Reef nutrition

Hermit's tank crash: Nuvo 8

It happened about 3 weeks ago. I was so shattered, it was my first tank crash.

My tiny Nuvo 8 had been running for about 11 months. On a Friday late after work, I was due to change about 1 gallon of water. Also, the purigen that I had recharged, was bleached, dechlorinated and ready to be reused. I took care to use some extra Seachem prime and keep it in the dechlorinator for twice as long. Sequence of events that happened:

9:00 pm – Feed the fish
9:30 pm – Change 1 gallon of water (about 15%)
9:45 pm – Add back the purigen (Bleached for 8 hours, treated in prime for more than 24 hours)

Next morning:

8:00 am: The single acro frag I have is completely white

Hollywood stunner chalice is 70% bleached
Pit viper Leptastrea is 40% bleached
Birdsnest colony I had grown for about 10 months is shedding most of its tissue

I immediately performed a 2 gallon water change (All that I had in spare. Note to self: Keep more spare water) I went to work and came back around 6:00 pm.

The wall hammer looked in bad shape. Bicolor branching hammer had turned to pale white. The tissues on Zoas were pale white. For the next 3 days I performed between 4-5 water changes 40-50% each.


Aftermath:
The beautiful birdsnest colony which I had grown for about 10 months is dead. Acro is dead. Zoas are recovering, but look in bad shape, wall hammer looks unhappy. Hollywood stunner chalice is recovering. In all this mayhem, only coral that didn’t seem to be affected was Jack-o-lantern leptoseris. Also second least affected coral is the purple birds nest.
No harm done to the clown pair and fire shrimp. The snails and hermit crab seemed to be unaffected as well.

Possible causes:
1. Dechlorinator didn’t work and the Purigen I added to the tank contained traces of chlorine.
2. Something contaminated the water I changed.

With this crash I took some time to ponder over the fact that the systems we all maintain are very very fragile and need complete attention. I had become a bit relaxed since my tank had been doing really good since last 4-5 months. Its time to get back on toes and be more regular with testing regiment. I am really glad that just about a week prior to the crash, I placed about 5-6 frags in a friend’s tank since I didn’t have enough room.


This tank crash was my first crash and I was really devastated. Even though it is a small tank, I was so attached to it.

As the corals are recovering, I took an opportunity to make an upgrade and find a more comfortable house for the tank inhabitants. I recently purchased a IM 20g tank and now I am focused on setting it up. I plan on starting a tank journal for this one.

Even though I missed on creating a tank journal for my tiny 8 gallon tank, I do have a photo journal for it.

If you made through this post, here is my photo journal for the Nuvo 8 gallon tank:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9f0228nfelzQqQC3
 
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I would guess it was residual bleach from recharging the purigen. I’ve read about this happening before. When I recharge mine, I think I’m going to let it dry completely after prime soak
 
I would guess it was residual bleach from recharging the purigen. I’ve read about this happening before. When I recharge mine, I think I’m going to let it dry completely after prime soak
Yes, that seems like the most likely cause. However I rinsed it with RO water few times before putting it in the tank.
 
im sorry to hear that, how are the fishes and shrimp?
I have two clowns, a shrimp, 2 astrea snails, 1 trochus snail, 1 nassarius snail and a hermit crab. All seem to be doing okay after the crash.
I just feel bad for the clowns. They have been hosting the hammer coral for more than 6 months and the coral isn't doing too good after the crash. Just feels like their home got destroyed.
 
i think the bleaching of 8 hours is way overkill.
when i clean my filters i run them in the wash with only a capfull of bleach. One cycle with the capfull, then another cycle with just hot water. Air dry for a couple days to let any chemicals evaporate.
My thought is you left it in the bucket of prime, all the bleach leaked out into the bucket, and the filter remained in the contaminated water, then you tossed it in the tank. even a tiny amount of bleach will cause a crash, esp in a small 8 gal .

lessons learned in this hobby, sorry for the loss.
 
if you're near me, i can donate a birdnest frag for you to regrow.
Thanks for the offer! I could preserve one branch from the original colony. I'll watch over the next few days how the frag does. If it does not survive, I'll reach out to you for a tiny frag. I am located in Sunnyvale. Where are you located?
Thanks again :)
 
Hi Piyush,

Sorry to hear about this. Things can happen fast in a small tank, in your 8 gallon tank I bet you really only have 5 gallons of water in it. You can get new stuff at swap too. Maybe consider just buying new purigen vs recharging in future. Might be cheaper for small tank.
 
Yes, that seems like the most likely cause. However I rinsed it with RO water few times before putting it in the tank.

If Purigen is really that absorbent, then I’d venture to guess rinsing in RO water won’t completely get rid of all the bleach. I’d suggest letting it completely dry next time. Once all the water evaporates, the only thing left is sodium chloride (salt). I’d suggest having two batches of purigen; have one that has been bleached and dry for a while so you can use that while you’re cleaning the other one.
 
If Purigen is really that absorbent, then I’d venture to guess rinsing in RO water won’t completely get rid of all the bleach. I’d suggest letting it completely dry next time. Once all the water evaporates, the only thing left is sodium chloride (salt). I’d suggest having two batches of purigen; have one that has been bleached and dry for a while so you can use that while you’re cleaning the other one.

Thats the plan for next time. Not letting the Purigen completely dry was a rookie mistake.
 
Hi Piyush,

Sorry to hear about this. Things can happen fast in a small tank, in your 8 gallon tank I bet you really only have 5 gallons of water in it. You can get new stuff at swap too. Maybe consider just buying new purigen vs recharging in future. Might be cheaper for small tank.

Given the small size of the tank, the purigen lasts much longer for me. Safer option is definitely getting a new bag.
 
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