POLL: what was the biggest "scare" you've ever had keeping reef tanks?

1377 Views 24 Replies 15 Participants Last post by helenwheels, Sep 28, 2011

seahorse&clownfish

Discussion Starter · Sep 14, 2011

Just wondering to know what was the biggest scare you've ever had keeping a reef tank, tank leaking, everything dying, etc.

Mine was when all of my baby seahorses died in only 1-2 days soon after my brine shrimp didn't hatch, I had to feed my seahorses flakes (suprisingly-two of them ate a few of them but only a few) for almost a week I tried frozen but they only would eat flakes if I used a turkey baster to squirt them near them and used the air bubbler to make them move around. They didn't eat much of the flakes and even with all my attempts the shrimp wouldn't hatch! But they did today, and I'm very happy.

1 - 20 of 25 Posts

kwdelre

· #2 · Sep 14, 2011

About 15 gallons of fresh water on the floor, and a dirty skimmer cup that overflowed into the sump

hotdogg

· #3 · Sep 14, 2011

Complete Power Outage for five days

Rustl3r

· #4 · Sep 14, 2011

kwdelre said:
About 15 gallons of fresh water on the floor, and a dirty skimmer cup that overflowed into the sump

Same here except the skimmer was touching the edge of the sump so half the dirty water leaked into the carpet below.

Also the 12 hour power outage I had last week. The utilities got power back 24 hours ahead of schedule.

Tethered_Limbs

· #5 · Sep 14, 2011

my tank just started dripping out water one night, was real kool....

Nate_Bro

· #6 · Sep 14, 2011

kwdelre said:
About 15 gallons of fresh water on the floor, and a dirty skimmer cup that overflowed into the sump

I had my skimmer empty 10 gallons on my carpet twice before I learned my lesson! :doh:

what scares me is when I'm placing rocks in the 55g and trying to look down and into the tank, and drop the rock, or knock over another rock, and hear it scratch, or slam into the glass, my heart drops each time...

Rustl3r

· #7 · Sep 14, 2011

Nate_Bro said:
what scares me is when I'm placing rocks in the 55g and trying to look down and into the tank, and drop the rock, or knock over another rock, and hear it scratch, or slam into the glass, my heart drops each time...

LOL my heart skips a beat when rock meets glass at speed also.

yoggi58

· #8 · Sep 14, 2011

When I was on vacation in Jamaica i walked in to my room after dinner and drinks. There was a message on my phone from my house sitter "STEVE CALL US BACK RIGHT AWAY, YOU TANK IS LEAKING WATER AND ITS DRIPPING INTO YOUR BASEMENT. CALL US BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So after over 100 dollars in long distance calls I walked my mother in law who knows nothing about aquariums through empting my 72 bowfront into tubs and placing all the corals and fish into buckets. I lost about half my corals and all inverts but surpricingly my fish survived. They also sat in the tubs for 4 days untill i got back. Not to mention the water damage on my carpet and finished basement. And my ruined vacation.

It turned out that the tank lost a seal, I am just glad it did not burst. The tank was only 4.5 years old and I had bought it new.

Somehow, I convinced my wife to let me Upgrade to a 125. She really loves me.

Tethered_Limbs

· #9 · Sep 15, 2011

Nate_Bro said:
I had my skimmer empty 10 gallons on my carpet twice before I learned my lesson! :doh:

what scares me is when I'm placing rocks in the 55g and trying to look down and into the tank, and drop the rock, or knock over another rock, and hear it scratch, or slam into the glass, my heart drops each time...

intense fear, i kno the feeling

FutureDoc

· #10 · Sep 15, 2011

Hanging lights... hanging lights from the ceiling on a stepstool/ladder and then my balance goes...

I nearly dragged the full tank down on top of me as I fell a few feet... in a horizontal fashion. It is tough to remind yourself not to reach for the rim of the tank as you fall.

