Failing spectacularly

[wantsummora acropora]

Nobody likes to talk about their failures….except me. They are learning opportunities. My first spectacular failure was I accidentally “built-in” a razor blade into my scape. I don’t know the “why’s or how’s” of it. Because the razor blade was built into the mortar and was mostly protected, the rust took a while to start and start having an affect. Only some zoas and mushrooms survived. Hair algae was ridiculous. 3.5 years later while moving a part of my scape the scape broke and out fell the razor blade. I wasn’t even mad, I was just relieved I found answers. I lost a lot of stuff I don’t think I will try to replace but right now my reef is doing very well. My policy now is “no metal is set down where it can fall into my tank. This experience was a tough one.

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Man, that seriously sucks. I'm excited to see how things grow back now that the razor is out haha.
I've found a lot of questionable things in my tanks, but they're usually hitchhikers or oddball animals that somehow make it in... I will be 100x more careful with tools around the tank now though.

 

[chaples55]

I've been running an experiment of sorts lately that I'm pretty much ready to declare a failure. I tried setting up a tank as sterile as possible. I wanted to see if I could create a reef that was truly pest free. Not a single worm of any kind, vermetids, hydroids, aiptasia, etc. (I actually succeeded in that regard, but you'll see why it was a failure.)

Every coral went through several rounds of dipping over the course of several weeks to eliminate all life stages of pests. Every single bit of exposed rock or skeleton either got cut off or encased in superglue. Snails got brushed clean with hydrochloric acid. Copepods were painstakingly isolated and introduced. Various forms of bottled bacteria added. 100% pest free success!

So why was it a failure? Over time I kept slowly losing corals. Even a duncan got some kind of infection and suddenly started rotting. I dealt with really nasty waves of dinoflagellates, cyano, and hair algae. The tank pretty much feels cursed, and I think it comes down to the lack of a healthy microbiome. I suppose there's a good reason why people swear by real live rock. I'm glad I tried this on a small scale. I'll need to find a sweet spot somewhere between completely sterile and "everything goes".

 

[Hunna]

I’ve had multiple failures during these 2 years of having a reef tank. I was given a bunch of free hammers from a member that ended up having aiptasia and flatworms. I lost a lot of euphyllia to the flatworms, thinking I had them eliminated just for them to reappear and take more out. I finally got the flatworm problem under control and was able to save some of my euphyllia, but then the aiptasia got out of control.

I picked up 2 peppermint shrimp to deal with the aiptasia, and they did a such a good job at it that they ran out of it to eat. So then they turned on my LPS and ate almost all of what had survived the flatworms, before I realized they were the culprits.

I finally had both of those issues resolved, just to go through a nasty divorce where I found out my ex had been cheating on me for years. Between the divorce process and battling for time with my toddler because my ex acted as the sole custodial guardian and limited me to only 2 days a week with my daughter (3 in august), my mental health took a hit which in turn meant my tanks didn’t get the attention they needed.

Therapy, regular time with my daughter, and being done dealing with slimey lawyers, have helped me bring my tanks back to being healthy. The only thing I just can’t seem to keep, no matter how “easy” of a type I get, are the sticks. Zoas, mushrooms, and all the different LPS seem to do great though, so I’m ok with that.

 

[wantsummora acropora]

Yeah, I think I’m going to spring for a microbiome test. While not so sterile as you I did keep mine super low nutrient. Now, after finding that to be problematic, I run my , skimmer, ozone and UV a few hours per night trying to build up my bacteria and microbes. The only thing I run 24/7 is my fleece roller. The UV even less so actually.

 

[wantsummora acropora]

I’ve had multiple failures during these 2 years of having a reef tank. I was given a bunch of free hammers from a member that ended up having aiptasia and flatworms. I lost a lot of euphyllia to the flatworms, thinking I had them eliminated just for them to reappear and take more out. I finally got the flatworm problem under control and was able to save some of my euphyllia, but then the aiptasia got out of control.

I picked up 2 peppermint shrimp to deal with the aiptasia, and they did a such a good job at it that they ran out of it to eat. So then they turned on my LPS and ate almost all of what had survived the flatworms, before I realized they were the culprits.

I finally had both of those issues resolved, just to go through a nasty divorce where I found out my ex had been cheating on me for years. Between the divorce process and battling for time with my toddler because my ex acted as the sole custodial guardian and limited me to only 2 days a week with my daughter (3 in august), my mental health took a hit which in turn meant my tanks didn’t get the attention they needed.

Therapy, regular time with my daughter, and being done dealing with slimey lawyers, have helped me bring my tanks back to being healthy. The only thing I just can’t seem to keep, no matter how “easy” of a type I get, are the sticks. Zoas, mushrooms, and all the different LPS seem to do great though, so I’m ok with that.

Dude! That’s a load for anybody. Glad you’re back on track. RN I’m dealing with aiptasia as well. Got some nudies yesterday to deal with that. We’ll see what the next few months bring.

 

[wantsummora acropora]

I’ve had multiple failures during these 2 years of having a reef tank. I was given a bunch of free hammers from a member that ended up having aiptasia and flatworms. I lost a lot of euphyllia to the flatworms, thinking I had them eliminated just for them to reappear and take more out. I finally got the flatworm problem under control and was able to save some of my euphyllia, but then the aiptasia got out of control.

I picked up 2 peppermint shrimp to deal with the aiptasia, and they did a such a good job at it that they ran out of it to eat. So then they turned on my LPS and ate almost all of what had survived the flatworms, before I realized they were the culprits.

I finally had both of those issues resolved, just to go through a nasty divorce where I found out my ex had been cheating on me for years. Between the divorce process and battling for time with my toddler because my ex acted as the sole custodial guardian and limited me to only 2 days a week with my daughter (3 in august), my mental health took a hit which in turn meant my tanks didn’t get the attention they needed.

Therapy, regular time with my daughter, and being done dealing with slimey lawyers, have helped me bring my tanks back to being healthy. The only thing I just can’t seem to keep, no matter how “easy” of a type I get, are the sticks. Zoas, mushrooms, and all the different LPS seem to do great though, so I’m ok with that.

I’m not an expert but it sounds like you have a water quality and/or lighting. Good luck!

 

[civics14]

I have a ton of failures in every tank I have kept. I think its just part of the hobby and sharing them helps might help others prevent the same mistakes. I think I have been through everything you can imagine: aefw, red bugs, aptaisa, tank crash, rtn, stn, brown jelly disease, busted tank seam, flooded rodi water causing ceiling damage, floor damage, velvet wipe, ich management, and the list goes on and on....

 

[Jikkermanccini]

Well you know what, you're not alone... I just figured out why I've been losing every SPS I put in the tank for the past year. Apparently my refractometer (which I thought was miscalibrated) has been telling me the truth this whole time and my SG has been 1.022 for a year. It explains why Acros look happy while still melting away slowly. What's weird is that I have some hammers that have literally encrusted onto the rocks in the lower salinity, it's so odd.

 

[wantsummora acropora]

I have a ton of failures in every tank I have kept. I think it’s just part of the hobby and sharing them helps might help others prevent the same mistakes. I think I have been through everything you can imagine: aefw, red bugs, aptaisa, tank crash, rtn, stn, brown jelly disease, busted tank seam, flooded rodi water causing ceiling damage, floor damage, velvet wipe, ich management, and the list goes on and on....

Wow, that’s a lot. I think i may have called it a night after the tank seam bust.