Heater stuck... Any salvation?

[AndyL]

Hey folks,

friggin heaters got me again... my 10g reef cooked last night - woke up and the temp was up in the 35C range.

Fished out all the fish, did a 5g w/c (w/c water's at 25C) turned off the halide for the day - no point in running that today...

Any other advice for saving as many corals as possible? Is there any hope of the clam reovering once the mantle appears bare, or should I pull that now?

where'd all the ****ed off smileys go? friggin fracken...
:morning: :2gunfire: :2gunfire:

[AndyL]

Well, now that my brain is working more clearly :coffee: and I'm not staring at a white body of water filled with death...

Heater malfunction unfortunately I knew was coming - was planning to get out today to get a new ebo... Noticed over the weekend that the temperature had been fluctuating more than I'd like (heater was coming on later, staying on longer than usual).

By the time I'd left the house at 7:15 I'd already emptied the primary skimmer and my spare (tossed in after the first 5g water change) twice.

My hectori goby, and filamented were fished out first thing. No signs of the yellow clown, The clam appeared to be a bare shell, no mantle showing at all... All the SPS were bleached, some zoos looked like they might make it... All the LPS were in states of decay - polyps falling apart, looking very deflated.

See how it looks at lunch when I get back for another skimmer emptying and water change.

Andy

[Chin_Lee]

that sucks Andy. good luck

[vanreefer]

sh#tty, hope it works out for you

[christyf5]

Ugh that totally sucks. I had a ebo stick on and the tank got up to 92F (about 33C) before I realized what had happened. I didn't lose anything and just let the tank come down on its own. It turned out that the dial knob was faulty in it and it was actually turned up higher than the dial indicated.

[AndyL]

kills me, should have known better than to wait on that heater. Hindsight and all.
Lunchtime, both skimmers had a half collection cup of the nastiest vilest smelling stuff known to man. Filled the AC300 with carbon, added 2 more powerheads, figure I might as well knock all the loose dead stuff off if possible.

House smells to high heaven.

Thank god I had 35g prepped for a w/c on the FOWLR... Did another 5g water change.

The clams not looking so hot - can see its mantle, but it doesn't really appear to be attached to the shell anymore. Monti cap is pure white - crappy because just yesterday I was noticing how big it had gotten and how the new growth since the 150 hqi went on, had turned a very radiant almost flourescent orange.

Fished out the bodies of the YCG, sexies, and a dozen crabs & snails. Disgusted by how many bodies of the pods I'm seeing floating around as the extra flow is stirring stuff up.

Halimeda doesn't handle heat if anyone was curious, thousands of little 1/4" translucent pink pieces floating everywhere... Was one huge handfull taking up most of the ac300 fuge. Trying to fish out as much of it as possible.

:drinking: I need a beer! :drinking:

Thanks for all the thoughts guys, guess on the bright side, bigger and better rebuild - ralphbux and the calgary frag swap are coming up - guess there's something good coming.

Two cooked tanks in a year - think i better start looking at those heater controllers.

[Chin_Lee]

how about one of those thermometers with built-in alarms? i think you can set them to sound when temp is above or below certain set-point.

[digital-audiophile]

Ouch! What kind of heater was it?

[AndyL]

Ammonia 4, nitrites 2, - moved the clam to a 5g tank with some chemical filtration and a hunk of unaffected LR- he retracted further when i tried to pick him up - so he's not dead... Hopefully the move to some slightly better water, even though slightly cooler - isn't as stressful as the continued existance in the chemical soup that was his tank.

And another 5g water change...

AGA heater - not that it matters much, I've had failures of all brands of heaters (nothing but bad luck with every ebo I've owned - except for the really old versions)

[Ruth]

Man that bites Andy - hope your clam makes it.

[kari]

how about one of those thermometers with built-in alarms? i think you can set them to sound when temp is above or below certain set-point.
I don't think an alarm would help on a 10gal unless somebody is always around.
Wonder where one could find an accurate temp controller for a reasonable price tag. I'm not so impressed with the controller on my chiller either. Kind of like the quality thermostat in my house. One needs to turn it up and down according to the season.

Sucks to loose everything over a heater malfunction.

[EmilyB]

Not my clammy ! :cry: I hope you can pull him through Andy. I had horrible luck with Ebo's, I don't remember what I have now, have to look, but they have the red temp line on the outside of them. Have run like a charm.

[AndyL]

Nah really unless you're around any temp alarm isn't going to help - and I'm a horrendously sound sleeper so even if there had been an alarm, I would have slept through it. Seriously pondering a reef controler (specifically the WRRC - wireless router reef controler, based on the linksys / linux based system, with one wire sensors, could easily build a 2-3 stage redundant system)

Deb - mr clammy is still alive, not lookin too good, but he's still responding to light (or rather he tries to close (some) when something blocks the light). Got him under a pair of 23w daylight, as I don't figure he wants the halide just yet. Or does he? Clam experts? Right now he's in a bare 5g, a good sized hunk of live rock next to him, heater, and HOB filter with a big dose of carbon.

3 W/C's since this morning and Skimming really wet this afternoon seems to have brought the ammonia and nitrite down, .5 and .25 respectively - finally clued in and dosed some prime in an effort to keep the toxicity down.

Now all thats left I guess is to nurse clammy, and let nature take its course. Oh and run upstairs, and spray the place with glade, see if I can't get rid of this stench...