08TRDOFFROAD

· #11 · Sep 15, 2011

Worst thing so far happened just a few weeks ago. Went on vacation for ten days. Forgot to change my filter sock before I left. Came home to find underneath the tank inside the stand and floor directly around/under under the stand covered in water due to the filter sock bubbling over the rim of the sump. Took about a half hour to mop it up and several fans running for a few days to dry everything out completely.

joschend0325

· #12 · Sep 15, 2011

2 things:

One I tried to set up a sump and and overflow, I overfilled the sump atleast 15 times before giving up. Come to find out my return was a .... well you know.

Two I decided I didn't like the shadow my center brace was casting on my 55. So I decided to cut it out, with the tank full of water. Needless to say I almost lost my lunch when it bounced 4 or 5 inches in the middle from the pressure. Luckily it didn't bust.

08TRDOFFROAD

· #13 · Sep 15, 2011

joschend0325 said:
2 things:

One I tried to set up a sump and and overflow, I overfilled the sump atleast 15 times before giving up. Come to find out my return was a .... well you know.

Two I decided I didn't like the shadow my center brace was casting on my 55. So I decided to cut it out, with the tank full of water. Needless to say I almost lost my lunch when it bowed 4 or 5 inches in the middle from the pressure. Luckily it didn't bust.

Yikes!!!!

FutureDoc

· #14 · Sep 15, 2011

wow

for some reason floods do not scare me... I must be desensitized

08TRDOFFROAD

· #15 · Sep 15, 2011

08TRDOFFROAD said:
Worst thing so far happened just a few weeks ago. Went on vacation for ten days. Forgot to change my filter sock before I left. Came home to find underneath the tank inside the stand and floor directly around/under under the stand covered in water due to the filter sock bubbling over the rim of the sump. Took about a half hour to mop it up and several fans running for a few days to dry everything out completely.

I take this back, this is just the second worst...

When I had my first tank (90 g), I used to have to make RO water every couple of days because I wasn't able to set up an ATO. I used to fill a 18 gal rubbermaid container in the bathroom and run the waste line to the floor drain in the shower. I usual put the container in the shower too incase I forgot to shut it off, the overflow would just run down the drain. Well, I didn't do that and left it by the bathroom door, several hours later I remembered that I had turned it on and never turned it off. I went running down the stairs to the bathroom to find about an inch of water on the floor. I thought to myself it wasn't that bad. I went in the laundry room to get a bucket and towel only to find water had already soaked through the wall, through a hall closet and was starting to fill the laundry room. After many towels and buckets, pulling up the carpet, and running fans for a week, all the while trying to hide it from my dad (luckily he went out of town the next morning and hardily ever came down to the basement) I got the wood, floors, and carpets dried out and stretched back out without him ever finding out.

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FutureDoc

· #16 · Sep 15, 2011

Sounds like something I have done a few times...

Trigger264

· #17 · Sep 15, 2011

Happened while I was on vacation last week.Return line wasn't secured on the pump and blew off.The Eheim 1262 did a fantastic job of blowing water everywhere!Fried my electricals, refugium light, and my reef keeper elite plug bar.Luckily the check valve did its job.And my powerhead somehow kept running.But it stressed my fish pretty bad, my yellow tang was covered in ich, lionfish was swimming funny, triggerfish and grouper were chilling like nothing happened.But I have it under control after a few runs to the LFS.

-Trigger

08TRDOFFROAD

· #18 · Sep 15, 2011

FutureDoc said:
Sounds like something I have done a few times...

I can relate to your falling near the tank too!

The other day I was gently stiring my sand bed while standing on an emoty RC bucket. For some reason the bucket shifted and I fell with my arm in the tank up to my armpit! I hit my armpit and bicep on the tank so hard I though I was going to pull it over...looking back, I don't know how I didn't bring the tank down with me!

Tethered_Limbs

· #19 · Sep 15, 2011

im guna start bein more careful lul

obmas

· #20 · Sep 15, 2011

Worst I had was when I came home to find about15 gallons of water on my floor and that my dog had some gotten in to the stand and broken the drain line. Water was cold and one return pump was dead. Lost some acros and one fish. Fortunately I had extra heaters to put eight in the display while I fixed it

1 - 20 of 25 Posts

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