Catastrophe!

[Tommy Gun]

Hey all!

Well, as I am sure you all understand, after a TON of work and money, I believe I may be losing quite a bit of my salty livestock...both fish and coral, among others....over the next couple of days, and to the most unlikely of all problems. Well, at least highly unlikely anyways.

To make a long, and rather dramatic story short, earlier this afternoon, as I was typing away on page 23 of a research paper (which I lost about 6 or 7 pages of), I see this bright flash of light, and then a huge boom!!! In fact, it was exactly like lightning had just struck the tree line which is less than 50 feet from my back door, but the problem with that theory is that it was a relatively bright and sunny day! It turns out that what did happen was slightly worse than a lightning strike in that the electric company's transformer literally blew up

I really really wish that I could tell you that despite the loss of all mechanicals, my reef tank only suffered from a slowly declining water temp over the four hours the power was out, but I can't.

Of course, as with any power outage (which this is not my first), I ran to see were my kids were at the time to make sure they aren't stuck in the dark, and then ran to my tanks to check on them with a flashlight, and honestly, all was good - all of my overflow systems stopped moving water, none of the electricity surge (if there was one) did not run through the tank, and I added a few battery operated air stones (like I said, been through this before). Directly after that, I ran outside to help the neighbor make sure there was no fire, checked to make sure nobody and/or no animals were hurt/dead, and by that time, spend about 15 minutes explaining what had happened to the fire chief and subsequent electric company crew.

Then I went back inside, walked to pick up my flashlight again, but before I got to it, I realized that my shoes were completely soaked with water. Of course, then I turned on that flashlight and to my horror, noticed that my reef tank was only holding about 6 inches of water

I guess you will have to trust me on this one, but I have taken every precaution that I have ever heard/read about regarding both electrical issue, and overflow systems in order to prevent the tank from draining itself if power, or a pump was lost - except for at least one oversight. I also have tested these precautions quite a few times just to increase my confidence in what would happen if the power went out, and was extremely sure that I was going to be ok. In fact, a few weeks ago I had a heater malfunction on another tank sometime around 1 a.m. (based upon where my timers stopped turning), which popped the same fuse all of my tanks use, but all of my tanks didn't lose any water due.

After I had settled down a bit, I began looking for what in the world had happened (in order to prevent it in the future, of course), and am 100% sure that this was the byproduct of having a faulty check valve in my plumbing and since I was dumb enough to put the sump return plumbing less than 7 inches from the substrate (the one oversight I have come to understand), a 'reverse' siphon was created that was fed by about 75 gallons of water or so.

Anyways, here is the run down of what this situation has left me with:

- While relatively small in comparison to the amount I could 'save', approx 20 to 25 pounds of my live rock spend about an hour and a half out of water

- A few of my corals also spent some amount of time out of water, but I was able to move almost all of them so that was remedied as soon as I realized what was going on

- However, I could not move about 1/3 of my entire Xenia colony (which is pretty large) because some where attached to items which I could not move without taking some great risks (e.g. my overflow box) and/or are attached to the glass at the back of the tank

- Obviously, because I was suddenly faced with a serious lack of space, a few of my corals were literally within centimeters of each other, including some which are known to be 'aggressive' and in the case of one of my brain corals, I have witnessed what happens when it is too close to other corals and it wasn't exactly pretty

- All of my largest snails also spent some amount of time out of water

- As soon as I could I began to observe all of my fish and inverts and since curiosity just got the best of me (thankfully it only kills cats!), I can tell you that as of this very second, not only are all of my fish and shrimp still alive and kicking, my corals are also looking relatively good, including those Xenia which are attached to an immovable object.

- Perhaps the only positive thing to come out of this episode is that due to my current methods of making RO water, and since I was getting geared up for my next water change, I was able to replace the water in a somewhat short period of time. However, even though I was sitting on about 100 gallons of RO water, only 40 gallons (approx) already contained salt, so, and since I needed nearly twice that amount (I believe it was about 80 to 90 gallons that was lost), I had to mix up some more saltwater and didn't have any time to cure it, heat it, or exactly match the salinity - which I did get close to that salinity, but I am unsure if that will hold true after the water has warmed up to normal operating conditions.
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On the flip side, as soon as the electricity came back on and I had replaced the lost water, I haven't done all that much other than to unhook my sump and added four more power heads; one of which I have 'snorkeled' to the surface via an air hose in the hopes that it will help promote gas exchange (as well as pointing some of those power heads at the water's surface) since my primary means of doing that was the water falling from chamber to chamber in my sump.

