Pumps/filters off last night for coral feeding; forgot/passed out and woke up to dying fish. Help

[Subsea]

I have perused your threads and am impressed with your husbandry. How long in the hobby?

We don’t all have the money for automation and aside from Jesus, who walks on water, we screw up.

Your system will recover. Keep the Faith.
A Cajun Aggie in Austin, Tx

 

[Jesse Sunday]

Have water sensors that I can speak enough of. When I got my inkbird heater controller I thought I got the WiFi version but didn’t. Now I’m paying for that. What type of controller do you recommend. I’m buying one

I started with a used Apex and Energy Bar... you could get those used in the Selling Forum for a couple hundred I would imagine.

I have my feed cycle tun off my return / wave makers / UV / Heater for 20 minutes during my feed cycle. It's super easy to program and will set you on the path for monitoring / automation in the future.

I'm so sorry this happened... I can't belive it killed your bristle worms!? Those things in my tank are nearly indestructible.

 

[lbacha]

Have water sensors that I can speak enough of. When I got my inkbird heater controller I thought I got the WiFi version but didn’t. Now I’m paying for that. What type of controller do you recommend. I’m buying one

if all you want is some basic control (maintenance/feed modes, temp control and monitoring and controlling plugs) you can get the lite, jr or base model of either GHL, Apex or Hydros for $200-300 or less used. You can then expand in the future but this will get you started and will solve you issue of turning pumps off and forgetting them.

 

[lbacha]

The good thing with starting with a base model is even if you don’t like the brand controller and decide to switch once you have experience it won’t go to waste. You can use it on QT tanks frag tanks or even terrariums (I have 6 systems running right now on different tanks from 4 different manufactures: hydros, apex, GHL and Herp/reef keepers).

 

[Subsea]

Have water sensors that I can speak enough of. When I got my inkbird heater controller I thought I got the WiFi version but didn’t. Now I’m paying for that. What type of controller do you recommend. I’m buying one

As an instrument technician for 30 years in deepwater offshore drilling, my job was to install & maintain all “well control” systems including the hardware from the bottom of well to the top of the crown. As a Subsea Engineer, I was sometimes brought into corporate during the design phase.

I am not big on proprietary vendor designs with multiple interconnected functions.

Keep your control system simple. Engineers typically over design with more failure points. From working in the ocean environment with equipment immersed in 10,000’ of water, we demanded reliability first.

If you are a good techie, considering using a generac computer tablet as a PLC (Programmed Logic Controller), then get individual industrial end devices.

When my Jacuzzi system failed, their technicians changed $1000 printed circuit board which failed a week later. I promptly pulled their controls out and installed off the shelf commercial relays & end devices.

 

[fish farmer]

75g with over 100 pounds of rock, HOB filter, two wave makers, HOB skimmer, but been off for two weeks due to motor dead.

Clown, scopas tang, melanurus wrasse, leopard wrasse, fox face, blue devil, gold head sleeper goby (died), green spotted mandarin, blood red shrimp, huge long tip anemone. Tons of mixed corals; limited SPS (oddly elegance coral looks rough, all others ok).

Am I reading this right?

Skimmer down because motor is dead.

This is not helping the situation, fix this first. I'm going to say that the skimmer being down might have put the tank closer to critical low oxygen going into the event.

 

[Rolliad]

As an instrument technician for 30 years in deepwater offshore drilling, my job was to install & maintain all “well control” systems including the hardware from the bottom of well to the top of the crown. As a Subsea Engineer, I was sometimes brought into corporate during the design phase.

I am not big on proprietary vendor designs with multiple interconnected functions.

Keep your control system simple. Engineers typically over design with more failure points. From working in the ocean environment with equipment immersed in 10,000’ of water, we demanded reliability first.

If you are a good techie, considering using a generac computer tablet as a PLC (Programmed Logic Controller), then get individual industrial end devices.

When my Jacuzzi system failed, their technicians changed $1000 printed circuit board which failed a week later. I promptly pulled their controls out and installed off the shelf commercial relays & end devices.

I build my own computers and such constantly and know a fair amount of python. That said, I'm also not an engineer and sometimes the ease of use of an off the shelf item is just so much better.

 

[AquaticYeti]

I have perused your threads and am impressed with your husbandry. How long in the hobby?

We don’t all have the money for automation and aside from Jesus, who walks on water, we screw up.

Your system will recover. Keep the Faith.
A Cajun Aggie in Austin, Tx

Thank you. I appreciate your post. This is pretty challenging for me since I have control over life in the tank and made a huge mistake that was a disservice to all inhabitants. I've been in aquariums (freshwater) for about 6 years and made the jump to reefing 2-1/2 years ago. I don't have the resources for full automation, but I do intend to research recommendations from others in this thread and get some form of wifi-enabled device that can warn me of power issues/off notifications, even if the user caused/an error. Thanks again.

 

[AquaticYeti]

I started with a used Apex and Energy Bar... you could get those used in the Selling Forum for a couple hundred I would imagine.

I have my feed cycle tun off my return / wave makers / UV / Heater for 20 minutes during my feed cycle. It's super easy to program and will set you on the path for monitoring / automation in the future.

I'm so sorry this happened... I can't belive it killed your bristle worms!? Those things in my tank are nearly indestructible.

I'll be looking into these recommendations. I've told myself I need to automate the feeding cycle and will prioritize that.

 

[AquaticYeti]

Am I reading this right?

Skimmer down because motor is dead.

