have you ever had a tank crash?

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VonUberReefer

Aquarium Advice Regular
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Apr 8, 2010
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just wondering what sort of numbers there are out there and the possibilities. maybe include the reason too if known.

thanks
 
I almost had a tank crash, well i guess you could call it that. I had glass lids on my 150g and did not realize what poor gas exchange could do. needless to say, my stable ph of 7.8 dropped dramatically, down in to the low 6's. I immediately pulled them off, added some surface agitation, and learned my lesson on that. Of course, i guess that's not really what kind of info/experience you're looking for?
 
what would you do if your tank crashed and you didn't have access to another tank substrate melosu58? i need advice since i don't know what i would do.
 
To me... a tank "crash" implies it's too late to really do anything, so having some other mature substrate really isn't going to help. A crash just doesn't just happen - the warning signs are there. The only advice I can give is don't put yourself in the position where your tank crashes (overstocking, poor maintenance, adding chemicals without testing, etc) and you don't have to worry about what to do if it does.
 
how's the saying go 'hope for the best, plan for the worst'? hehe
i just want to be prepared. and no, no negligence here, but who knows, i've seen plenty of people have power outages, cleaned and used some chemical, kids spilled something in the tank, something dies and it's not seen right away, something emits a toxin...
you can't plan for EVERY situation, but to have a better idea than 'i hope it doesn't' would be preferable...
 
I see what you're saying now. I think of a "crash" as something catastrophic that doesn't have an immediate obvious reason. (But they normally have obvious reasons if folks were paying attention.)

Power failures... generators. Cleaners or toxins in the tank... PolyFilter pads and massive water changes. Tank breakage... rubbermaid tubs. Having premade heated saltwater on hand will solve many many problems.
 
I had 1 crash. ammonia spike from ****. went from 0.0 to 8.0+ in a day, came home saw the fishing gasping, saved all but 1 angel, removed the sand, tank has been fine for a year now.
 
i had a bad "crash" once ... i upgraded a 10 gallon to a 29 gallon tank ... had it running for many months with no issue ... i had used the substrate and filter from the 10 gallon which had been running for about 18 months with no issues... i decided to change the substrate because it was these round colored gem looking things... they looked kind of like shiney sprees (lol you know the candy) so i changed it out to black gravel so i could add some plants) ... then about 3 days later my filter died so i replaced it with a larger filter ...the tank was stocked with quite a few fish ... i couple of days later my ammonia started to spike ... the next day it became cloudy then it dawned on me i had removed to much beneficial bacteria ... which is not normally a problem except had a bunch of fish and couldn't get it under control ... i was doing 50% - 60% water changes everyday and couldn't get my ammonia under 6ppm and would be off the color chart the next day this went on fo 2 weeks...i was surprised i wasn't losing fish yet but knew i would start if i didn't do something quick... i researched it ... and ask some question in other forums and was pointed toward tetra's safe start... so i got it over nighted and call Tetra , which they have INCREDIBLE customer service that walk me through everything i needed to do ... i did a 90% water change and replaced the water with RO water so i didn't have to use any conditioners ... i poured in the bottle in and didn't do anything else ... in 10 days i had ammonia of zero nitrate of 20ppm ... it worked perfectly .... I was amazed ...it is a GREAt product ... I stand by product ... i wanted to see if i got lucky or was it really the product.. so when i set up my daughter's 55 gallon tank i didn't use any media from another tank i set it up as if it was my first tank... set it up and filled it up waited an hour poured in the Safe Start... then went to the fish store and put 7 cichlids in it ... once again in 10 or 11 days no ammonia and a nitrate reading .... it really does cycle your tank quickly but you have to do it just as they tell you ... the directions are vague so i called them both times to make sure i did it right ... however it does cycle it quick but that is it ... i battled brown algae in my daughters tank for a couple of months ...anyway that is my story .... sorry it was so long ... lol
 
I had a xenia crash take out virtually all my coral and inverts. I think I was fragging too much and I let it get too thick. Not sure whcih it was at the time. Anyway, it was a bad experience.
 
tank crash of another kind...

I had a tank crash of a different kind...
My little brother and his friend were playing football inside, his friend's head smashed into my fish tank...
cue water and fish all over the floor!!

we rescued the fish in buckets, and my parents drove me to the store and we bought a new tank that evening! (this was years ago!).

Amazingly none of the goldfish died!
(although looking back with the knowledge I have now i hate to think of the cycle i put the fish through in the new tank, as i didnt know about ammonia, nitrites/nitrates then!!)

Some of those goldfish are still alive in my pond now, over 10 years later!

Not helpful I know, but an interesting story I thought...
 
I had a very close call not too long ago. I had someone spray windex and pledge into my tank on accident. Running some carbon and a couple 45-50% water changes and all I lost was one bicolor blenny. Having some spare water and activated carbon on hand is definitely a necessity.
 
Left to Vegas for a long weekend and totally forgot about the sump. It was a hot weekend too so the sump ran dry for about a day. Almost every thing was lost except for some mushrooms and a clown.
 
our first tank had a couple big clowns and some various other fish (cant remember) It also has a large multicolored long spine urchin and a few other corals. The clownfish ended up getting sick (i believe it was Brooklynella) so we had to treat. Being newbies we didnt realize that all medication is not safe for the corals and urchin. We realized soon enough however and removed the corals and urchin into a bucket with new water. We had a heater in this bucket and somehow the heat sensor fell out of the water and we basically boiled the poor corals and urchin to death :( We ending up losing everything we had in the tank
 
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