Little Worried

[jlmawp]

My wife and I are away from home for a bit, and have someone popping in a couple time to water plants, feed the tank, top off water, etc. Unfortunately, previous to leaving 72 hours ago, she flipped a light switch that gives power to the tank components on her way out. Ugh (yes, that is getting fixed!). We just discovered on her next visit, and everything is working again.

Our home is set to 65 degrees while we are out, and the tank is normally at 77. So basically the tank was 12 degrees below normal, with no flow and no lights for 72 hours. 10 gallon mixed reef with nothing but a shrimp and a couple hermits.

Am I over-worrying about this? I would think everything would bounce back, right?

 

[Sk8r]

Better cold than heat. I'd ask her to tape that light switch to ON, ie, with sticky tape, and maybe that will keep her from automatic switch flipping. That first. 65 degrees is not lethal generally, but 62 is. Point two, your sand and rock will chill down more slowly than the water. PROBABLY everything in the tank is ok, bacteria, hermits almost certainly, the rock-hugging shrimp probably hugged it close and kept warm, but 10 gallons is pretty reactive to environmental changes. Nothing you can do at this point. If the shrimp dies, hopefully the hermits will take care of it. But you can't afford another 72 hour chilldown.

 

[jlmawp]

Ok, thanks, fingers crossed. That makes me feel a little better. Didn't know 62 was a tipping point. I'll be back sooner than I expected, so I can at least have peace of mind.

 

[cody6766]

Things normally recover from those temps. For instance, my tank was fine when I lost power until the house dropped into the 50s. Things very quickly went down hill at that point. A combination of low temps and no circulation (oxygenation) killed my tank. Yours will likely be fine, especially the fish. There's a risk, but it doesn't sound like it got too cold.

 

[Timfish]

What Sk8r said. With what you've described I would think your tank "should" be ok. I would expect some nuisance algae issues in 1-3 weeks even if everything looks ok when you get back. The temperarture swing will slow the feeding of any corals you have giving algae a chance to get ahead.