Advise for when the power comes back on

[greengny]

Hey Team,

Looking for some advise concerning how to handle the reef tank once the power comes back on. Hopefully we all can benefit from these thoughts.

3 year old 65 gallon SPS reef. 40 gallon sump/refugium with 6 inch DSB and cheato.

Power went out at 3am Saturday. Immediately thru in 5 battery operated air stones (plus 1 in the sump to help the DSB).

After a bike tour of the neighborhood, decided that power could be out for awhile. At 6pm on Sunday, decided I needed to find a new temporary home for my reef family or else all would be lost. Ahh, the 22 gal office (w/power) nano!

So, as much as I hated to do it, I ripped out as much coral as I could and transported it my office nano. Made another trip with 7 fish and inverts. Of course all the rock had to come out, so now the rock is sitting in a garbage pail with the air stones/bubblers.

This morning, SPS have most of their color back and the fish, although unhappy living in a 15 gallon sump, appear to be ok and eating.

Now the questions! How to rebuild once the power comes back?

I will empty the 65 of the remaining water and remove/discard 1/2 inch sand bed.

Not sure what to do with the DSB in the sump. I think I need to discard it. God knows what's in the sand bed. I'm sure I have a lot of die off, what with no heat (70 degrees) and little circulation (although that's usually the case anyway). Thoughts?

I'll probably toss most of the Chaeto but just keep some so that it can hopefully regrow.

Now, how to handle the rock? It's starting to smell a bit...not good. Depending on how much longer the power will be out, not sure if I can just add it back to the tank with new water and test for 1 week to see if a cycle starts. Or, perhaps I should just handle the rocks as if they just came out of the ocean and go thru the whole re-cure process. If I go thi route, I'll need to find better quarters for the fish as this could be 4 weel process.

Appreciate your insights. Best wishes to all who are fighting similar/worse problems. Thanks very much John

 

[Belwell]

eeek. no fun
Since you have already made the switch to the nano it is too late to turn back, all sand in the 65 should be tossed, problem is now you need to recycle, including the sump. With air they can usually survive without filtration for like 2-3 days. Heat is the issue....sorry about the trouble. Make sure you get that baby cycling again soon when the power returns, prepare for an ammo spike.

 

[greengny]

Thanks for the support. I'd hate to lose that DSB, I believe it has been really beneficial in the development of my reef over the years without any problems, no cyno, low nitrates, pod growth etc. Oh well.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Hope everything goes well John.

 

[jbjints]

Good luck to you. I have been "setting" up my tank for a year now because I haven't really had time to focus on the setup and its stories like these that has me thinking to just scrap the idea altogether.

I have had time recently but I have been doing the setup thing in bits and pieces because I wanted to wait for the summer to pass so at least I do not have to deal with the element of heat but now it seems like tank tragedy is just a hop, skip, and a jump away.

It must hurt seeing your tank crash due to the wrath of mother nature or to any element.

Good luck to everyone facing a similar situation.

 

[greengny]

Thanks Nelson. By the way, the hornets appear to be doing fine. They are open and looking a bit better. They have a lot of new company today.....

Thanks JB. Yes, reef tanks are a love/hate hobby. They are a lot of work and a lot of commitment time/$. Whenever I talk to people about starting a new reef, I tell them to go small and low-tech to see if it is for them. Not everyone is cut out to have a reef tank. Knowledge and patience are the keys. Thanks again for your well wishes.

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Thanks for the support. I'd hate to lose that DSB, I believe it has been really beneficial in the development of my reef over the years without any problems, no cyno, low nitrates, pod growth etc. Oh well.

I understand your concern and I would not discard it. I would recover it as it is. It may take some time but it will help you the recover your system faster. One is not sure that all that lives in it is gone and I would not be surprised if in fact a significant part of it is still active, so I suggest you keep it and use it as it is...whatever has perished will be processed by whatever was left alive and is there. A carbon source could help you temporarily in the process of recovering it, then it will get back in full action and you can stop the carbon source dosing.
Concerning the sand bed, your idea of discarding 1/2 of the sand bed is of good help as by that together with the complete water change, it will bring the system levels to far better condition for the recovery and speed it up.

You have of course during this all process to keep the corals and fish in another system as you are presently doing. I don't want to give you false hopes, but I would not be surprised if in a month time all would be almost good as it was before.

I don't know if you run GFO but it might be of good help along with GAC in this all process... at this stage larger quantities than usually used.

Please keep posting the progresses and exchanging ideas, asking questions as this will be both helpful to you and us all in my modest opinion.

