Im ready to give up

[atrox]

I lost 75% of all my corals, and two fish. My softie tank is in shambles. The culprit, heat. My a/c unit went out for just a couple of hours and as a result tank temp with the halides and vho's running reached 87.9 degrees. I've always had fans running, it just was not enough. I think we have all been to the point where we want to throw in the towel, but this was just a learning exp. These tanks can be so sensitive, and can crash in just a few hours. So please be mindful of your tanks temp this summer. (now accepting frags of any size and shape).

 

[amheck]

did you shut off the lights when the temp started to get up there? And keep the fans running? Sorry to hear about the losses.

 

[KarlBob]

I'm sorry to hear you lost so much. Tank crashes can definitely be heartbreaking.

Last summer I had no A/C for a few days, in Phoenix, AZ. I double-bagged ice from the grocery store and put the bags in my tanks to melt. I made several trips to the grocery store and local convenience stores buying ice, but I kept the temperature down. Ironically, the only fish I lost was a Randall's goby. I think the convection currents from the ice bags brought too much cold water into his burrow.

 

[kingfisher62]

Yup, had that happen to my 14g one summer. Have you started some water changes yet?

 

[ghostman]

Hang in there, many of us have been through similar situations. I would suggest investing in a controller as they can monitor temp, turn on fans, shut off lights, sound alarms, and email you when a problem occurs. I never had one before, but dont know how I lived without one. Good luck.

 

[torchgirl]

I'm so sorry to hear about your losses. You must be heartbroken. But, thank you for sharing your story. It helps to remind us to watch our tanks a little closer now that the weather is warming up.

 

[lisafoster]

I know it sucks I lost almost everything in my 125 from an ammonia spike from moving rockwork. Just do a 50% water change and sart back up I ma glad I did. Unfortunately in this hobby the lessons are very painful.

 

[DeepSeaHunter]

sorry to hear about your loss, must be pretty hot down in texas. i live in miami and i hardly have my a/c on because i'm only home for 8 hours of the day. but my water never gets to 87.9, my temp is usually around 79-80. but i do have fans on top blowing on the lights and fans blowing in the sump. i guess it'd be smart to get a chiller so that doesn't happen again.

 

[Reef 101]

now you get to get all new stuff dont you love it........

 

[zeusfc]

before you re-stock, bite the bullet and buy a chiller! treat it like a foodstore does with it's fridges; vacuum out the vents EVERY time you vacuum the room, and use the cooler weather in winter to have it checked over by a local refrigeration engineer.

I'm In Cyprus, at the hot end of the Med, and believe me, I feel your pain. I had a chiller breakdown in september '07, and all my softies lost their colour... three years down the line, they are all back and growing like mad. some recover, some don't, but if your tanks' bioload is too high, then I'm afraid it's "crash-time"!

 

[sedor]

Hang in there, many of us have been through similar situations. I would suggest investing in a controller as they can monitor temp, turn on fans, shut off lights, sound alarms, and email you when a problem occurs. I never had one before, but dont know how I lived without one. Good luck.

+1 even something cheap like a Reef Keeper Lite for $99 can save your tank in an emergency. You can set it to automatically cut lights, or anything that's producing heat when the temp hits a certain point. For instance, I have mine to cut the lights off when the temp hits 84. Then again, if the house is 90, eventually the tank will reach that point as well.

 

[cbau45]

I had a bad crash last summer and lost all of my SPS corals due to temp swings. I learned the hard way but now I always keep a few bottles of frozen water in the freezer so if the temp starts climbing i can toss those in the sump to help even the temp out. It's a temporary fix but it'll work until you can fix the problem.