Everything Dead

[catawaba]

That's OK.
We have yet to see any water parameters before the crash.
Might have gotten a bad batch of frozen food or something, but all suggestions have been shot down immediately. We only know what they tell us and have to throw out suggestions to try and think of any possible options.
Maybe his wallet or ego got stuck in a powerhead.
I have 'old tank syndrome' pegged as a valuable learning experience.
Best wishes moving forward.

 

[gwh57]

Yea, that's what got my post jerked. I said I didn't think he was looking for help. Is that a bad bad post? :notsure:

 

[ophiura]

Listen folks, here is the deal.
If you don't feel that he has provided the information you want, then do not reply. Don't reply with "hey you don't want an answer buddy" because it doesn't get us any further in the discussion and gets ugly.
If he doesn't wish to provide any further details, well, I guess that may be the end of the discussion. No one wins. But this back and forth thing is not getting us anywhere.
I have a hard time believing it was "the lights" unless it was a voltage thing. The anemone getting sucked through a powerhead would also be my suggestion. It doesn't explain why the lights busted, but sounds like that happened several times before.
Unfortunately no one can "disprove" it was the lights because we aren't there to see what is going on.
IMO, anemones can survive 5 days without light...and do you know the light busted right when you left? Or the day after, or? No, but I really don't think the lights killed the anemone. I agree with others on that point.
I assume you asked all your neighbors on all sides about a power outage...I have had times where a neighbor across the street has power when I don't. I know you said you asked, but just checking.
However, there is a point when a post starts sounding odd...several mentions about the name of the lights and coming back to them as the reason behind it. They are expensive, but people start getting suspicious that it is a "troll" post to discredit the lights in some way. I for one, DO NOT think this is happening here, but it is something to consider in terms of responses people may be giving.
However, I am stumped as to why they gave you money for the livestock.
Did they agree to this quickly, as if they have heard it before and yes it is a problem?

 

[worshrag]

i would absolutely hold them liable, they may not pay for damages. but tell them your telling everyone you know that the products they sell are garbage.maybe threatening them will work.

 

[zman1]

Not sure how much this adds to the thread. What I have read that leads me away from a power outage problem is the post the said he has 3 reef tanks and only one is being talked about.
Could this just be a coincidence with the string of bad luck you have had with the lights. Something died and not just the anemone. No one can say beyond reasonable doubt the anemone was the first to go or not anyway. No one was there during the catastrophe while it was unfolding. I am sorry for your loss. A stuck heater can wipe out a tank as well with no pre warning! (5 days)

 

[stimpy4242]

Thanks for explaining troll, in my email it said someone said lock this thread troll someting...I did not know what that meant and a moderator removed his post...so I do see what you are saying...bottom line about the lights and it is the same thing i said to the company...I want them really bad because in theory they kick butt, so far that have not practiced as such. However there customer service has been such to continue to send replacement and call tags with no charge to me. I did disregard the powerhead and anemone, because my power heads do have sponges on them. NO one has asked for tank readings prior to the crash, they have just said tank readings and I have said ammonia off charts...this is the first time someone asked for tank readings before crash...readings that I had prior to last water change, which I do every week since I have them set up to be nearly automatic with the exception of pressing a few switches, were as follows:
ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
nitrate: 5
phophate: 0
calcium: 450
sg: 1.025 using refrac with adjusting temp
temp: 80
ph: 8.3
I admit wholly, that the lights don't seem to be the issue, but I am just look for creative ideas that explain what best happened...as of right now I am willing to consider the power head anemone theory...not the old tank syndrome...The only reason I am assuming anemone is because of the cloudy water and its death could easily lead to the other deaths...however I am willing to accept something else could have died, but if it were a fish than cleaner crew would kick butt on it. And yes, thanks for pointing out the other tanks that are still doing just fine.

 

[redbora]

sorry for you loss and troubles, I actually read the whole post, here's my question
you mentioned that you have gone through four of these lights, what kind of lighting did you use and for how long did you use them in the time before you got the solaris and between the time you had to get the replacements
i've seen them in action, their nice lights that produce almost no heat at all and are very compact, not that I would fork over a couple grand for them though, but this is the first time i've heard of such a disturbing issue where four lights didn't work properly, atleast they are reimbursing you

 

[stimpy4242]

Yeah, this is where i kick myself. I had MH and I sold them on the

[hr]
site once I got my solaris. My mistake I should have known to wait. So I have only been using the solaris over the tank...so there have been times when part of the tank has been unlit. When lights were out or the controller did not power the unit. I would still use the unit with whatever light it pushed out. They would then send another and I would return the first. Unfortunately I have had three faulty controller or units with lights out and one unit had six white LEDs hard wired full on so at night the tank was full bright on one side...so I had to unplug the entire section to have darkness at night. This is why I keep saying that perhaps those days of darkness coupled with these five days may have led to an unhealthy animal...i noticed my corals suffering slightly, but nothing the couldn't recover from...my anemones appeared healthy...perhaps one was not actually healthy...i have had ones look ok until the day of their death in another tank...but i pulled them out before they went bad....that was when i was first learning and people on these boards YELLED at me and pounded into my head the anemones need awesome lighting and now i have yet to hear a single person say anything of that nature...but now I am considering more and more that it was a power head simply because one of them is running very poorly in my bucket of cycling rocks...