Of course, since my live rock was out of water for quite some time, I have added some Amquel to the tank just in case this will help my fish live through what is all but guaranteed to be a mini-cycle, or at least a stress bioload - but I am not sure if the properties of Amquel will work well when the pH is so high. I do realize though that my tank may be able to handle any die off because it is so established and the vast majority of LR and all of the live sand remained under water.

I should also point out that right now, I am not keeping any fish which I would describe as being hardy, or at least not the most sensitive fish in the world, so that might work in my favor (knock on wood)
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Skipping all of my concerns related to the water damage to my floor and probably at least one wall, I am wondering if anyone else has gone through this, or something similar, in the past and if so, do you have any tips, tactics, or advice for how I should proceed? Any insight at all is appreciated!!!!


P.S. Well Lynden, I suppose I am about to test your thoughts regarding the repercussions, or lack thereof, of performing a 100% water change on a reef tank!

 

[QuotheRaven]

I cannot help but have to say Goodluck

 

[guidedbyechoes]

too bad we couldn't come up with an attractive gutter system that would redirect the water to a reservoir tank. But good luck on the tank.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Thanks for the replies....I also wish I could safely 'pick up' the water and put it back in the tank since this is a somewhat expensive lost of money in salt and RO water alone (since I have a water bill anyways).

Well, this morning everything is actually looking really good in the tank....I haven't lost any fish yet, but about 90% of my xenia looks like it is in very rough shape; with the individuals that spent the longer time out of water being the worst by far...which I guess isn't all that terrible since if even one survives, I can start working on getting that population back up again.

Perhaps one more positive thing to come out of this is the fact that all of the hair algae that I have been battling lately (I think my RO filter's media was getting old, so I replaced it) is really suffering, so hopefully I can get back to good in that aspect again.

 

[Lynden]

P.S. Well Lynden, I suppose I am about to test your thoughts regarding the repercussions, or lack thereof, of performing a 100% water change on a reef tank!

Guess so, but I should let you know that I do not recommend 100% water changes unless the entire tank is poisoned, nor was it even my idea in the first place.

Good luck, and I for one will say that I have dealt with a similar situation before (though it was caused by my own stupidity) and everything came through fine, even the nem. So no worries; you've done all you can do.

 

[Tommy Gun]

I realize that your suggestion had strings attached, I was just being sarcastic. But you are right, my anemone seems to be absolutely fine up to this point.

However, all of my fish appear to be fine except for my fuzzy dwarf lion, which is dead Although, I believe its death may have been a result of my having to move a bunch of rock around in the dark (which, now that I think about it, I am pretty lucky that I didn't come in contact with the poor little guy). Due to a healthy population of bristleworms and such, most of the evidence of any sort of injury was probably lost.

I also have lost my short ten. plate coral - again, probably because I wasn't able to see and probably placed my pineapple brain too close to it.

Fortunately, I have today and tomorrow off of work, so I spent most of this a.m. cleaning up the mess and taking a better look at my set up. I have decided to lower my overflow box a little bit so that I can poke a small hole in the plumbing which carries the water from my sump back to the tank; which, if the water line drops that far, will allow air to break the reverse siphon....correct?

In any case, I am also going to replace the check valve, and in fact, see if I can add one or two more into that same line as back-ups...I am just not 100% sure how or if that will affect the water flow. So, I am also wondering if anyone has done something similar and if so, how that turned out.

Additionally, if anyone has any other ideas for me as to a better, and preferably highly-reliable method of breaking the reverse siphon action?

 

[SkiFletch]

How're things now, been a few days I see.

Tough to make reccomendations without actually seeing your setup, but some pics would help. As for using dual check valves, that's not a problem. Swing gate type check valves offer very low restriction as far as pressure is concerned. Make sure you always add true union check valves so that you can periodically shutoff your system, remove them, and clean them. As you've learned, over time the rubber gaskets of the valves build up with calcerous organisms, slime, algae, etc which can preven them from functioning properly. I clean mine every 3 months.

