Learning From Tank Crashes

[Brisk]

Have you ever experienced a significant tank crash, and what did you learn from the experience?

 

[Jekyl]

Narrowly avoided due to having an irkbird on 2 occasions now. Heater controller is the most important piece of equipment there is imo.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Yes I have. My 90G mixed reef went bad and crashed hard 12 years ago. I ran every test I had (and there were a looooot of tests done) and couldn't narrow down the issue. My equipment was working fine. I had done my water changes. My husbandry was good. I was, well, not happy with me. Because it HAD TO BE human error somewhere in there. Never did pin down the issue. I just gave up after that.

What did I learn? Not to give up. It's interesting too, because I'm not the giving up type. But that time I was. So 12 years later, I'm here, reading posts, watching videos on YouTube and reading articles on a daily basis. My 120G mixed reef is slated to launch this winter. I want to be armed with as much knowledge as possible before I do this again. I still feel guilty that all the livestock under my protection died out. This time around I'll know MUCH more going in than I did the last time.

 

[brandon429]

how to prevent and undo crashes related to old tank syndrome

Old tank syndrome is vanquished in reefing now

the cause of old tank syndrome is compounding whole waste particles that blanket the interstitial sand grain zones and plug up the channels in live rocks- in some cases it's sheer overgrowth allowed from various invasions that plugs up the surface area on live rock combined with a thin veneer of...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Alexraptor]

I learned that maintaining biodiversity prevents old tank syndrom fromy my first and only full-scale crash, resulting of a buildup of unprocessed waste over a period of years. Since switching to 0.1-0.5mm sand and using high quality live rock, I haven't had anymore problems.