Heat Stroke

[ostrow]

So, it would appear I mistook a busted thermometer for a busted heater. Here's the story:

75 tank with liverock live sand softies and sps. All readings fine except....

About 2 weeks ago I saw that my temp was drastically low: around 72 or 73. The heater setting (pro heat titanium) was at about 79. So I turned it up. At 84 the thermometer read 75.

I removed the heater and soaked in vinegar to clean. No change.

I added my backup junk heater, and had to turn it to 88 to get the light to go on (should have been my warning but NOOOOO!)

Ordered a Pro Heat II digital (I have run Pro Heats and like them). Plugged it in. Reads a water temp of 89. Uh oh. Figure the heater's busted and email the seller (online seller).

Go out to post office, worried about my tank and thinking that is the reason for snail/crab die-off, and loss of 2 chromis though all else seems fine but for cyano.

On a whim go to Petco and buy a thermometer, a decent looking one. Reads yep 88. I swear the water feels cooler than my f/w tank that is at 80 on 3 different readings!

I am taking readings from the sump but that should if anything be cooler than the tank.

I turned off MH lights but left 2 4" cooling fans going.

Temp is now showing 86.

I'm figuring I better bring the temp down. Any reason to do so ultra-slowly I'm setting heater at 83 right now.

Will corals rebound if they were hurting?


Note: temp is now 79.2
Several wilted softies

 

[Equalizer]

In most cases that ive seen if they arent dead yet they should make it.Put ice packs in the sump to bring temp down a little quicker.

 

[Great Lakes]

Ostrow, this happened to you? Or did you just post it as a "don't let this happen to you" reference?

 

[ste2k3]

my tank went up to 96 when I was on holiday. the tank is mostly SPS with a few softies. I lost 4 shrimps and a ll the corals picked up. I wouldn't worry too much. in the natural location, some sps come out of the water an low tide in full sun and some softies live in lagoons which can heat up a great deal.

 

[ostrow]

GL, it happened to me. The deal is the thermometer was a large thermometer, large enough so that I could read it just by opening the cabinet door and locating it in the sump. I figure the heater is a much more complicated thing so obviously when the temp is low I'm thinking busted heater. But 3 busted heaters?

So I removed the thermometer and sure enough, busted.

Learned a lesson: inspect all equipment before deciding which piece is malfunctioning!!!

Temp won't go below 80 but I figure 80 is fine. Don't know why it won't go lower. House is 75-76. Maybe wth pumps, etc sump water is warmer. I'll dip the thermometer in the main tank later today to compare. But I'm not worried about 80.

But some of the softies continue to shrivel. I 'm hoping this is just shock and they'll bounce back.

But I'm gonna have to do a series of water changes I'd suspect. My guess is lots of critters in the rock and sand bed have kicked.

Is that a silly assumption?

Nitrite and ammo are both 0 or trace above. But cyano is probably gobbling it up so it could be a false reading.

 

[Great Lakes]

Ostrow, if your parameters are good, I might hold off on the water change a bit. Let everyone catch their breath from the temp spike. A change in water condition could be one more variable to add stress.

Oh, I keep mine at 80 degrees. No apparent troubles.

It would sure seem like you would have an ammonia spike if you had any significant die off, so you might have got real lucky.

GL