Well, crud. Tank crash.

[Sherita]

Nothing like coming home for lunch to discover one of your frag tanks in the midst of a full blown tank crash. I managed to restart a side tank on my other frag system and salvage most of my high end zoas and some of my chalices, but I sustained heavy losses anyway. So far:

tyree setosa monti
mystic monti
purple digi
green digi
orange digi
tyree flower petal monti
blueberry acro
green chalice with pink eyes
bubblegum monster
bazooka joe (this one HURTS)
purple monster chalice (this one hurts bad too)
pink birdsnest
purple and pink birdsnest
orange monti
neon green monti
highlighter acro
neon green acro
bottlebrush milli

And some of my zoas are not looking good at all. I wanna cry. This makes me want to just sell off all the frag stuff and quit.

[FireWater]

Unbelievably sucky. Hate to hear it.

[allan]

That sucks, sherita. The only thing I recognize is the pink BN, will frag you a piece of it this weekend for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rrasco]

Ouch. I know the feeling. I've had a few corals not doing well lately and it totally makes me sad face. ---------> :(

[reefreak]

Sorry to hear I know how this feels

[SinisterLou]

That blows:bareteeth:

[reefreak]

I do have that setosa frag I got from you at the fragswap I can give you back

[Sherita]

Thank you Allan. So far I have probably lost over two grand in corals. And it's not over. Most of my other sps are in rtn, and the remaining monti's are bleaching right before my eyes. I've also got at least two or three more chalices that are not going to make it.

I'm sitting here watching the flesh peel off my miyagi tort colony, it's killing me.

[Sherita]

Thanks Jeremy, thankfully I have a colony in my 72g display, so you keep that one for your tank.

That, and the pink and purple birdsnest are the only two things I have colonies of in my other tanks :(

[cniles]

Sorry to hear that Sucks :-(

[Big_Pun]

dang that hurts, you will bounce back. your super sherita!

[reefreak]

I got some orange Monti not sure if yours was a cap

[RayAllen]

Ouch! Sorry to hear this. Any clue of what caused the crash? Good luck on your recovery.

[Sherita]

All the params on the tank were spot on. I suspect either stray voltage (which I am about to check for) or a contaminant somehow got into the tank. No kids in this house, so I know that no one put anything in the tank, but that's not to say that passive transfer didn't happen. I did have to work on the main pump yesterday, I'm wondering if the epoxy around the windings has a crack in it. Going to test for copper as well. It's not temp swings, since I have a chiller and good heater on it. Bulbs are not old, haven't changed anything on the tank, or added anything.

[Sherita]

Diagnosis


stray voltage due to a short in my ato float switch. I had 108 volts in the tank.

I electrocuted my corals :(

[hobogato]

well that bites.

[Mike]

That sucks. On the good side (glass half full kind of thing), at least you have identified the problem and can fix it. Still bites though... :(

[Sherita]

Ace, I lost those pretty orange zoas I got from you :( I'm sorry.

purple digi is officially dead, nothing but skeleton. Same with my miyagi tort, green digi, and deepwater acro.

I'm just sick about it.

[Scutterborn]

Nooo!!! This is horrible!


-Ben-

[350gt]

WOW sorry to hear sherita......



You will bounce back!

[Sherita]

Blood red chalice is gone now. Purple monster, gone.

I'm sick to my stomach. They are dying and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

I'm taking that system down this weekend. It's contaminated with who knows what kind of nasty stuff from the dying corals.

[Europhyllia]

wow that's crazy. that sucks. so sorry

[Bill S]

REALLY sorry to here this. Been there, done that with this tank:

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z157/bstreep/IMG_1399.jpg

I kept a Hiatt filter and bacteria and a circulation system (pump and hoses) around for a while as a "crash cart" after this. I now use the filter with my discus tank. It was used a couple of times by MAAST members to stop a tank crash cold.

I think there are a couple of torpedos still running around. I'd be willing to donate (buy) carbon for it, along with a starter of bacteria (a user gets to buy the next batch, at about $30), along with the circulation system to run it, if the Club wants to have this included in the "loaner" program.

For those that don't recall, I set up my 215 with about 200 lbs of just-arrived live rock. It was just plain putrid. I hooked up the Hiatt, and overnight the water went from putrid to clear and odorless.

[jvene1]

Sorry to hear that, happened to me recently too. Hope everything turns around.

[Big_Pun]

I'm with bill. let me know what we need I'll even hold it and make it available any time. let me know what we need to have this ready to go.

[Sherita]

I'm going to tear that system down, and do a complete rebuild. Been meaning to build a new stand and sump for that tank anyway. Make it easier to work in. Besides, who knows what kind of nasty stuff is in that system after the coral deaths.

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Sorry for your loss, Sherita.

