Tragedy --- tank emptied need help

DSR

DSR

AC Members
Apr 10, 2009
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Tulsa, OK
I woke up this evening at 2:30AM to a vert strange noise... the sounds of my pumps running on empty. Look at the aquarium and it was drained of water. The outlet hose from the chiller had come out of the tank and had emptied nearly 24 gallons into our living room... the entire contents of the tank.

So I have all this coral that is sitting in the air and no place to buy ro/di. Right now I have everything that might have survived in a 5 gallon bucket with decholorinated tap water with sea salt (Walmart didn't even have instant ocean or anything like that). This is the non-iodine version. with a heater and a pump for circulation. Oddly the true perc is still alive and so is one of the fire fish. The shrimp didn't make it (i don't think).

My concern overall is the coral... will it survive until tomorrow with just this water? I am sick to say the least. My clam is totally closed up but was still attached to the rock (had to remove it as the rock would not fit in bucket.

How long can they live without water. They were probably dry for close to an hour (Just guessing). Gotta run to the studio to get the wet dry vac. Your assistance is appreciated.
 
OMG soo sorry man

I think they will be fine in your makeshift water for now.. just try and get them the correct salt ASAP

also... I advise drying your carpet. and then "rinsing" and re-drying with freshwater-- or its gonna stink horribly
 
Yep. I am using the wet vac for now drying to get it as dry as possible. Then tonight I will rent a carpet cleaner and clean the carpets. Right now the house smells like sea weed...

Lost the clown and the firefish... they both got caught in the filter in the bucket. Nothing I could do, there is nothing to cover it with. I am so upset by all of this...not just the money but the time and the fish/coral that aren't going to make it...

This isn't something I can "start over." With two small kids, etc. we don't have a lot of extra money... all of the stuff I bought for this tank was through selling stuff I already had... or it never would have happened. Now that all of the stuff is sold, there isn't any money to replace what was lost... I still have the lights and the chiller so that is good, but it will be a long time before I can replace anything that went in it.
 
Wow... very sorry to hear this...

I'm not sure how well the corals will do with sea salt (the food variety, I'm guessing?)... If you're able to get the SpG (man, that sounds like a ton of sea salt), pH, and alkalinity close to what they should be, you might get lucky and have at least some of them survive -- some corals are pretty tough. Nonetheless, I hope your LFS opens at a decent time on Wednesdays.

Best of luck working through this -- I know it's heartbreaking. Once things get straightened around, I feel pretty confident that there'll be some people willing to help you out with some inexpensive replacements, as there always seems to be a few people with a good heart that are willing to help out someone that had something go this wrong.
 
That sucks! Hopefully you can get the connections solidified & re-establish the tank quickly.

If there's a reef club in your area, have a frag party (sort of like a pot-luck except you provide food, beer - guests bring you coral frags).
 
:eek3: OMG :eek:
hope everything be fine ...
 
Wow........that's tragic! I'm soooo sorry for your loss. That's heartbreaking! You put so much time, money and dedication into this. I hope it works out for you...:)
 
Thanks all. The thing that really kills me is that in about an hour my youngest will be getting out of bed to check on the Duncan and the clown fish. If I didn't have meetings this AM, I would have stayed home today to get things squared away and have her help me so that she wouldn't be that upset with their absence. She is only 2.5 but really loved learning the names of the different corals and then she would show off by pointing out each one and trying to trick me with the names. She is going to be so bummed when the nem isn't there any longer.

I am going to take a long lunch and get some water to put the coral and the live rock in (right now live rock is wrapped in wet newspaper). And then tonight try to get everything put back together and see what may or may not be alive.

Anyone have any idea on how to tell if a clam is still alive? And my brain... argh, I am just sick. I don't think it is going to make it. i know the acan is gone as is my candy cane and all of the polyps of zoa... gotta get to work and get my mind off this wholesale destruction. I am just sick.
 
DSR, I'm sure sorry to hear about your plight. If you have insurance you might try calling your agent and see if they cove such things. You are really going to have rinse that carpet out. The salt will get crunchy under foot. Well, I hope the best for you as I know you've put a lot of work into your system.
 
I wet vac'd until about 5:45 this AM and will rent a carpet cleaner tonight to get the rest of the stuff out of the carpet. it was pretty dry in most places. But I did find some areas that were still squishy. In the dog house with my wife for sure... I was more concerned about the inhabitants of the tank than the carpet. I am not sure about insurance coverage. I know we don't have coverage for water leaks, but I would have to look at the policy to see if this could be considered a leak... something tells me that it would... I can't even remember what our deductible is... never made a claim on it before.
 
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