I Don't Know If You Guys Heard..Steve's Tank Crashed

[efishnsea]

Originally Posted by promisetbg
Long story but to make it short...his sump emptied after cleaning some powerheads on a skimmer.{this made them more efficient} He got called away from the house til late. By then his 200 gal sump had emptied. It would have taken a couple days to make this much water so he used dechlorinated tapwater. He says the TDS is very low there. But he thinks it was the old bottle of dechlor. He blames his own mistake, and haste in not thinking out the situation. He feels he should have just left the sump dry, made the water, and temporarily added more oxygen to the tank. Can you imagine pulling out 2 foot dead acros?

His fish are ok, anemones questionable,LPS ok, all softies & sps dead...
He posted this himself on a large site.

Ummm more efficient, why would the skimmers work differently from the initial set up. I would think that if it worked from the beginning why would things change after a cleaning????? Mabey there is more to the story. Anyway I'm sorry for your loss Steve

and I hope the best for you and your tank in the future.
efish :happyfish nsea

 

[zman1]

That is horrible

Another perfect example of why it's better to have a runaway skimmer flow back into the sump than on the floor or down the drain.

 

[reefforbrains]

flow would be decreasing more and more over time and he would have naturally compensated for it by adjusting the skimmer along with the gradual deminishing flow GPH.
When the newly cleaned pumps were back pushing the right waterflow, the skimmer would be pushing totally overfed and then would flow through the overflow out the top. He had a very large skimmer. Its a bit assinine but totally plausible. The hard to believe part is he didnt think about it. And that he would panic at a dry sump when DT was fine. Not kicking the guy when he is down, but he did it. Acciddents dont happen carelessness does...

 

[autofreak44]

wow, to say the least that sucks hard. i dont have words to say how much... i googled the link to this amazing tank, heres the linkhttp://www.oregonreef.com/sub_aquascaping.htm and best wishes to steve, i hope it comes back together as good or better than it was. in the words of forest gump, Sh*t happens....

 

[lovethesea]

and I thought I had it bad when we lost power for 5 days in January during the ice storm. This is terrible.
At least the 200 gallons went down the drain which I am guessing is in or around his garage and not all 200 glns in his house. :scared:
Such beautiful tanks, I am sure they will be once again.

 

[aztec reef]

yeah that sucks.. but he shouln't off got careless in such a tank, but i'm sure he'll be up and running and i'll bet he won't make the same mistake.

 

[autofreak44]

i keep looking at that website of his, and it just keeps getting sadder and sadder...:[

 

[maxalmon]

Wow, I'm so bummed. The guy had so much time and money invested in that incredible tank.. But I just don't get the whole thing of using declorinator, why not go to the grocery store and buy 80 of those 2.5g RO bottled waters. I just used this type of water to fill up my 75g sps tank and have no problems.
Just goes to show that you can never let your guard down or take chances, I really hate to say this, but from his mistakes, I learned a serious lesson.
.
If he needs any frags to replace the ones he lost, I'd be glad to donate.

 

[baloo6969]

wow man, thanks for the kind words before, calming me with my "ISSUE" I guess your problem was 2309487129 times worse. Sorry man

 

[steveweast]

