Please Wish Me Luck

Hi All, Please wish me luck, When I came home from work today the power was out on my tank and the hole I had drilled in my return line for my return pump to break siphoned if the power goes out was plugged so needless to say my tank back siphoned and I only had about 10" of water left in my tank, I lost about 40 gallons of water. There were SPS and LPS corals that were out of the water for a unknown amount or time, Luckily I had 20 gallons of water in my QT tank that I was able to add immediately to my tank, But I still had to mix up another 20 gallons to add to it. Also the temp dropped to 68. I hope everything survives, Like I said wish me luck. ....................................John

 

good luck! karma

 

That sucks. Time to break out the wet-vac. *Karma*

 

Oh man that sucks. Keep us posted John.

 

good luck with everything theres a pretty good chance with your corals i read a article where when the low tide goes out there are places where corals are exposed to the air naturally for periods of time and they have adapted to this so hopefully your species fall into those types then that would give you a good chance of them living

 

The SPS corals are actually more likely to survive than the LPS. As Karla mentioned, SPS often inhabit tidal areas. LPS, on the other hand, are from deeper waters, and though they are a bit hardier in aquarium terms, they aren't genetically programmed for getting hung out to dry.

 

Well I found out what caused the power outage, One of the wires feeding my MH's, The insulation melted and shorted against the body of the light and the ( NEW GFCI Breaker I just installed tripped ) Man I am glad that I ran a dedicated circuit to the tank with a GFCI breaker. I may have been dealing with a fire. So far today all seems well but now I have to fix my MH's How long can my SPS and my clams go without them????
PS Thank you all for the support!!! ......................................... John

 

Did you ever see a MH bulb do this??

The bubble in the bulb pushed up the reflector / heat shield causing it to come in contact with the body of the light and that is what caused the wire to get hot enough to melt the insulation and short out.

 

Karma for your troubles and good luck. You might want to invest in a back flow swing valve as extra insurance. I have one on my system and it works well. We have had 3 power outs in the past year and have been lucky to not have had any back flow. Also how deep is the return flow nozzle in your tank? You might want to consider raising it if you can, so it would only siphon a few gallons before losing suction.

 

Hi Raven, My returns are about 10" from the bottom of the tank, They are made out of pvc pipe so I think I am going to drill a series of small holes along the length of the pvc,:-/ Thank you for the suggestions 8) ...........John