Broken heater = green water?????

[PCKRAJ]

Temp on my Reefkeeper lite this morning says 74.4 - discovered a cracked heater in sump, the other one is still working. Could that have been the cause of green water in protein skimmer cup? And I don't know how long ago that happened as I don't remember when I checked the temp reading last.

My clam died 2 days ago but everything else seems to be okay. I had a bunch of heaters - and it figures that I only found one that works. So I'll be tossing those old heaters out and buying new ones for sure.

I put in the one heater that worked and turned up the heat in the house to bring the temp up. Should I have two 300 watt heaters in my sump? My tank is 150 gallons and sump is 75 gallon, but only about 60 gallons of water in it. Figures that last night we turned the heat down in the house because our new fleece sheets are very warm - jeez lueez.

And the only reason I went down there today was to get my refractometer to take to ARC to be checked for accuracy - along with a water sample in the hopes they can help me figure the green water thing out.

Thanking God I found this when I did - things could have gotten a lot worse!

 

[Jacwil]

I also have a 150g with 75g basement sump. It is probably about 50º down there now. I keep two 300w Fluval E Heaters in there.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Carol- I thought we figured out the green skimmate was from the new food you were feeding.... ?

Broken heaters shouldn't cause green skimmate.

 

[PCKRAJ]

I don't know Gary. Mike from Ultrashineled's came over to give me an estimate on lighting, I showed him the green water and he said he's never seen anything like it.

He recommended I turn off the protein skimmer for a couple of days so it doesn't take any good trace elements out .... I think that's what he said. I honestly don't understand any of that. He told me take a sample of my water to ARC which is what I'll do later if they're open.

I turned the protein skimmer back on - should I turn it off?????

I think I better order a test kit and start testing my water. I don't test or add anything to my tank - the only thing I do is change out about 25 gallons of water every 3 weeks or month. And for the 3 years I been doing I've never had a problem.

I know, I'm probably the worst reefer ever!

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

please leave the skimmer ON.

The green skimmate was from the pellet food.
You need to test your own water. The cost of the test kits will quickly be replaced by the animals that you keep alive and well.

Over the course of 3 years your aquarium water parameters are surely skewed unless doing 100% water changes and/or supplementation.
You won't know until you test.

You need to test. I would get (in order of importance):

RELIABLE SG/salinity test (16" glass float hydrometer is the most reliable IMO followed by refractometer), alkalinity test, calcium test, magnesium test

 

[cardiffgiant]

I don't know Gary. Mike from Ultrashineled's came over to give me an estimate on lighting, I showed him the green water and he said he's never seen anything like it.

He recommended I turn off the protein skimmer for a couple of days so it doesn't take any good trace elements out .... I think that's what he said. I honestly don't understand any of that. He told me take a sample of my water to ARC which is what I'll do later if they're open.

I turned the protein skimmer back on - should I turn it off?????

I think I better order a test kit and start testing my water. I don't test or add anything to my tank - the only thing I do is change out about 25 gallons of water every 3 weeks or month. And for the 3 years I been doing I've never had a problem.

I know, I'm probably the worst reefer ever!

The bolded makes absolutely no sense to me. I would not advise turning off your skimmer.

I also had a heater break in my sump once. I submerged a fluval heater that turned out to not be submersible (whupps). I didn't notice any impact to my skimming at all.

I definitely recommend testing your own water. I regularly test for Ca, Kh, and Mg. I have a nitrate test kit, but don't use it very often. I still like to have ARC test my P04 once in a while.

 

[block head]

Pretty sure I've seen that mountain dew algae on broken heaters. Never in skimmate . Baby shizle green \brown or light green with phyto

 

[Foody]

You need to test. I would get (in order of importance):

RELIABLE SG/salinity test (16" glass float hydrometer is the most reliable IMO followed by refractometer), alkalinity test, calcium test, magnesium test

What about nitrate, nitrite?

 

[PCKRAJ]

Temp on Reefkeeper Lite says 76.6
Temp on Lifegard time or temp says 77.5
Temp on stick-on says 78.

Good news is temp is going up. I'll go with the temp on the Reefkeeper Lite.

Ordered 2 Eheim Jager heaters on sale at Foster & Smith.

Gary, I do have a refractometer, I was thinking of getting the API Reef Master test kit - will that be sufficient?

Wish you lived next door to me - lol

 

[Dapg8gt]

IMO don't get the API.. Why have a couple thousand dollar tank and buy the cheapest kits around. They have been highly inaccurate for me. Always giving wrong readings even different readings on the same sample. If you want accurate kits go with red sea, salifert or Elos. If you don't care how accurate API will do the trick. Just my opinion and experience so take it as that.. Good luck hope you get it figured out.

 

[saltyscotsman]

Carol definitely get the Salifert its a relay good test kit, the heater has nothing to do with the collar of your skimmer and Gary is right do not turn off your skimmer

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I would get the Salifert kits for what I mentioned already.

I don't think any reefkeeper would appreciate me being their neighbor :lmao:

 

[ReddyW]

There's a wide assortment of metal in a heater. If the innards were exposed to the tank water, it's possible an electrochemical reaction was taking place. If this would show up in the skimmer I don't know (probably not, I'll bet it was food).

If your LFS has any, you might grab some Poly-Filter and see what color it turns. There could be some metal in the water you'll want to remove.

You should have your tank on a ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) outlet. A GFCI ought to have tripped if the heater was compromised by tank water.

 

[ReddyW]

A GFCI ought to have tripped if the heater was compromised by tank water.

What I said here is wrong. I was curious about what would should happen in this case. I briefly though about cracking a heater and submerging it in a tub while on a GFCI, but then I remembered, someone somewhere has already done this, lets see what happened to them!

There's a thread on this, here where Garydan covers just about all the bases with correct info.

Basically, if you have a ground probe, the GFCI should trip. If you don't have a ground probe, and you stick your hands in the water, you become the ground and the GFCI should trip. If you don't have either, enjoy the ride!

No reason to die just because you like to stick you hands in highly conductive water!:thumbsup:

 

[tmz]

A cracked heater will dump toxins including free metals into the water. Some of that might feed some forms of phytoplankton or kill lot's of microfuana leading to green water but I doubt the heater caused it. It likely killed your clam though. Turning off the skimmer would be a mistake. After an event with a heater like that you need more not less filtration . I'd :skim heavy; use gac and polyfilter for a while until themetals are removed or have to bind with organics..