Carrie Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I don't know when the heater broke I am guessing either Friday or Saturday. Tank was 78 yesterday morning, is 65 now! I am on my way to get two new heaters now, but how do I adjust the temp back up? Slowly or do I get it back to 78 as quickly as possible? My fish do not look well. The worst are a clown covered in mucus and a pygmy angel breathing hard. Any advise would be appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Hydro Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 At the fish stores they drop their fish in to the tank with barely any temperature acclimation, so this could be a 3-4 degree swing that the fish seem to handle just fine. I would raise it up over a few hours, more quickly at first but once you get above 70 degrees I would slow down it down since over 70 your fish will be in water at the lower of what is acceptable. I would take some tank water out and boil it or heat it in the microwave, keeping in mind it will raise the salinity b/c of evaporation, and slowly add it back bring up the temperature from 65-70 in the next 30-45 minutes. Like I said this is what I would do, others may have a more educated suggestion. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 All my research tells me to set the temp you want on the new heater and just put it in the tank/sump. Tthe heater will heat up slowly. It is also recommended once the desired temp has been met a small water change should be done. The heater will heat the water up slowly to reduce stress. H.I., I agree to disagree. I think heating the water then adding it to the tank will stress the ihhabitants even more. JMO. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 I'd plop in 1 of the 2 heaters and let it go to work. Since you are using 2 heaters, just starting with one will let the temp come up slowly enough. Once the temp is set, put in heater #2. In reality, you might not need heater #2. I only have 1x150W heater in my 90G and it does the job just fine. I like to get a heater smaller than needed in case it fails in the "on" position. Since a smaller heater will be underpowered for the tank, I don't have to worry about it over heating my tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texmexbigspring Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 In the last week I set up a qt with my tang in it and the water was about 66 and I put a heater in set at 78 and the temp went up slowly and the tang seems happy. So I would just put the heater in and let it go to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 +1 Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doktorstick Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 The purpose, IMO, of having two heaters is to prevent this type of accident. It precludes that you actively check both heaters now again to make sure that they are still functioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
labradorduck Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Along these lines, has anyone seen/have a thermometer that has a warning setting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexKilpatrick Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Have you ever been skiing and gotten really chilled? And then you get into a hot tub and it feels wonderful? Fish are the same way. I would recommend tanking some tank water and heating it up to about 120 degrees. Then, net your fish and drop them into their new "fish hot tub" It will really relax them and eliminate the stress of being cold all day. Serious answer. If you think about it, corals/fish survive shipping pretty well, and I am sure it gets below 65, and in really poor water conditions. http://www.reefs.org/library/talklog/d_warren_011898.html Q: Can an aquarium enviroment withstand a rare spike increase or decrease in temperature in a short period of time? Yes it can. As you should have been able to see from the data I have presented, a natural reef do experience such variations. The important things to show whether the corals will survive the spike are ... Length of the spike, the longer it is at the extreme temperature, the more damage that is done..... Size of the temperature change, the larger the change the greater the shock to the organism, and the more damage that will occur.. What you should be able to assertain from this is that you can have larger variations over a shorter time, without doing too much damage. I would not be too worried by a change of 3 o C over a day, on occasion but, just remember that a stressless organism is much healther than a stressed one, so you want to minimise the changes etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddybluewater Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Along these lines, has anyone seen/have a thermometer that has a warning setting? I have a cheep digital thermo that has a high temp alarm. I don't know if it has a low temp alarm. It was like $10 at petsmart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Carrie how's the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie Posted December 21, 2009 Author Share Posted December 21, 2009 So far I lost a clown I had for a year, some larger snails and the starfish I had added on Thursday. At least my Fugi Goby is Ok. He is already back to torturing anything with a shell. I would have been crushed, had a lost my neurotic little guy. The tank is back up to 78, with a 10 gallon water change. I have another 30 gallons mixed in case anything spikes. My existing corals look ok, but the new frags from last week are bleaching. I can only cross my fingers on the new corals. Being fragged on Tuesday, then frozen on Saturday is a rough week. I am not sure how the cucumber is doing, because he hasn't moved much since I added him. (Mark?) Nothing's eating him, so I suppose he is OK? I fed the fish this evening, and everyone ate like little piglets, so at least I have some positive signs. I was afraid to leave the tank today, but I am sorry I missed the party! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 So far I lost a clown I had for a year, some larger snails and the starfish I had added on Thursday. At least my Fugi Goby is Ok. He is already back to torturing anything with a shell. I would have been crushed, had a lost my neurotic little guy. The tank is back up to 78, with a 10 gallon water change. I have another 30 gallons mixed in case anything spikes. My existing corals look ok, but the new frags from last week are bleaching. I can only cross my fingers on the new corals. Being fragged on Tuesday, then frozen on Saturday is a rough week. I am not sure how the cucumber is doing, because he hasn't moved much since I added him. (Mark?) Nothing's eating him, so I suppose he is OK? I fed the fish this evening, and everyone ate like little piglets, so at least I have some positive signs. I was afraid to leave the tank today, but I am sorry I missed the party! Not surprising the stylos are bleaching, they freak out sometimes. If I see mine bleaching, I cut off the affected part and they grow back fine. Leave the cuke...he's fine, just being a lurch. One day he'll disappear and you won't see him for a while. No biggie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Carrie....I can give you replacements on any CUC you lost..... So SORRY this happened to you.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 Sorry for your lose. Glad to here the tank has stablized. I wouldn't worry about your cucumber they are like that. Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barderer Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Did the heater actually explode in your tank like the subject said? If so, you could be losing things due to the contaminates in the water from the heaters core. I had this happen in a QT tank. Heater exploded in the tank. I noticed it after only a few hours and I removed it, put new heater in. Tank temp didn't even really have the chance to drop . Everything seem fine. Within a few more hours the two fish in the QT died. The water had a ever so slight green tint to it. So something might have dissolved in the water from the heater that was toxic and its effects were noticed/amplified in the small 10 gal QT. Not trying to raise a false alarm, but it might be something to think about if your heater did open under water. Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie Posted December 22, 2009 Author Share Posted December 22, 2009 I still have glass shards all over my tank, so I would guess it exploded... I am slowly sifting the sand to get the glass up, but trying not to disturb my fish too badly. I did a 50% water change on Saturday, and I have the water ready to do another 20% tonight. I want to make sure my nitrates don't spike from the snail loss. Hopefully that is enough to prevent any more damage if chemicals had seeped into the water, but as I seem to keep learning, there is never a guarantee in this hobby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisfowler99 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Along these lines, has anyone seen/have a thermometer that has a warning setting? AquaControllers do, and can email you if you get out of a configured range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 You might want to run carbon. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 AquaControllers do, and can email you if you get out of a configured range. there are a couple on RC now that look like good deals Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeeperKeeper Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 I bought a thermometer at Gallery that has high and low temp alarms and also timed alarms for water changes at whatever number of weeks you want it to remind you at and overhauls at whatever number of months you want to set. I don't remember how much it was, but I'm sure it was a lot less than an AquaController. Somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 If only it would send an alarm when it explodes. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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