i'll change the setting to not pump any more than max evaporation per day, in case i ever start losing water or float malfunctions.

[Lunchbucket]

dude i am SORRY to hear!!! really am buddy.

let me know when stuff gets up and going again and i would be MORE than happy to donate some frags to get you up and running again. i NEED to frag a BUNCH so you will be helping me out

also email me and i can get you my number if you need some help i am only 58miles and would be happy to come help you setup/clean up

later off to beresford (fiancee's rents place) this weekend
call me if you need to 695-8693
Lunchbucket
aka Eric

[lebowski]

I'm very sorry to hear this, my heart started pounding when I read this... I really do feel horrible, even though it's not my tank..

I hope you get back on track. If I had some frags to donate to you I would!!

I sent you a PM.

[bigbeatzz]

Very sorry to see all that. Man i'd freak, you seem like a very collected person. Well we all learn from experience, hopefully you can take something from this and the rest of us can learn too.

Id have to say that your next reef is going to be bigger and better. You've got what it takes.

[Travis]

Lunchbucket: Where were you last week?:D j/k Actually, all the hard work is done. Just been waiting for the water params to stabilize again before putting the fish and clams back in the tank. Once everything is back to normal I won't be putting any frags in the tank until June when I move and upgrade to a 225. Right now I'm just going to minimize the load in the system to make it easier when I have to move. Then I'll be ready for some frags. :) If you want you can come down and help me move in the new tank and set it up when the time comes.:)

Lebowski: Yeah, my heart still pounds every time I see the picture too. For some reason I don't think I'll ever forget that day. Thanks for the offer.

bigbeatzz: I have definitely learned a lot from this situation. Never again will I be cutting corners because I would rather buy that extra clam rather than set up my top-off system more safely with a dosing pump.:) I hope others have learned from my experience also. I know the next system is going to be bigger but I hope it will be better too.

[Dr. Mac]

Sorry to hear and see of your loss. I commend you for sharing this story with brutal honesty, hopefully it will help others to prevent a similar situation. Years ago I had a similar event and learned the hard way too. When you move and get your tank settled again I will gladly donate some frags to get you started again, just send me an email when you are ready, hopefully a few donations will alleviate some of the pain.

[bigbeatzz]

Travis,

Its DEFINATELY GOING TO BE BETTER!!! Even if its half the size its still going to be better. The reason it will is because I know you will take extra precauctions to make the perfect reef. I'm sure you had tons of ideas for your reef. But you couldnt do anything about it because you didnt want to mess with it. Know you get the chance to plan all those past ideas into one awesome tank! WOOHOO

[Travis]

Sorry to hear and see of your loss. I commend you for sharing this story with brutal honesty, hopefully it will help others to prevent a similar situation. Years ago I had a similar event and learned the hard way too. When you move and get your tank settled again I will gladly donate some frags to get you started again, just send me an email when you are ready, hopefully a few donations will alleviate some of the pain.

Dr. Mac: Thanks, it's good to know that even the "pros" have these types of setbacks. I will surely remember your offer when it comes time to set up the new tank.

[Lunchbucket]

Travis - buddy...hmm reefing stuff and a 225gal a bigger tank than i could dream of...DUH CALL ME!! i'm moving in mid may and will frag a TON when i move...so i will have a LOT then...if somehow we can hold them over in something.

i would be more than happy to help out anyway i can...so PLEASE call if you need it. moving and setting up a 225..sounds like good-ol-reefer fun!!

Lunchbucket

[playa]

Travis I just read the entire Thread and I must say that I cant even begin to tell you how bad I feel that you went through this pain. I am another one to commend you for sharing with all of us the unfortunate mishap.

Even though my reef is young I have many colonies that can be fragged. Please dont hesitate to send me a note when you are ready and up and running with your new system.
I wish I could be of further help.

Sincerely,

Luis

[AquaNight]

Holy Canoli! I'm setting up a 220 which is a huge step for me. I'm building everything myself (except for the tank) and that story scares the bejeezus out of me.