Thanks everyone for your kind condolences. I just want to clarify a few things...
This tragedy was a people failure (me)....not an equipment failure. I failed on several levels.
First.....When I left the tank after doing some significant maintenance. I always make sure that I can be around for at least most of the day when I do such things. I should have just turned off the skimmer when I needed to leave.
Second.... My fail safes did avoid a total crash...my computer shut off my lights to prevent cooking the tank and since I don't use a float switch for water top off, there was no flushing the system with loads of fresh water...or worse...kalk. Now, this is the real failure....I over-reacted when I came home to a dry sump.I wanted to solve the problem immediately.....but since it takes two days to generate 200 gals of water....I opted for tap. This wasn't too bad a choice on face value....our water here is surface run-off and even registers zero on copper and phosphates. I wasn't sure about chlorimines, though, so...in goes the dechlorinator from a bottle that's been sitting on my shelf for over five years.....THAT was the key element that took out the SPS and softies. I knew better and yet I still failed. I should have just let the sump stay dry...take the time to generate the replacement water, and just add some airstones to the main tank....It should have been that easy.....BUT instead, I choked.
As for the skimmer....As was posted eariler, skimmers become less efficient over time as they become fouled. We compensate for this over time by either increasing the air or increasing the water flow through the skimmer. I knew that after cleaning, the settings would have to be dialed back. I did dial them back before I left....just not enough...I should have just turned it off.....yet another failure on my part.
As for design....My skimmer is fitted with a self cleaning head....and as a result...the collection cup gets flushed with two gals of water and flushed automatically twice a day. No collection vessel or in sump design will work with this configuration. I have the sef cleaning design to help in maintenance since I travel frequently. Where I could improve though....is have a low water level switch in the sump that would TURN OFF the skimmer if the sump gets too low.
The aftermath.....as stated, I lost all sps and softies....LPS, anemones, and fish weren't happy....but, they are fine. Over the next week or two, I'll replace some rock that I had to remove since they were encrusted with sps....and I'll requascape. It will still be the central canyon effect....but, a little different. I'll then start again.....although, the tank isn't completely devoid....it still has quite a few LPS and anemones.
Thanks again for all your kind thoughts,
Steve Weast

 

[the j.o.p.]

sorry for your loss. and i hate to bother you but do you have any pics of your cold water set up? i've been to your site. and i can't find any. thanks
j.o.p.

 

[larryndana]

sorry for your loss, its terrible.

 

[bang guy]

WOW, what a horrible loss Steve. I hope you get back on the horse.

 

[m0nk]

Wow, I'm at a loss for words. Truly sad to see what's happened but I'm amazed at how well you (Steve) are taking everything. I suppose it's a humbling experience, but you certainly appear dedicated and I for one will look forward to seeing the future of your tank(s) and aspiring again to make something as nice.

 

[frankthetank]

so it really did happen. oh my....

 

[ginarox]

sorry to hear that,,keep us posted on your progress...good luck.. i just looked at steves website,,,oh my gosh,,,i bet you feel sick,,,i was feeling very sick for you,,,man i am so so sorry.....

 

[saltn00b]

steve my condolences. i feel like we should have a funeral and a memorial day to remember this country's tragic loss. well that may be pushing it, but still....
just a thought to help you get back on track, you could sell off all that dead coral for someone as LR or base rock , that would make a very cool looking tank...

 

[lion_crazz]

Steve, I am really sorry to hear about this terrible tragedy. Your upbeat attitude toward it all is truly inspirational though. We can all learn from you - that, instead of giving up after disaster or hard times strike, to accept responsibility (since making mistakes are inevitable) and moving on with the new experience and knowledge gained to become an EVEN better hobbyist and care-taker of the animals that we love so much.
Thanks for posting about this. I will be anxiously awaiting to see you come back even better and stronger.

 

[wangotango]

very sorry steve, as mentioned before your tank has been an inspiration to a lot of reefers. a similar thing happened to me a little while ago. after a water change i set the gate valve on my skimmer to get the water level where it usually is, but it kept rising slowly, and overflowed, and water kept flowing out of my skimmer. at the time my ato was connected to our fridge's water supply (endless) and fresh water was pumped into the sump until the pump burned out. my glass heater blew up from being exposed, and my sg dropped to below 1.014. i understand the panic you feel when something like this goes terribly wrong, and im glad that you didnt have a total system crash, and i think in both of our cases it could have been a lot worse. best of luck during the restock.
-Justin

 

[tiberius]

So sorry to hear about your loss. I just viewed your website. I am glad that you are a stable person. I would have lost it. You always learn from your mistakes. When you get new rock, I am sure you will make certain it is worm free. It is great that you have a healthy attitude and you will come back even stronger.