tank over heated...now what

[phenom5]

a freindly reminder...check your equipment as it gets older.

i recently got a new "better" heater for my nano. turns out the "better" heater may not have been that great. the temp control on it isn't all that accurate...not that i would use the heater's temp control to monitor the temp of my tank, but the thermometer that i had in the tank is stuck at 83 degrees. over the last few days my frogspawn looks to be done for, and all my acros have lost color and are showing little to no PE. i've been pulling my hair out trying to figure out what's going on. my water was good...NH4 & NO2 @ 0, NO3 unreadable, Alk 3.6 mg/L, Ca 430. today i thought the water seemed a little warm considering the lights have been out all night...i checked the thermometer and it said the tank was at 83 degrees, but i figured i'd double check it, so i put the thermometer that i use for my mixed SW and put it in the tank...90degrees.

so now what do i do? i know i want to bring the temp down, but i don't want to drop the temp by too much, too quickly. is there any hope for my acros? i'm pretty sure i've lost the FS...

i can't believe i'm going to lose all these corals b/c of a $2 thermometer.:furious:

[impur]

Wow that sucks. Does everything look to be doing bad? A 1 or 2 gal WC might help. Obviously you need to lower the temp, just do it gradually. I've had my tank get to 90 before and didn't lose anything, so there is hope!

[phenom5]

it's mainly the acros that look bad...and the FS, but the FS hasn't been happy since i made the switch to BB. i think it's just too much flow for it, but i had found just about the only place in the tank that had somewhat reduced flow and it looked to be doing better over the course of the last few weeks. i don't think the problem is the 90degrees per say, but i think the change happened quickly, best i can tell something happened 2 nights ago and the heater jumped up 10degrees. 2 days ago everything looked great, great color & growth, great PE. then yesterday i noticed one of my acros didn't look so good, which was surprising b/c this was my first SPS frag to go in this tank. it's been in the longest of all my acros, and has always done very well. anyway, toady when i got up i noticed the loss of color and poor PE had spread to all the acros. montis seem to be doing okay so far, zoos are okay as well. other LPS look okay, GSP has been closed up completely...but they do that from time to time, so i don't know if that's related.

i ran the fans w/o the lights on for a bit, that works well at bringing the temp down, but how slowly should i drop it? couple of degrees a day? or faster? slower?

[guitar_lord]

take out the heater and drop in some ice packs
good luck

[Sk8r]

Heat is indeed capable of causing all sorts of mayhem. You may want to run carbon because of dying organisms, watch your water parameters, watch extra evaporation/salt concentration, and remember the rocks are slowest to change temperatures: they may continue to be hot after the water has cooled down---nothing you can do about it, but watch the temperature.

[The Reefer91]

alsmay i also suggest buying one of these, for later on water testing.

http://bluezooaquatics.com/livestock/product_info.php?id=208

good luck

[Travis L. Stevens]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7163168#post7163168 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phenom5

so now what do i do? i know i want to bring the temp down, but i don't want to drop the temp by too much, too quickly. is there any hope for my acros? i'm pretty sure i've lost the FS...

There is still hope for them, so don't give up. Take a few ziplock baggies, fill them with tank water, and toss them in the freezer. Replace the water taken out with new saltwater that is rather cool. Slowly add this to the aquarium. This accomplishes a water change and cooling. It would be no different then a current coming up from the ocean and blowing over a reef. Now, take a few bags of ice, and float them in the aquarium. By the time you have done a little "wterchange" and melted the ice in the bags, the tank water bags should be frozen. Place those in the tank, and repeat the process. Oh, and open the canopy, place a fan over the tank or sump, and TURN OFF THE HEATER :D