Pedro Nuno

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

I'll probably toss most of the Chaeto but just keep some so that it can hopefully regrow.

I would not! ... unless it is visibly dead brown ... Chaetomorpha is very hardy and it should not die just like that ... I would keep it and check hoe it progresses every day ... and then decide as it goes.

Now, how to handle the rock? It's starting to smell a bit...not good. Depending on how much longer the power will be out, not sure if I can just add it back to the tank with new water and test for 1 week to see if a cycle starts. Or, perhaps I should just handle the rocks as if they just came out of the ocean and go thru the whole re-cure process. If I go thi route, I'll need to find better quarters for the fish as this could be 4 weel process.

This is perhaps the most difficult part and reconditioning might be a better approach because if added to the system as it is, it might cause the cycle to extend for much longer, unless you use larger than usual volumes of carbon source, GFO, GAC, water changes, etc...
Can you please post some 2 or 3 photos of your system or the link to photos of it or the topic of it ... TY

... and cheer up ... you are alive and with ideas and resolve

Pedro Nuno

 

[greengny]

Thank you very much for your thoughts Pedro. I am going to discard all the sand in the display tank (about 1/2 inch thick). I was not thinking of throwing out 1/2 of the deep sand bed. I'm concerned with disrupting the deep sand bed for fear of releasing whatever is contained within it.

Again thank you very much for your insights.

John

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Thank you very much for your thoughts Pedro. I am going to discard all the sand in the display tank (about 1/2 inch thick). I was not thinking of throwing out 1/2 of the deep sand bed. I'm concerned with disrupting the deep sand bed for fear of releasing whatever is contained within it.

Again thank you very much for your insights.

John

:grouphug: your welcome ... believe me I followed Irene on CNN-Live and even so I cannot imagine what it is for I never went through such a thing.

If it is not asking you to much, before you discard the sand bed of the display tank, could you please check water parameters and also show us some photos of it when the power is restored. And wile we wait for that could you please post some photos of your tank as well as refugium, as they were before Irene. TY
I now go home and should be there in about 1h30 min time, and as soon as I can, I will be online at MR and try to help.

Pedro Nuno

 

[greengny]

Hey Pedro,

Unfortunately I do not have any suitable pictures of the reef prior to my breakdown. Not really a camera guy. Currently, the display tank is about 1/3 full with water and the 1/2 inch sand bed. We're going on 36 hours without power. Tank temp is down to 71 F degrees. Sand is still white, not brown yet.

Refugium with DSB is also not showing anything bad at this point.

Not much to do without power. The reef is in the basement, so without lighting it's hard to tell what's going on. Will assess when I get home this evening. I'm a smell guy. Meaning, if the rock and DSB smell really bad, then to me that's a sign of die off. Will let you know status as it changes.

Again, thank you for your recommendations. John

 

[Pedro Nuno Ferreira]

Hey Pedro,

Unfortunately I do not have any suitable pictures of the reef prior to my breakdown. Not really a camera guy. Currently, the display tank is about 1/3 full with water and the 1/2 inch sand bed. We're going on 36 hours without power. Tank temp is down to 71 F degrees. Sand is still white, not brown yet.

Refugium with DSB is also not showing anything bad at this point.

Not much to do without power. The reef is in the basement, so without lighting it's hard to tell what's going on. Will assess when I get home this evening. I'm a smell guy. Meaning, if the rock and DSB smell really bad, then to me that's a sign of die off. Will let you know status as it changes.

Again, thank you for your recommendations. John

I'm online now, over here its now 22.15 but I'll be online by the time you arrive home I think ... and yes I understand ... 36 hours 71F degrees ( 21.6 Celcius) is quite low ... however life forms in a dsb can surprise you y as many of them have the ability to lower their metabolism and adapt ... not all is lost ... please tell us about the conditions you find the best way you can and use your smell senses but remember that they may not be completely accurate ... we are humans not dogs :dog: :biggrin: ... keep us informed ... use or mobile phone camera (nowadays most if not all mobile phones have cameras) and take photos so that we can also access visually what you have now ...

Pedro Nuno

 

[BobNY]

Hey john, How are you making out?
Did you get power back yet?
How are the fish and corals doing?

 

[greengny]

Hey Bob

No power and no LIPA anywhere to be seen. The fish and SPS seem to be doing fine in my 22 nano. Rock and DSB still sitting without heat or much circulation. Replaced batteries in air pumps, so they are still bubbling away. Not sure how much that's helping now. Going on 60 hours now without power.

Hope all is well with you.

Thanks
John