I'll be following this post for redundancy sake on my system.

[Elmo18]

I am very sorry to hear this happened :( I have always worried about a tank crash.

Again, im sorry for the loss of your animals :(

- Elmo

[squeezix]

I am sorry for your loss. I hope I don't sound like a jerk for this, but here goes:

This is not a "crash" This is a mistake caused by either poor planning or flawed design. Accept responsibility for the actions. machines are only good enough when closely maintained and doubted. This did not just "happen".

I would also be happy to donate any frags you want, mainly because they would be in better hands now that you have learned a lesson. I am not high and mighty here, this could happen to me at any time as well, having designed my own systems, and being a noob.
Chalk it up to a lesson learned ( this is why I only buy frags, if I can't grow it out I should not have it)

[Thales]

What a bummer.

If you are using a float switch for top off I suggest you use two - one is normally open to trigger the top off, the other is normally closed to stop the top off if the first float switch fails.

[OrionN]

Originally posted by Lefty
What a bummer.

If you are using a float switch for top off I suggest you use two - one is normally open to trigger the top off, the other is normally closed to stop the top off if the first float switch fails.
The foat switch did not fail but the tank lost water. IMO, after many thousand dollars lost and many life lost with the crash of my tank, one should not use auto top-off with a float valve to dose kalk. One should only dose manually or use a dosing pump ath cannot get stuck on the on position. This is a expensive lesson for me and it is for a few other reefers, like Travis.

[shamoo1]

I know how you feel, because it happend to me too. That is why I am a firm believer in a emergency plan. Of course you have to have a plan before a crash happends. In a serious crash like yours the first plan of action is to remove all the corals, clams, and fish, because you cannot change enought water to make a difference. I also would never use a float switch to top of kalk, because that is also how I crash my tank. Now I use the osmorator with a calcium dispenser for water top off, and its working great. I even have the osmolator in my 7 gallon bowfront.
Sometimes I look at the pictures of my old tank and miss the stuff that die.

[Thales]

Originally posted by Minh Nguyen
The foat switch did not fail but the tank lost water. IMO, after many thousand dollars lost and many life lost with the crash of my tank, one should not use auto top-off with a float valve to dose kalk. One should only dose manually or use a dosing pump ath cannot get stuck on the on position. This is a expensive lesson for me and it is for a few other reefers, like Travis.

I understand, and think the skimmer needs to be 'controlled' so it doesn't go crazy like happened to you. The skimmer exporting water could easily cause its own problems (heaters exposed, return pump burned out, etc), causing much damage, even if the auto top off was not engaged.
All the components of the system must be troubleshot, not just the system du jour.
And I would never ever use a float valve on my top off to my tank because there are two many things that can go wrong with them.

[ldrhawke]

Originally posted by Lefty
I understand, and think the skimmer needs to be 'controlled' so it doesn't go crazy like happened to you. The skimmer exporting water could easily cause its own problems (heaters exposed, return pump burned out, etc), causing much damage, even if the auto top off was not engaged.
All the components of the system must be troubleshot, not just the system du jour.
And I would never ever use a float valve on my top off to my tank because there are two many things that can go wrong with them.

Skimmers are not easy to control. Mine often takes off and starts to flow extra wet filtrate with no explaination. My solution was simple.

Mine skimmer has an over low cup with a drain. I was draining into a gallon jug. I was always afraid that it would run wild while I was out of town and over flow the gallon jug and I would have skimate all over the floor when I got home.

To solve the problem I made a made 18" high by 3" dia. high storage tube out of clear acrylic. Mu fuge is 13" high. The storage tube looks like a tall simple skimmer. My skimmer now over flows into this tube. Near the top of the storage tube I installed an over flow.

The storage tube sets next to my fuge and if the skimmer goes wild, under the worse case scenario, it simply starts to flow back into the fuge. It never has, but there always is the chance. It holds a weeks worth of normal skimmer waste.

