Overheated Tank!!! Help PLease

[JRPhd]

First off, damn Visitherm Stealth heater stuck at 91 degrees today. IDK for how long, at least a few hours but <8.

Got the temp back down to 78 over the course of a couple hours.
Not sure if my beautiful hammer will make it but everything else (zoas., shrooms, Xenia, clownfish) look OK.

Question is what do I do?
Haven't done a water change yet
Today I've got cloudy water.
Parameters are as follows:
Temp - 77
SG - 1.026
PH - 8.2
No3 - 5ppm
No2 - 0
CA - >500 using Salifert. As in off the charts!!
Alk - 5.3 dKH
Po4 - <.03

Paremeters were all normal a week b4 this.

The only thing I have available to me at the moment is Two part ESV Alk. I'd have to wait a day to do a water change. Please any thoughts?
Jon


So should I dose alk or just do water changes or both? Keep in mind that the the low Alk and high CA appear to be a consequence of this heat episode, as everything was incheck b4 the baking.>500

 

[aalvarez]

I've used Alca balance to lower my Ca and raise the alkalinity at the same time. It took a few days to get the Ca levels to drop and the alkalinity level to raise high enough that I was then able to turn on the Ca reactor. Hope this helps.

 

[reefkeeper2]

It's best never to trust the thermostat on any commercial aquarium heater. If you can, get a controller. I believe Ronco makes an excellent one. If that's not possible, use 2 undersized heaters so when one fails your tank will not cook or freeze when the thermostat malfuntions. Notice I said "when" it fails, not "if".
The two undersized heater configuration is a good idea anyway even when using a controller. It's not uncommon for a temp probe to get inadvertently pulled out of the water. It's happened to me more than once.

 

[coralnut99]

The cloudy water should be a concern. My first guess is that something else that you can't see perished. Possibly sponges on the rock undersides or something in you HOB fuge. Astrea snails don't tolerate high temps. at all. I would run carbon ASAP. Whatever path you choose to rectify the ca/alk issue, it should be executed slowly, certainly not as quickly as it occured. That would just make it two hits the system. For a 40G, you might be able to buy pre-mixed sw from a lfs, explaining what happened, until you can make your own. hth

Also the two smaller heaters, as suggested, is the way to go. Buy titaniums if possible.

 

[JRPhd]

yeah, will take care of the heaters.

Thanks for your response. Perhaps something else died, but I can't see anything other than the hammers. Snails and hermits still running around. The sponges that I can see are still alive. Could the cloudiness be precipitation of CA, since the level is off the charts? Chemistry folks know why the CA jumped following this episode? Was it leaching from the hammer secondary to the trauma? OR the drop in alk? In any case, a 50% water change is planned for today. PLus I'll add the carbon as suggested.

I still see some retracted tentacles on some of the hammer heads (2 of 12). Is it possible that they might make it?

Any other advice is still appreciated.
Jon

 

[rbursek]

I have an Aqua Medic, love it neve had such consistant water temps, I bought the cheaper on and run a power strip for 2 heaters. Time will tell on your corals.

 

[cowboycorals]

If you have a calcium precipitation event it should look like tiny snow flakes clouding the water. If precipitation is your problem then you will likely do best by doing nothing. Not even a water change is indicated here as this will only worsen the problem.
"Step away from the additives very slowly Sir ":}

 

[kalkulon]

High water temps are very condusive for bacterial blooms, this may be the cloudiness you see.