How bad is this likely to be

[Steve W]

When I came in yesterday afternoon, I immediately noticed that my Duncan was completely withdrawn and several other corals only had about half or less of their polyps out. I was concerned but not overly so since I assumed that my lawnmower blennie (Mabaline) had just been running rough shod over them as usual. However, by bedtime nothing had changed and I began to get concerned, so I did a 10% water change and put a fresh bag of AC in. I turned out the lights and went to bed. Temperature was normal.

This morning nothing had changed with the condition of my corals or if anything things looked worse and I really began to get worried. I noticed that the water felt cool and checked the thermometer. It was down to 70 F. I went to pull the heater out of the sump and discovered that it had broken (glass type) and what little was left of the heater elements was black and sizzling. I immediately pulled it out and did a 30% water change but I'm sure that I have significant copper in the tank. I also thew a Purigen bag into the sump.

I'm afraid to go home after work. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Steve W

24 gallon nano

 

[Spongie]

Try using a few Poly Filter pads and get yourself a titanium heater (the kind with the external temp setting), just make sure that the titanium tube is fully submerged. I would say that the adverse reaction from your corals is probably from the temp drop not the copper but add the poly filters just in case.

 

[Engloid]

Another thing to watch with some titanium heaters... If you put the heating element in the tank and the thermocouple in the sump, and something happens with water flow, you can wind up overheating the tank. I did this once with a freshwater tank. Water level dropped, reducing flow too much, and then the heater was reading sump temp (colder) and heating the tank. I cooked a few fish with temps of almost 100 degrees. About the only thing that survived was a big Oscar and he didn't seem to even be bothered by it. I lost a 14" albino channel cat and a few smaller fish.

The more I'm reading, the more I'm thinking about starting to use a separate controller to run my heaters. Oh...and I'd reccomend using two heaters, so that if one fails, the backup will pick up some slack.

 

[Steve W]

I think I dodged the bullet on this one. Everything is still a little unhappy but nothing is dead and there are no detectable levels of copper or anything else in the water. It is mainly cold. Just put a new heater in and just to be on the safe side (and to warm it up a little) I did another 20% water change with water that was warmed to 78 degrees.

Wish me luck and hope for the best. If nothing gets sick due to stress I think I'll be alright. Just to play it safe I moved my leathers and xenias to my quarentine tank, so if they overstress they won't poison the rest of the tank.

Steve W

 

[planejane]

I feel your pain Steve. I have lost the inhabitants of 2 tanks, fortunately only 10g tanks, due to heater malfunctions. Now have one on a controller and a second for back up, both Jaager. The bad ones were a Marineland Stealth and a Wally world cheapo, Tetra I think.

 

[cee]

Another thing to watch with some titanium heaters... If you put the heating element in the tank and the thermocouple in the sump, and something happens with water flow, you can wind up overheating the tank.

Most people put the heater in the sump and the sensor in the aquarium. Invest in a real industrial temp controller like a Ranco and ditch the thermostat heaters. None of them are made to last a long period of time; the contacts eventually fail or the calibration drifts due to the way it is designed.

 

[macclellan]

What Janie said: Two low-powered heaters on a controller. Given the cost of corals, upkeep, and time invested in reef tanks, the $100 for a ReefKeeper Lite is a no-brainer and is a much better value than a temp controller alone. Use the four outlets to control your heaters and pumps (wavemaker and for the convenience of a one-button all-pumps-off for feeding/messing in tank). I can explain how to set this up for redundancy and to prevent tank cooks/cools due to a stuck-on or failed heater if you'd like. Control lighting some other way than the 4 outlets, or pony up and get an 8 outlet unit to control everything. It's hard to put a price tag on peace of mind.