 

[stimpy4242]

Originally Posted by ophiura
However, I am stumped as to why they gave you money for the livestock.
Did they agree to this quickly, as if they have heard it before and yes it is a problem?
I think they are considering it because of the progressive decline of certain corals. I have been telling them over time since the 12th that each time the corals are without lights or lights are changed around they appear to be affected...you know no growth or decline in growth...but never been to concerned since I figured they would rebound...now with the tank death, i think they feel responsible. Also problems with their lights are not unheard of, they are well aware of the quality control issues.

 

[reefkprz]

not to go off thread but
hey stimpy I just showed my GF your video she thought it was pretty cool. she was wondering how old you are? (its not on your public profile)

 

[michaeltx]

as far as the tankI really dont know unless its one of the ideas mentioned before.
As for the lights you said you ask the neighbors about an outage how about a surge in power. and do you have ANYTHING else acting funny in the house like lights the mocrowave not acting right something not coming on or as powerful as before. all these could indicate a surge or grounding problem in the house or the electric grid you are on. That could be the source of all the problems come to think of it heaters malfunctioning or powerheads not working right etc... and everything combined could have takin its toll on the tank.
I do agree with everything the anemone probably wasnt the first to go BUT i would like to correct something that you brought up on lighting requirements. Even though an anemone can live a few days or a week without light doesnt mean it needs sub-par lighting with less lighting it will slowly die off over a period of time.
Mike

 

[redbora]

not to blame it only on solaris, but i am in agreement with you when you blame the death of the anemone based on lighting. i think that because of the influx of lighting, from when you first add the unit, till some day between you leaving and caming back, that might have stressed your anemone, weaking it, causing it to die or getting caught into the powerhead. thus setting off a chain of death.
for the money "you" pay for a solaris unit, this is unacceptable, you were probably better off just upgrading to the best mh on the market and still have some money left over

 

[1journeyman]

Stimpy, do you have an auto-top off on this tank? Did you check salinity afte the crash?
Have you checked to see if heater is functioning properly?
What type of powerhead are you using. You said one is functioning poorly. Have you broken it down and looked inside it?

 

[teen]

when i was camping over the summer, my pumps and everything shut off for 2 days. i returned to pretty much everything dead in my tank, including bristle worms, fish, a few corals.
is it possible the power on your house went out for a two or so days and wasnt restored till day 4 or 5, thus you came home to pumps running but everything else dead?
do you remember if the temp was normal in your tank when you got home? i dont think a heater would go crazy, fry everything in your tank, then retun back to normal temps.
and i didnt read through the whole thread, too much bickering, so sorry if i stated something that was already stated.

 

[ophiura]

Originally Posted by zman1
Not sure how much this adds to the thread. What I have read that leads me away from a power outage problem is the post the said he has 3 reef tanks and only one is being talked about.

Excellent point

Didn't think about that.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally Posted by teen
when i was camping over the summer, my pumps and everything shut off for 2 days. i returned to pretty much everything dead in my tank, including bristle worms, fish, a few corals.
is it possible the power on your house went out for a two or so days and wasnt restored till day 4 or 5, thus you came home to pumps running but everything else dead?
do you remember if the temp was normal in your tank when you got home? i dont think a heater would go crazy, fry everything in your tank, then retun back to normal temps.
and i didnt read through the whole thread, too much bickering, so sorry if i stated something that was already stated.
He's stated in his posts that he had other tanks in the house that are fine. This eliminates power issues.

 

[shogun323]

Originally Posted by 1journeyman
Stimpy, do you have an auto-top off on this tank? Did you check salinity afte the crash?
Great question Journey.

If there is no auto top off, I would assume that there were no tops-offs done at all or the person doing them would have surely noticed a problem.

 

[ophiura]

I guess the million dollar question (to state the obvious) is did the anemone die and kill everything else, or did something happen, and the anemone died along with everything else.
Because I have short term memory problems, I wanted to try and summarize:
I think we can eliminate:
Power outage
Malfunctioning heater?
Perhaps the anemone in powerhead if all powerheads had sponge prefilters
No one in the house - eliminates house cleaning, overfeeding issues
Candidates:
-top off (though salinity would have to get quite high, IMO, to cause this issue and I assume again other tanks and experience with leaving the system would indicate perhaps not)
-electrical issue or failure of powerheads (eg rio pumps)
-some sort of obvious fish issue, like (just a thought) a dead cowfish or sea apple, resulting in massive fish death, ammonia, and death of other things
-several significant changes in lighting for anemone caused stress and death...you mentioned you saw declines in your corals
Questions:
What did you do night before leaving...when was the last water change?
I don't think I missed it, and it may be painful...but what sort of fish and livestock did you have? I know you mention a clown and a yellow tang.

 

[1journeyman]

To add to your post Ophiura, I was actually thinking the other direction on the top off. Could there have been some sort of freshwater overflow?

 

[zman1]

I don't think a malfunctioning heater can be precluded just yet. I thought I read the tank was torn down. Has the heater been moved to one of the other tanks. The old style heaters can contact arc and keep them welded closed, bump them and they can free up. I went through this once and lost everyting. The heater was still on when I found it and it release after bumping it. It got tossed......