System Failure

I

iaJim

New member
I'm afraid that my tank has just been killed by heat. We came up from the family room to a horrible smell to find that the tank was hot. The temp was around 96 degrees, but it feels hotter to the touch than that. The skimmer is going crazy, and the tank is cloudy. I turned off the MHs and am floating some ice bags. Some snails are clinging to the side, but that's the only life I can see right now. Crap! Too much heat was being generated by two 400's. The chiller couldn't keep up and the fan was not running.

I'm going to change some water right now, but I'm not hopeful.
 
Ugh. Did you have a controller on the system monitoring the heat of the tank? That sucks man...I'm really sorry to hear about your loss!

--AJ
 
Yes, I have a controller on it, but I must not have had it configured to shut down the lights if the heat got too high. I thought I did, but.... I've had no problems, but that's how things work.
 
Some snails are crawling on the side, but there's a bristle worm out of the sand. O2 must be low. I keep changing water and emptying the skimmer.
 
Yeah, that's the problem with controllers...they are capable of an awful lot, but if you don't have them configured properly, you might as well not have them on there. That's one nice thing with the Apex. It's more wizard based to simplify configuration and prompts you for a max tank temp when configuring your lights. Pretty intuitive.

Again, sorry for your loss.

--AJ
 
Been changing water and skimming all day long, and it's not a bit better. I have some snails and some crabs, and it appears that my green slimer and a millepora may be alive. Not sure about those two, but they still have some color, so..... I'm really thinking about breaking the whole thing down and taking out all of the live rock and scrubbing it, taking out all of the gravel and cooking it, maybe cook the rock too, and snapping off any coral that I think might be alive and refilling the tank with new water, snails, crabs and frags. Don't know what else to do. The smell is not pleasant in the house. I've tried to get out the rocks/colonies that were the stinkiest, but who knows until it's out of there completely.

Any suggestions?
 
oh my god man! this story scares me. How big of a tank is it? Hey I hope things turn out somehow good luck.

andy
 
It's a 58, but it's pretty well decked out. Tunze powerheads with a tunze pump controller, Aquacontroller Jr., Litermeter III top off system, two 400 w XM 20k lights. That's the problem, too much heat from those big lights.
 
Well, I know that now of course. I took advice from folks here in going in that direction.

It was beautiful, and completely possible. I messed up by unplugging the fan and not plugging it back in. I also messed up by not programming my controller to turn off the lights if the temp got too high. I know all of this now. I've had this tank set up for over twenty years. I keep learning. I had had the blastamousa for over twenty years. Really sad to have killed it.

I think I'm going to go with 250 MH's next. I'm also going to reprogram the AC jr.
 
Oh wow that sucks big time! 20 years down the drain I fell your pain. Let me know when you are up and running again and I'll hook you up with some free sps frags.
-Bill
 
Thanks! I'm going to go slow this time and try to get everything just right. On the bright side, it's a great way to get rid of all of that pesky anthelia that was taking over.
 
Sorry Jim that really sucks! We've all made silly mistakes that cost us; live and learn I guess right? If you want any new (free) corals, let me know.
 
Thanks, I'm going to take my time figuring out how to get my system going again.

I've been reading about cooking rock, but I don't know if I have that kind of time. I guess since I have substrate that has been in for many, many years, I should dump all of that and start with new and seed that with some live sand. Of course, I'm thinking about bare bottom now too, but I like the look of sand. Lots to think about.
 
hey jim, if u need help i can stop by. i would overskim and h20 change n let nature run its course. that is shitty! everything happens 4 a reason, do u have room to house a very nice 90? call me am saturday...

Dave
 
ps everyone jims system is very well thought out, runs for 2 months self sufficient while he soaks up the sun down south in the winter!

ps we can ozone ur home...
 
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