Six weeks of one thing after another has left me in a daze.

[Sierra Bravo]

Excuse the whiny post.   I've taken one major hit after another in the last six weeks and it's left my head spinning.  I'm not discouraged, but to say I'm unhappy right now is a major understatement.

It started early August with my A/C going out and the tank temp getting to 83 degrees for half a day.  Shortly thereafter I discovered ich was in my display tank.  A few weeks ago I committed a very stupid error mistakingly adding alk to my tank instead of calcium and creating a very large alk spike, which has so far claimed eight corals.

To top it off, for the last two weeks I've had to be away on business and just returned only hours ago.  I have a loving wife and two great kids but they just are not suited to manage the tank when I'm away, despite my efforts at training and leaving a very detailed checklist.  My daughter stepped away while filling my 7 gallon ATO reservoir and flooded the house with 20 gallons of RODI.  My frag rack was knocked off its magnets and no one noticed right away, knocking over a tort colony along the way.  In trying to recover the frags that fell behind the rocks my SC Orange Passion is MIA. Three Cariberryi anthias I had in QT passed because the ammonia badge wasn't monitored.

Prior to this six weeks the tank was looking the best it ever had.  Since then, in total I have lost or am losing due to the alk spike and being away:

• ASD Rainbow millie
• Vivid Rainbow Delight
• Sniper's Blue Bubble Yum
• ORA Pearlberry
• YG Yellow
• Hyacinth table
• FT Glacier millie
• SC Orange passion
• A beautiful Boom Corals wild acro
• Gig 'em Purple Orchid tort
• Three Cariberryi anthias
• My patience.
• My mind

I have not yet inventoried my DT fish.  I did a large water change and am going to bed.  I'll come up with a plan tomorrow.

 

[Juiceman]

Once you’re stable, I can cut some of that GE Purple Orchid for you.


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[Sierra Bravo]

Thanks, Juice.  I appreciate the offer.  The purple orchid is one that flipped when my frag rack fell off.  It has about half that is still looking OK.  I'm going to clip it tomorrow and see what I end up with.

[Timfish]

Oh man I feel for you!   I hate to be the bearer of bad news, and you may already know this, but I think you should expect to see a jump in nuisance algae in the next couple weeks if you're not seeing an increase already.   Your corals' photobiology will have been disrupted and it will take weeks for most and maybe months for some to recover and start competing with algae for nutrients and alk.   Basically your system is going through a cycle that's going to take 2-4 months before things start to normalize.   If it was my tank, besides besides taking a deep breath and accepting it will take some time and a bit of work for things to return to normal, is start doing small water changes being sure to siphon off sand and rock to start removing as much surface algae as possible.

[Christyef]

☹️


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[Reefpuck]

Sorry to hear. That's one thing I fear if I ever head out of town for an extended period of time. 

[Sierra Bravo]

Well, parameters are not that bad at all after the water change:

Alk     7.6

Calc  415

Mag     1280

Nitrate  .5

Phosphates   .012

pH     7.92

Salinity     1.025

Temp  79F

 

99 percent of people recently polled suggest alk spikes suck rear-end:

 

[Dominican]

I'm really sorry to hear about your tank man. These are the incidents that test our resolve as hobbyists. I know you love your tank though, and that you'll be able to get it back to the amazing condition it was in. Traveling is one of the biggest challenges to reef keeping. I lost an entire tank when traveling to Asia for a month at a time. Our friends and families just aren't as prepared or invested in making sure everything's done right, nor can we honestly expect them to be.

That said.. Are there bonded services that will come to a home and tend to a reef tank? Is that even a thing? I've always wondered, but never really checked because I don't think I'd trust a stranger to come into my home while I'm gone, and wonder whether anyone would truly do what it takes to tend to my tank in emergency conditions. Besides, how incredibly expensive would that be??

So stressful. Hope things get back under control fast. Keep us posted.

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[Christyef]

 

That said.. Are there bonded services that will come to a home and tend to a reef tank? Is that even a thing? I've always wondered, but never really checked because I don't think I'd trust a stranger to come into my home while I'm gone, and wonder whether anyone would truly do what it takes to tend to my tank in emergency conditions.

