Tank crashed while on vacation :(

[RyanJoshua]

Unfortunately, disaster struck while I was out of town for a week.

I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but somehow the house sitter accidentally removed the heater probe, causing the tank to overheat. By the time I got home, everything was gone—every fish, every coral, every invert. It was heartbreaking to see.

I'll post some before-and-after photos so you can see the damage..

Right now I'm on the fence about whether to start over, but I'm leaning toward rebuilding because I truly loved this hobby.

I also want to say thank you to everyone in this community. Your advice and willingness to share your knowledge helped me get this tank up and running in the first place, and I've really appreciated all the support along the way.

 

[PizzaOven]

Sorry to hear that. Happy to donate some coral if you choose to restart.

 

[gmdcdvm]

Sorry for your loss. I have a frew frags too. Nothing fancy but hardy (they have to be to survive in my tank).

 

[richiev]

That sucks majorly. I'm in redwood City and have a ton of those hairy mushrooms. I could potentially replace that entire rock for you.

 

[grizfyrfyter]

I've done this myself and came home to 120g of coral soup.
I now get an alarm of my heaters are on for too long.

I'm sorry for your loss and I hope you reset and build another beautiful ecosystem.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

C’mon back
The loss is NOT due to you
AND you know the cause…

Feel free to chastise the sitter
Onward and Upward

 

[RyanJoshua]

Sorry to hear that. Happy to donate some coral if you choose to restart

Much appreciated! I may actually take you up on that!

 

[RyanJoshua]

Sorry for your loss. I have a frew frags too. Nothing fancy but hardy (they have to be to survive in my tank).

Thanks so much!

 

[RyanJoshua]

That sucks majorly. I'm in redwood City and have a ton of those hairy mushrooms. I could potentially replace that entire rock for you.

Thank you!!

 

[RyanJoshua]

I've done this myself and came home to 120g of coral soup.
I now get an alarm of my heaters are on for too long.

I'm sorry for your loss and I hope you reset and build another beautiful ecosystem.

Thank you!

 

[clownvan]

Damn dude!!

If you have the energy, definitely get back in. Most reefers have a lot more fun building their setup and getting it dialed in rather than just watching an established tank (me).

If you decide to, I have zoa rock that I can donate and a pair of clowns just to start things of. And a pistol shrimp if I can catch him.

 

[Darkxerox]

Heater probes are something I hate, especially if they're on suction cups. Get a magnet based one if you can. If you need any starter corals I've got a bunch too.

 

[DanL13]

Sorry to hear that happened. I also would give you some coral if you choose to restart

 

[CaseyP]

I felt that disappointment before. Basic heater malfunctioned and cooked the whole tank.

I would take your time if you want to restart it and when your heart's in it. Think about what you wish you could've done differently. What equipment, rock work, coral selection, coral placement, etc. Now is a great time take your learnings from the first go around to build something even better! e.g. the gsp on the top right rock would've eventually spread and smothered out other corals. It's also a prime spot for sps which I see you got a couple going.

A lot of people look at controllers (apex, hydros) as automating functions, but a large benefit of them is to catch malfunctions, notify, and mitigate problems. Even something simple as an inkbird controller for temperature control redundancy.

 

[RyanJoshua]

I felt that disappointment before. Basic heater malfunctioned and cooked the whole tank.

I would take your time if you want to restart it and when your heart's in it. Think about what you wish you could've done differently. What equipment, rock work, coral selection, coral placement, etc. Now is a great time take your learnings from the first go around to build something even better! e.g. the gsp on the top right rock would've eventually spread and smothered out other corals. It's also a prime spot for sps which I see you got a couple going.

A lot of people look at controllers (apex, hydros) as automating functions, but a large benefit of them is to catch malfunctions, notify, and mitigate problems. Even something simple as an inkbird controller for temperature control redundancy.

Good points. I'll definitely use some lessons learned and make changes accordingly. That GPS was actually all on the back wall just FYI. Thanks for the input.

 

[grizfyrfyter]

Heater probes are something I hate, especially if they're on suction cups. Get a magnet based one if you can. If you need any starter corals I've got a bunch too.

I have mine clamped in place on one sump and slamped to a piece of plumbing. i dont trust myself anymore.