Could temp drop be the cause of tank wipeout?

[RarefiedAir24]

Bad day yesterday came home from the gym and my wife fished our purple neon goby that passed away, after looking in the tank I our blue hippo tang was dead, as well as our purple tang, bangai cardinal and blood red fire shrimp and our derasa clam.

I checked all parameters of the tank nothing I could see that would cause that kind of wipe out, although I thought the water was on the cold side. PH was about 8.1, I usually keep it at 8.4, Nitrates were about 8, again nothing that would cause that much death, I checked the heater to see if it exploded and the light on the heater was on and the heater was intact, last resort I checked the tank temp and the temp was down between 64 and 67! so I immediately checked the heater and even though the power light on the heater was on it wasn't actually working.

I've been bringing the temperature back up slowly, it's currently at 75 now. My question is, could that low temperature do that much damage or should I be looking for another problem? Also, what does everyone do for heating issues? I know living down here we really don't have to deal with those issues but I learned a hard lesson yesterday! I was using a marine land glass thermometer and have now replaced it with an aqueon. Should I use a different setup? I also plan on getting a controller with a temp probe, currently I only have a window thermometer.

majority of the corals are ok, along with our 2 gold striped maroons and the anemones.

Thanks for any advice, input.

Best regards.

 

[orly20]

Yes the temp drop so low definitely could be the cause of death. Many people use two heaters just in case one stops working but like you said living down south we usually don't have those low temp spike problems. If you checked all of your water params and they are good then the temp drop would be the porb.

I have an apex controller that is how I constantly am monitoring any anomalies throughout the day and it gives me time to react.

Sorry for your loss

Good Luck

 

[Biggar]

wow, sorry to hear about that. Hope all the rest of it does ok.

Im guessing a sustained temp of 64 degrees for a long time could be the problem

 

[RarefiedAir24]

Yes the temp drop so low definitely could be the cause of death. Many people use two heaters just in case one stops working but like you said living down south we usually don't have those low temp spike problems. If you checked all of your water params and they are good then the temp drop would be the porb.

I have an apex controller that is how I constantly am monitoring any anomalies throughout the day and it gives me time to react.

Sorry for your loss

Good Luck

Thanks! yeah, an apex is going to be my next purchase. I've been holding off on buying one for about a year and only if...

 

[mrx66699]

What is the temp in your house for it to get down to 64 your inside temp has to be in the 60s

 

[RarefiedAir24]

What is the temp in your house for it to get down to 64 your inside temp has to be in the 60s

Yea, with the cold front that came through my wife opened up all the windows so the inside temp of the house was mid 50s, 60s. Funny thing, I tried to turn the house heat on and she complained so I shut it off.

 

[mrx66699]

wow your house had to be like a refrigerator inside ....I cant imagine anyone would want it that cold inside the house lol..... all you have to do is set the temp on the ac/heater to like 74 and it wont let the house get any cooler (protecting your tank temp) and it will still feel cool to her and wont let cold spikes like this happen.....

 

[rovster]

Wow, my tank got down to 73 and I was afraid I was going to lose everything. 60's? WOW! Hope everything pulls through.

 

[knukles55]

Yeah my house went from 62 to 64 the past couple days tank temp was dropped to 72 to 74

 

[Diesel3443]

Dang and I was worried when the tank dropped to 74. Hope all pulls through

 

[jpkboca]

sorry for your loss, I was tryig to figure out how it got so cold in your house, i dont know how you can stand 50's inside lol.

 

[J_hart88]

Yeah, that cold front that came in a few weeks almost did the same thing to my tank. I was doing a water change and didn't check the temp of the NSW I just picked up. Turns out it was in the 60's and all my sps, leathers, zoas, palys closed up for a day or two right after I put the water in the tank. It took my SPS a week to recover. Now I have my digital temp gun for a quick check.:uzi:

 

[Biggar]

My house dropped to 64 inside. Windows shut. Thats when I looked at tank temp and through in the heater from the closet. Also programmed the apex to email me if temp goes over 80 or under 75.

Apex can save your butt

 

[elviraveloz]

That's horrible. I hope to learn from this experience, I currently don't use a heater and I'm always fighting with my husband when he wants to open windows during this weather.

 

[treetopflyn]

My tank went as low as 74. I would think a sudden drop into the 60 would be a shock to any livestock. SFYL

 

[jpkboca]

Damn Biggar, didnt think thats possible, guess I'm lucky that my house seems to be well insulated and never dropped below 70 (and no the heat was not on). Didn't think it got that cold to get in the low 60's in anyones house.


I don't know tank temperature, I meant house temp.

 

[AquamanE]

wow, sorry to hear about that. Hope all the rest of it does ok.

Im guessing a sustained temp of 64 degrees for a long time could be the problem

i agree with mike.

However, I dont see a mention of the tank size. Smaller tanks have the propensity to have quicker changes in temperature.

I am not an advocate of heaters in SF, but for my tank it takes days before anything happens even with inclement local weather (and i dont open my windows, LOL). If you have smaller tanks and allow your in house temp to drop or increase then by all means you do need a heater and maybe a chiller. Its a matter of preference and knowing the consequences, and finding the remidies before panic strikes. And Yes controllers help.

 

[rovster]

My tank drops temp very quickly. I have a 100 watt heater in there that I suspect is not working to well. After that first night, tank temp dipped into the low 70s. I panicked and on the next night I put a 250 watt I had for my big tank, but the thermostat was out of water so it ran all night. Next morning I was at around 85! I thought for sure I'd lose something, but so far so good. Dodged a bullet there.

 

[RarefiedAir24]

Cold front coming through tonight! Be sure to check your tank temps!!

I have a 75g, but I have to think the heater crapped out for a few days for the temp to get that low... I just really never thought the tank would get that cold so I neglected to check the stick on thermometer. I knew something was up though because a lot of the corals weren't opening like they normally do, never did I think it would be so simple as the temp. I was worried about stray voltage, chemicals off, etc.

Frank

 

[rps3]

Also keep your alkalinity levels in check. I found that it tends to get used less due to temp with the correlation to coral intake due to low temp. LOL