[Travis]

Lunch, I'll get in touch with you when it's time to move. BTW, when you frag in mid-May I should be able to take some of them off your hands at that time. Right now everything is back in the display so I could get the clams under the halides again and all is doing well.

Playa, thanks for the offer. BTW, I followed your thread in the SPS forum for a while and your tank is stunning.;)

Squeezix, I'm not trying to be a jerk either but what would you consider a crash? I lost EVERY coral, 2 fish, 1 teardrop maxima, my whole clean-up crew, and who knows what kind of damaged was caused to the fauna on my liverock and dsb. I would consider this a crash. I do agree that it was due to poor designing of the system but I still think it is a crash since I'm pretty much starting back at square 1 again.

shamoo1, I could have immediately removed everything but I didn't have anywhere to put it all. There aren't too many people around here that I know of who keep reef tanks. The ones I do know I wouldn't want my livestock in their hands as it would have a better chance of surving in my crashing tank. Same goes for the LFS's around here. If we take the time to plan our systems right the first time we shouldn't need an emergency plan. Could you please explain how the osmolator works? I was thinking of getting a dosing pump from reefdosing.com. They have some outrageous deals but the pumps will only do about 2 gallons per day and that isn't enough for a 225. I might have to go all out and get a Litermeter. One thing is for sure, I won't be using float switches again.:)

Lefty, I have a becket skimmer and it is safeproof from overflowing because the skimmate drains into a collection cup that shuts off the air to the skimmer when it is full. This cause the skimmer to stop skimming anything.

ldrhawke, great idea with your skimmer collection cup. Even if it does overflow into your fuge it will only be the clear skimmate that is causing it to overflow in the first place so it shouldn't hurt anything.

[shamoo1]

Travis,

The Osmolator use a electronic eye to sence the water level, and a float switch as a back up. It also has a 10 minute run limit. I am very impressed on how sensitive it is. With the calcium dispenser, I dont need to add additives, but my tank is only 25 gallon. So, it may not be as useful for you as your tank as your tank is a 75. As a water top off machine, it is one of the best. As with tank clash, I always believe my worst mistake was not removing the corals as soon as possible. I was lucky in a way, I always ran a 5 gallon tank that I use to store my live rock for future tank redesigns, and my lfs baby sat my clams until I had my tank running again.

[Travis]

shamoo1, Does the float switch shut the unit off if the water level gets too high or too low in the sump? Once the 10 minute limit is reached, how long until the unit will run again? Is this the Tunze unit you are talking about?

[shamoo1]

The float switch is use to turn off the pumps when the water is too high. The electronic eye is used too sense when water level is too low. As far as I know The 10 minute run limit stay off until you reset it, but I am not sure. I am very good in spotting when the water level is a little low. A added safety feature of the Osmolator is when it gets stuck, it doesn,t turn on the pumps.
It happen once because the eye was covered with coralline algae.
I just soak it in vinegar and its as good as new. I hope this helps you in your decision.

[spsfreak]

Travis,
Sorry for your loss, glad to hear things are getting back in order. If you need any frags just let me know. I am in the process of setting up my new 125g ....this and other threads will help me better build my system, so thanks for being honest and sharing with eveyone.

Again sorry for the loss.

Matt

[lilswanwillow]

sorry from over here in MN also.

remember: theres lots of MN reefers. if an emergency ever comes up again, I'm sure at least SOME of us will help!!! and MOST of us are capable of sps and clam help over here...

[Travis]

spsfreak: Thanks and good luck with the new tank.

lilswanwillow: Doh, forgot about you Minnesotans. If something like this happens again, which I hope never will, I'll remember.

[appellativo]

reading this made me sick, im so sorry for you :(

on another note, heres a thought...maybe everyone could get in touch with another local reefer and make arrangements for temporary housing in case of an extreme emergency. sort of a planning ahead thing. you know, for those people who dont have an extra duplicate tank lying around and a ton of water made up in reserve ;)