This is not helping the situation, fix this first. I'm going to say that the skimmer being down might have put the tank closer to critical low oxygen going into the event.

Will do. I appreciate the feedback.

 

[winxp_man]

As the title says, I turned off my pumps/filters last night for coral feeding and passed out and woke up to dying fish.

I’ve added a bar bubbler, battery bubbler, and lifted wave makers to surface level to increase agitation to the max. I’ve lost one fish and two (scopas tang and foxface) look to be goners. Any other help or suggestions how how to save my fish please?!!

This happened to me a few days ago. The power got cut off, but not my doing. Temp was at 72*. Managed to not have a tank full of dead clowns and nems. Have 8 clowns and about 12-15 nems. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[AquaticYeti]

Update: All fish are accounted for. I can't thank you all enough for the quick feedback and recommendations to future-proof such scenarios. I know I made a huge mistake, and I still feel terrible. I'm not trying to downplay the loss of one of my inhabitants, but I am thankful it wasn't worse. My thoughts are that even 30 more minutes would have resulted in more losses.

• Doing well: Clown, scopas tang (significantly better), melanurus wrasse, leopard wrasse, blue devil, green spotted mandarin, blood red shrimp, huge long tip anemone
• Monitoring: Foxface - Now moving all fins and has moved to different rock covers a few times.
• Died: Gold head sleeper goby

 

[Uncle99]

Update: All fish are accounted for. I can't thank you all enough for the quick feedback and recommendations to future-proof such scenarios. I know I made a huge mistake, and I still feel terrible. I'm not trying to downplay the loss of one of my inhabitants, but I am thankful it wasn't worse. My thoughts are that even 30 more minutes would have resulted in more losses.

• Doing well: Clown, scopas tang (significantly better), melanurus wrasse, leopard wrasse, blue devil, green spotted mandarin, blood red shrimp, huge long tip anemone
• Monitoring: Foxface - Now moving all fins and has moved to different rock covers a few times.
• Died: Gold head sleeper goby

That’s great news!
Don’t beat yourself up….each of us makes errors.
I did the same thing.
To prevent that, I have one wave maker which never stops, and a battery backup to run that one pump for a week.

As long as waters moving, they will be fine.

 

[Subsea]

Will do. I appreciate the feedback.

I have been skimmless for > 30years. While excellent for gas exchange, they remove organics that are part of the microbial food web which feeds diverse filter feeders & invertebrates.

During 2 week downtime of skimmer, did you notice any indicators of low oxygen; especially during first light?

PS: Because you live in hurricane prone area with extended long range power outages, an economical automatic backup battery operated air pump is a good investment. When you unplug it, pump comes on.

​

Amazon product​

Penn Plax Silent Air Battery Operated Aquarium Air Pump for Power Outage Automatic Turn On Keeps Fish Safe Model B11​

@$27

 

[justdeb1107]

Am I reading this right?

Skimmer down because motor is dead.

This is not helping the situation, fix this first. I'm going to say that the skimmer being down might have put the tank closer to critical low oxygen going into the event.

This.

 

[justdeb1107]

I got my first Apex used on this forum. Best thing I ever did. I only have it turn my wave makers off for 5 minutes for the feed cycle, not the return pump, heater, UV, etc. I wouldn't run a tank without one anymore.

So glad most of your fish are okay.

 

[AquaticYeti]

That’s great news!
Don’t beat yourself up….each of us makes errors.
I did the same thing.
To prevent that, I have one wave maker which never stops, and a battery backup to run that one pump for a week.

As long as waters moving, they will be fine.

Just made this switch after reading your post. Great recommendation. I have a smaller wave marker close to surface level that I will leave constantly running for now on.

 

[AquaticYeti]

I have been skimmless for > 30years. While excellent for gas exchange, they remove organics that are part of the microbial food web which feeds diverse filter feeders & invertebrates.

During 2 week downtime of skimmer, did you notice any indicators of low oxygen; especially during first light?

PS: Because you live in hurricane prone area with extended long range power outages, an economical automatic backup battery operated air pump is a good investment. When you unplug it, pump comes on.

​

Amazon product​

Penn Plax Silent Air Battery Operated Aquarium Air Pump for Power Outage Automatic Turn On Keeps Fish Safe Model B11​

@$27

I’ve had the skimmer running for 6 months before two weeks ago, but off the last two. Nothing before that other than a HOB filter and two wave makers. I didn’t notice a difference at first light once it was off. Honestly didn’t think twice of it since I had it running two years without a hob skimmer.

I plan to purchase the automatic bubbler. I have two of the manual ones for hurricane season, never thought to look for automated. Thanks!

I have planned to purchase a back power pack/multi-outlet that could keep everything running for at least 12 hours but have not gotten too that.

 

[Subsea]

When designing emergency backup systems, it is important to not include unnecessary equipment like lights, unless your budget in abundant. Prior to retiring I lived on 20acres of hard wood forest in Southwest Louisiana. Installed 14KW automatic backup generator, which required picking and choosing critical functions. I choose aquarium system 100% and turned off deep freeze. One week into power outage, we gave food to a local campground full of hurricane evacuees.

 

[Tamberav]

Didn’t see this earlier, sorry. I had a pump fail in a QT tank and woke up to the same situation. Two fish dead and the rest gasping. I immediately removed all fish to freshly mixed saltwater I had on hand and they recovered very quickly with no further loses.

I assume because that water was immediately properly aerated so they could basically breath again right away instead of waiting for gas exchange from air stones/pumps.

I assume a large water change would also serve the same purpose by immediately adding oxygen rich water.