Anyone know if AI SOL's will survive a dunking?

[Ruge13]

I already know the answer.....

Woke up last night to the sound of what I thought was just some drying dishes on the counter crashing to the floor... Not so much.
The 200lb line holding up 4 AI pods let go and the fixture smashed through the plate glass top to my rimless cube. Years worth of coral growth crushed, lights sitting submerged, and glass shards all over the tank. I am sick to my stomach. I do not yet know if the swim electrocuted the tank, I'll find out when I get home to a crashing tank I guess.

I have redundant main pumps, redundant plumbing, generators, Redundant heating, etc. Even backup light pods... spent thousands protecting a significant investment and what might do my tank in?? 200lb line holding up 20 lbs and nearly $2K of lights. Figures.

 

[Dashiki]

Open them up and clean everything with acetone or rubbing alcohol .

Freshwater isn't bad but salt is a killer .

 

[Flame Angel]

Man, that is a sure how do you do morning. I really hope that this turns out good for you.

I would definately not power the light up and treat it like a cell phone. Dry it out real good before attempting to power it up. I want to say use rice as well to pull the moisture out.

I know something similar has happened to a few others on the forum as well.

I am sure everyone is keeping their fingers crossed for you.

You may want to run carbon as a precaution regardless.

Good Luck!

 

[Spaceman]

You were using nylon fishing line??

 

[Ruge13]

You were using nylon fishing line??

200lb spectra that has been hanging for well over 3 years. It was looped through the outside screws on the AI rack. I suspect years of cleaning them caused enough abrasion on the screw threads to cause a failure.

I am no stranger to dunking electronics in salt water for work, but I suspect these will be unrecoverable. The lights are the least of my concern, most of those colonies I have had for years, since they were 1" twigs. Most were larger colonies now, one of which was nearly basketball sized and now lays in splinters. Several were over a foot tall.

I have never posted photos on any forum before, sort of a superstition, tank was never "ready" and my horrible photo skills never did it justice. I could never capture the rainbow of colors. These are from a few months back, before I added a 4th pod.

 

[cobraz]

Always picture wire not nylon... nylon will degrade from Heat, age and stress.
Hope all is well and your fish are fine.. coral can always grow again.. and now sell some frags to make up for the loss.

Beatiful tank..

 

[Phinfan]

That sucks but as above post states fishing line degrades over time and gets brittle.
If they are dead I would be interested in buying for parts. I need 1 heatsink to complete a project.

 

[Spaceman]

Big water change and thank god its led the power supply is not a killer.... they are most likley toast sorry to say but for the coral/fish just run carbon for a week and the biggest water change you can... i figure 7 hrs power was entering your tank the thats the biggest consern!! Think positve the light helped you frag coral you would not have touched and now help pay for up grade from souls to vegas lol

 

[Ruge13]

This is not "fishing line" in the traditional sense meaning its not monofiliment. While it is used for fishing, Spectra is an entirely different animal. Spectra's known weakness.... abrasion. It happened around 4am, I fished them out around 6:45. All the status LEDs were out, so I am hoping the surge protection did its job.

 

[neptune]

So Sorry... Love your photos...

Good Luck!

Neptune

 

[Ellabug]

I'm sorry to hear your lights took a swim and smashed your colonies That is not a fun way to start the day. Fingers crossed that it didn't fry the tank. As long as things are alive you can always use this as an excuse to start a frag tank with the pieces of your colonies. Just like on the reef, storms happen and colonies get smashed, and then they just start growing all over again. While your lights might not come back, your tank surely will - you are clearly a skilled aquarist!

 

[Ruge13]

Lights are dead but those are replaceable. Tank was fried, and not. I put up 2 backup pods last night and after repeated large water changes I think I've slowed the losses but not before virtually every SPS colony was lost. I am hoping to salvage the clams, RBTA, and maybe 20% of the soft corals. Parts of a large Frog Spawn, Duncans, and maybe a few Candy Canes might make it. Fish seem ok so far. I have 2 sets of breeding pairs of clowns that are swimming lost without their homes. Its sad to watch them try to repair them.

Usually what kills reef tanks sooner or later is impatience, cutting corners, and not investing the time or $ in disaster prevention and recovery. I really felt I did sans a QT tank for incoming livestock even though I added things at a glacial rate. As a result over the years the tank has never had so much as a hiccup despite Murphy's law trying very hard at times because I felt I was prepared for it ahead of time. I was very proud of this tank not just because of its appearance but also the arrogance that comes from really believing you have done things right. One thing I didn't anticipate eventually bit me. Hard lesson to learn at this point, with pride swallowed. This could have been prevented.

I feel like I lost my dog.

From here I'll do a few more water changes and let nature takes its course letting the tank cycle again. We'll see what ultimately survives, but its going to take some time to get back on the horse.

 

[uhupong]

Very sorry to hear.

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Tapatalk

 

[CAPSLOCK]

So sorry for this outcome

 

[P-Nut]

Electrocution will not kill corals. I electrocuted my tank in May. Everything looked like crap for a week, I went to Bahamas, came back and it looked like nothing happened.

 

[cilyjr]

Electrocution will not kill corals. I electrocuted my tank in May. Everything looked like crap for a week, I went to Bahamas, came back and it looked like nothing happened.

Electrocution will kill coral. Though not likely in a tank as your coral is not grounded. They are like birds on power lines. Try putting a hot and ground on either side of a piece of coral.

I read something about electric current pumping a lot of metals in to water. So the light maybe drops in and sends current through every piece of copper on the sols board which in turn dissolves into the water...I dunno just a theory