Disaster has struck...

[coralcruze]

came home the other day to find that the glass on my HQI light on the left side had shattered. In a single 10 hour photo period the light had managed to kill 85% of my corals that have been with me for a long time. been in the hobby 15 years and was fortunate nothing like this ever happened to me until now.

How does anyone move past this and remain in the hobby? Forget about the money lost (huge)... The effort, the time, dedication. all down the drain in less than a weeks time. My tank looks like **** now. empty and even coraline is dead on left side of tank.

It may be time to give this thing up.

 

[LatinP]

Do you know if the glass under the fixture was tempered? If it wasn't that was an accident waiting to happen. I had to replace a piece of glass under mine not too long ago too after researching I made sure it was tempered it gets pretty hot under there. Anyway sorry for your loss hopefully you won't give up the hobby.

 

[Salty Dog]

I lost my whole tank 3 yrs ago when my freind talked me into adding a larger sump(100g) from my existing 5 g sump. I also added a 40 g fuge and 40g frag tank. I had pre mixed salt water heated to add after the system was tied in, Upon completing all the plumbing we didnt wait more than 5 min, and we pumped the water into the sump opened all the valves and system was flowing. Whent up stairs to look at the display(250g) and saw every sps colony sliming. I knew something bad was happening but didnt know what. With in 3 hours most of the sps were in critical shape. The next day all sps dead, fish were fine,lps fine. I was sick, my friend felt it was his fualt but after the disaster we re built all my rock work to way beyond what I thought it could look like, and now my system looks better than ever, I also was more selective on what I put into my tank.........Good luck this hobby is great, I love it and learn everyday from it

 

[Awibrandy]

Very sorry for your loss!!;(

How I keep going in this hobby when disaster strikes? Trust me, I've had a few since my beginnings!
For starters, I just can't see me not having a piece of God's infinite beauty in my living room.
Second, the look on my grandchildren's little faces when they park themselves in front of my tank is priceless!
Third, I have lost all interest in everything other then my animals.

 

[coralcruze]

Do you know if the glass under the fixture was tempered? If it wasn't that was an accident waiting to happen. I had to replace a piece of glass under mine not too long ago too after researching I made sure it was tempered it gets pretty hot under there. Anyway sorry for your loss hopefully you won't give up the hobby.

yup, 100% sure it was. did some reading on tempered glass... the thing with that is that the glass is heat or chemical treated in order to make it "stronger". The way it does this is to realign the glass molecules but in turn this makes the glass more brittle. Hence the fact that when it shatters it breaks into very small pieces. Apparently I'm not the only one this has happened to. Seems to have happened to other reefers. Further resurch shows that a small scratch on the surface of tempered glass in combination of excessive heat (lights on) or impact can shatter tempered glass. It costs $40 to replace this small piece of glass. If I would have known about this potential problem I would have replaced them every three or so years. I hope others can learn from this as it totally sucks to be a coral in my tank right now. :smash:

 

[coralcruze]

I lost my whole tank 3 yrs ago when my freind talked me into adding a larger sump(100g) from my existing 5 g sump. I also added a 40 g fuge and 40g frag tank. I had pre mixed salt water heated to add after the system was tied in, Upon completing all the plumbing we didnt wait more than 5 min, and we pumped the water into the sump opened all the valves and system was flowing. Whent up stairs to look at the display(250g) and saw every sps colony sliming. I knew something bad was happening but didnt know what. With in 3 hours most of the sps were in critical shape. The next day all sps dead, fish were fine,lps fine. I was sick, my friend felt it was his fualt but after the disaster we re built all my rock work to way beyond what I thought it could look like, and now my system looks better than ever, I also was more selective on what I put into my tank.........Good luck this hobby is great, I love it and learn everyday from it

did you ever figure out what happened?

@Awibrandy thank you for that... I know what you mean as i feel the same. just this time it was like being kicked in the gut by a bunch of guys.

 

[coralcruze]

mnnn.... not sure if I'm going to keep going with this. Unfortunatly, even with reef computer set for every possible alarm set up, you cant think of everything. sure a light meter inside the fish tank set to an alarm may have averted the problem. Or perhaps having another type of lighting system.

If you think about it... our tanks are simply coral life support systems and at any given time something can happen. and obviously they do.

 

[Salty Dog]

did you ever figure out what happened?

@Awibrandy thank you for that... I know what you mean as i feel the same. just this time it was like being kicked in the gut by a bunch of guys.

It could have been a few things, A still tank for 2 hrs, then introducing 100g of fresh mixed salt water, temp could have been off a few degree's, PVC cement fresh maybe wasnt cured fully, not positive just off the hip

 

[zlin0524]

im so sorry man. i almost gave up on this hobby yesterday ,after three 3hrs,i couldnt catch my flameangel that have been eating my corals, removed half of rocks yet still couldnt get him out. omg . not to mention i have came home with flooded floors many times in my parent's brand new house. i pray all the time, hopefully nothing bad happen in the future.

 

[Mattl22]

I'm really sorry what a drag!!! Give it some time then u can use this time to make changes use always wanted to make or add different coral

 

[jaa1456]

Coral I lost my 265 over night. It was running for 12 straight years and everything in there was 10 years or older. I had a house party and found my tank like that the next morning. It was enough for me to take a break for awhile. But I did get the itch again because it never really goes away. I think if you take a break you will be back at it shortly. But it also seems you have fish and some corals left. So maybe just rebuild slowly and switch to leds or t5 now

 

[Alex]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Hopefully knowing that we've all experienced this in one form or another will give you some insight into wether or not you want to continue. I for one continue because I enjoy the visual. Good luck and I hope you continue.

 

[Salty Dog]

I always have my tank on my mind, Murphy's law, I check my system 3 times a day when Im home, When Im not which is every 6 weeks Im very nervous. But I do love it.

 

[tentacles]

sorry to hear man, I just lost my tank due to Irene and a heater malfunction. it's hard!