 

[svirid]

Oh my god, this is really bad. I was wondering is that common for every tank to leak the water
when the power is down? I have a skimmer and canister filter but when I turn them off they stop sucking
the water. So no leakeage should happen. Am I right or wrong and how come it happend with your tank?
Sorry for this question but I am just trying to understand to prevent something like this in future.

Thank you very much. Hope everything turns very good for you.

 

[STD]

Sorry to hear about your problems

Was the inlet into the tank not near the surface?

I keep the return from the sump at the top of the tank so there is no danger of the water syphoning back into the sump

I did try having it lower and drilling a hole near the surface but the hole tended to get blocked and I decided it was too dangerous

 

[andywg]

I must admit, it is for this reason that I never trust check valves, non return valves or any other mechanical/electronic device to stop water flow should anything go wrong. Valves stick, solenoids fail and float valves don't always contact properly.

Hard luck on the losses, but at least it isn't as bad as it could have been.

 

[Tommy Gun]

Tough to make reccomendations without actually seeing your setup, but some pics would help. As for using dual check valves, that's not a problem. Swing gate type check valves offer very low restriction as far as pressure is concerned. Make sure you always add true union check valves so that you can periodically shutoff your system, remove them, and clean them. As you've learned, over time the rubber gaskets of the valves build up with calcerous organisms, slime, algae, etc which can preven them from functioning properly. I clean mine every 3 months.

You are right...I have learned my lesson well. When I looked into the check valve, I found that some filter floss is what kept it open. To make a long story short, at one time I had become pretty annoyed by the sound of water moving through my sump so I placed some filter floss in the box which helps diffuse the water as it falls over what I might call the sump's dam. I figured this was a cheaper method because I could replace it more often than the sponge type media that it came with. In the end, I gave up on that idea and removed it, but some obviously escaped detection. I do have valves in the plumbing, both before and after the check valve, however, I didn't turn them off because at first glance it appeared as though the water had stopped....which was obviously stupid.

Oh my god, this is really bad. I was wondering is that common for every tank to leak the water
when the power is down? I have a skimmer and canister filter but when I turn them off they stop sucking
the water. So no leakeage should happen. Am I right or wrong and how come it happend with your tank?

This would also depend on your exact set up but in general, there is little to no risk of my sort of situation when using a completely closed loop system...like a filter...because, even if a reverse siphon is created, the water simply returns to the tank in the exact same rate as it is being sucked out. The difference in my situation is that, because the sump is open, there is no back-pressure to stop the water, so it simply overfills when the pump is not able to return it to the tank. Make sense?

Was the inlet into the tank not near the surface?

This is sort of hard to explain, so bear with me here....

No, the outlet of my sump plumbing was not near the top of the water....in fact, it is located in various areas of the tank, with the highest being about 5 inches above the substrate. This is because, in the past, I had a drilled tank but when I upgraded to this undrilled 125 gallon tank, I got this great idea (almost) of running some 1/2 inch PVC pipe under my substrate with multiple outlets to act as powerheads. However, when I first tested that system, the pressure was too low, even with two pumps powering it, so I added a third in the form of the sump return. While I do get great water flow from it, the problem is the outlets are low - which allowed the tank to be drained. So, that is why I was relying on the check valve, and now both the check valves and three little holes in that plumbing, just below the water line.

I did try having it lower and drilling a hole near the surface but the hole tended to get blocked and I decided it was too dangerous

This was also pointed out to me by someone else so I almost gave up on the idea completely, however, I am hoping I have found the solution to this when I place three peices of air tubing into the holes and after gluing them there, I secured them so that they are above the water. I also added a prefilter to the system in the hopes that will reduce the risk of the air tubes becoming blocked from the backside.

I must admit, it is for this reason that I never trust check valves, non return valves or any other mechanical/electronic device to stop water flow should anything go wrong. Valves stick, solenoids fail and float valves don't always contact properly.

Hard luck on the losses, but at least it isn't as bad as it could have been.

Believe it or not, this has been extremely common advice given to me in the past however, as far as I have found, there is a serious lack of alternatives. Of course, I doubt any option would come without having at least some potential to fail.