 There are people on this forum that Do tank maintenance for a living. As well as people that would tank sit for a favor, a few frags, or maybe dinner. [emoji23][emoji23]. Never hurts to ask

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[Sierra Bravo]

1 hour ago, Dominican said:

I'm really sorry to hear about your tank man. These are the incidents that test our resolve as hobbyists. I know you love your tank though, and that you'll be able to get it back to the amazing condition it was in. Traveling is one of the biggest challenges to reef keeping. I lost an entire tank when traveling to Asia for a month at a time. Our friends and families just aren't as prepared or invested in making sure everything's done right, nor can we honestly expect them to be.

That said.. Are there bonded services that will come to a home and tend to a reef tank? Is that even a thing? I've always wondered, but never really checked because I don't think I'd trust a stranger to come into my home while I'm gone, and wonder whether anyone would truly do what it takes to tend to my tank in emergency conditions. Besides, how incredibly expensive would that be??

So stressful. Hope things get back under control fast. Keep us posted.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 

I used the maintenance services of a local LFS over Thanksgiving week last year.  Three visits = $280.  If you put that number in perspective of your investment, maybe not the worst.  At least they can test, change water, recognize issues, etc.  I had the owner doing the maintenance, so I was comfortable having them in my home, especially with my security cameras operating.  Some of the employees I've seen working for LFS. . .maybe not so much.   "Honey - I think I'm missing my red panties"  is not something I want to hear and discover the explanation on the camera playback.  (my apologies to any LFS employees on the board 😁 )

I wouldn't mind arranging something with someone like our Timfish here on ARC if he worked in San Antonio.  Anyone know anybody they would recommend?

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

Bummer man. I completely feel you, ever since I left for a few weeks on my vacation my tank just hasn’t been the same either. I’ve lost my 2 largest colonies and thousands of $ worth of acros. All that to say, I understand that frustrating and demoralizing it is. I’ll keep encouraging you to push through the hard times if you do the same!

[Sierra Bravo]

2 minutes ago, Gig 'em @ NDstructible said:

Bummer man. I completely feel you, ever since I left for a few weeks on my vacation my tank just hasn’t been the same either. I’ve lost my 2 largest colonies and thousands of $ worth of acros. All that to say, I understand that frustrating and demoralizing it is. I’ll keep encouraging you to push through the hard times if you do the same!

I say let's go console ourselves over a nice bottle of bourbon!  😀

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

49 minutes ago, Sierra Bravo said:

I say let's go console ourselves over a nice bottle of bourbon!  😀

Sounds like a plan to me!

[+BobcatReefer]

On 10/7/2018 at 4:38 PM, Dominican said:

These are the incidents that test our resolve as hobbyists. 

Indeed.  I've had a couple of times over the last couple of years when I thought about selling it all off and pouring that money into my other hobbies that get shortchanged by my tank.  Then I think about how I've had that tank for longer than pretty much anything else in my life, including my daughter and dogs, and can't imagine the hole it would leave in my life.  Hell, I have a potential opportunity to move out of state and wouldn't be able to have a tank for a while, and even that thought has been bugging me!

Hang in there, SB!

[Good Greef]

Hang in there man. It definitely can get discouraging when you spend so much $$ and energy, doing what it takes to keep your tank and parameters at "optimal level."

I am just about to hit my 1 yr mark and ive already lost as many or more corals than that. Some were my fault 100%, some it was probably 0% my fault.

Alk spike is the most common issue I heard too. Then lack of nutrients. Then too aggressively using GAC and GFO. After eliminating those on my last additions, some still suffer. 

So LED burn is the only thing beside some metal/element contamination that I guess can be causing your situation. I cant figure out my own either, so don't trust me lol!!!!

[Sierra Bravo]

4 hours ago, Good Greef said:

Hang in there man. It definitely can get discouraging when you spend so much $$ and energy, doing what it takes to keep your tank and parameters at "optimal level."

I am just about to hit my 1 yr mark and ive already lost as many or more corals than that. Some were my fault 100%, some it was probably 0% my fault.

Alk spike is the most common issue I heard too. Then lack of nutrients. Then too aggressively using GAC and GFO. After eliminating those on my last additions, some still suffer. 

So LED burn is the only thing beside some metal/element contamination that I guess can be causing your situation. I cant figure out my own either, so don't trust me lol!!!!

I appreciate the comments.  Thankfully everything seems to have stabilized now and with my next trip away from the tank not being until Christmas I can monitor for issues.  Thanks to Ty and Maruf I've been able to replace a few of the corals that were lost and one I thought was definitely a goner is recovering nicely.