[koa25]

Sherita, i have BGM i can frag in a little bit for you. It is growing out good in my tank. I can spare an eye. Also have some tyree flower petal for you once you rebuild.

[mkengr45]

What kind of float switch? Tunze? Digital Aquatics? BRS? What's it switch or ATO pump? I can't imagine the switch carrying any AC voltage....just trying to see what we should be looking out for. If we end up doing a frag donation thing to help out let me know, I'm in.

Randy

[Sherita]

You guys are all wonderful! I'm going to do a complete reset on the system, new stand and sump. It will be a while before I am ready for any corals back in that tank, but the offers of help really mean a lot to me. I'm brokenhearted right now, and I am not ashamed to admit that I cried while my precious corals melted in my hands.

The float switch was a diy setup, with the actual float switch coming from somewhere up north (can't remember where I got the thing), it actually does carry current when activated, but is supposed to be sealed and watertight. Apparently not.

What hurts is that some of those corals were one of a kind, and I can't replace them. The Purple Monster chalice was the only one that I know of in existence, and I was the originator on the Starry Nights, and I lost the whole colony. I think the one that hurt the worst was the Bazooka Joe. By far my favorite chalice. At least the Molten Lava chalice is hanging in there. It actually inflated, so I think it will be ok. All of my sticks are toast tho, I lost my candlelight acro colony, and my mystic monti, that I grew from a tiny little frag.

[jrnannery]

I was going to say that we as an organization need to step up and help to replace her loss, but three or four already have. Sherita, I haven't bought anything from you, really, and I own almost nothing that is designer, so I can't really help you. I wish to God I could. You're really cool people, and it just sucks that this happened over something as mundane as a float switch. Good luck with the rebuild, though. I know we all want to see how you bulletproof this setup. I can't imagine you are the type to allow tragedy to strike twice.

[SinisterLou]

I can get you candlelight, my deepwater acro dubbed the "Sherita Showstopper" and if you lost the tubbs mystic blue also. I too have teared up at the loss of precious coral. Anything I can do to help you out, I will!

[Sherita]

Oh, you can bet this will NOT happen again. I never would have believed that something like this could occur, but you can bet your fanny now that I know, it won't have the chance to kill again.

I cannot tell you how touched I am at all the offers of coral. MAASTards are the very best folks out there. If anyone needs proof, all they have to do is look at this thread.

I didn't lose the Mystic, but the showstopper was one of the corals lost.

That frag tank will be back again, better than ever. And never again will a crummy float switch kill one of my corals. I'll be bulletproofing all of my tanks against rogue float switches.

[SinisterLou]

Well I got you on candlelight and showstopper for sure

[350gt]

I have your bazooka joe but he has never done well in my tank.... Still alive but just not pretty.

[electricrcplane]

I have orange digi and bubblegum monster.

[Sherita]

I'm brainstorming right now as to how I am going to keep this from happening again. I have a couple of ideas to test out, but I put real good odds on outsmarting this problem.

I'm going to set up one of my extra tanks as a temporary holding system to give myself a little extra room until I can fire this puppy up again. And since I am doing that, there are going to be some other major changes going on..........upgrade wise that is.

I'm down, but nowhere near out. Phoenix, ashes, and all that.

[Pennies2Cents]

Ohhh NO.. Sherita.. sorry to hear of this.. If you would like any zoas, I have plenty and a variety. Chin Up!

[jrnannery]

One of the titanium ground things might do the trick. After hearing of your loss (could be said it's a loss to us all), I think you'll see a lot of proactive safeguarding going on in the community.

[350gt]

could of a grounding probe prevented this?


I should have listened in at ALtons presentation at ER....

[Fishstix@JewelsOfTheSea]

sorry to hear about the crash.

[Sherita]

I don't believe that a grounding probe would have prevented this. The reason I say that is because I use them, on all of my tanks.

I've got a plan forming up in my pea brain about how to deal with this float switch/short/kill all your coral problem. I will keep everyone up to date as I start building the prototype.

[350gt]

cool well GL.......

[EpicWin]

I think a grounding probe would have done it. In truth they can ground am incredible amount of voltage. It's sadly part of this hobby. I've wiped my tank at least 5 times over different mistakes.

[Sherita]

I think a grounding probe would have done it. In truth they can ground am incredible amount of voltage. It's sadly part of this hobby. I've wiped my tank at least 5 times over different mistakes.

Not in this case. The tank had a grounding probe on it. It did squat as far as I can see.

[alton]

Sherita grounding probes provide a grounding path for your GFCI to work properly. Also if your grounding probe gets encrusted with coraline algae it will not work. Sorry about your loss. The best thing we can do is to use low votage equipment around our tanks and external pumps. Anything to keep 120v volts out of the water. Remember when buying GFCI's they make one that has an alarm to warn you when it trips, and definitely keep your return pump on its own GFCI.