Accidental Temp Drop

MDeVito · Mar 13, 2016

Hey guys
Little emergency but hopefully it'll be okay. Heres the story, woke up early to do my weekly water change before a flight. Stupidly I forgot to take in my NutriSea from the truck and it was pretty cold to start (Boston over night temps). I didn't have time to really bring the heat up to the main temp, I heated it up for an hour so or to not totally freeze my system. My tank was running at 99.5 and by the time the whole water change was over the tank temp dropped to 94.5-95, I have softies and LPS. I'm sitting in the terminal at the airport now and my mind is getting to me wondering if my beauties are doing ok. Fish seemed fine before I left and all the corals were open. How bad is my accidental temp drop?? Please help
Thanks for Reading
The change was 4.4 gallons out of the biocube 29.

Duke4Life · Mar 13, 2016

MDeVito said:
Hey guys
Little emergency but hopefully it'll be okay. Heres the story, woke up early to do my weekly water change before a flight. Stupidly I forgot to take in my NutriSea from the truck and it was pretty cold to start (Boston over night temps). I didn't have time to really bring the heat up to the main temp, I heated it up for an hour so or to not totally freeze my system. My tank was running at 99.5 and by the time the whole water change was over the tank temp dropped to 94.5-95, I have softies and LPS. I'm sitting in the terminal at the airport now and my mind is getting to me wondering if my beauties are doing ok. Fish seemed fine before I left and all the corals were open. How bad is my accidental temp drop?? Please help
Thanks for Reading
The change was 4.4 gallons out of the biocube 29.

Hope this was a mistype 99.5 is awfully high.

whatchamacallit · Mar 13, 2016

Holy high temps! I hope you were meaning in the 80's not 90's! But I learned a trick awhile back with cold water, throw the covered jug in a warm shower for a few minutes.

MDeVito · Mar 13, 2016

My apologies guys, 79.5 dropped to 74-75... Little nervous before my flight

Duke4Life · Mar 13, 2016

MDeVito said:
My apologies guys, 79.5 dropped to 74-75... Little nervous before my flight

Should be fine.

mrtian97 · Mar 13, 2016

I agree, should be fine

whatchamacallit · Mar 13, 2016

If it's a bunch of softies, you should be fine. When it rains in the ocean temperatures drop pretty rapidly as well

briancarterkc · Mar 13, 2016

I've read a few people's experiences. 74 seems to be the magic window. If it goes below 74 for too long bad things start happening. So I think you approached but didn't pass into the danger zone.

As a tip; I've had to rapidly heat up replacement water before. I just microwaved a small percentage of the water in a microwave-safe container til it's boiling and added to the rest. Brings up the temp pretty fast.

MDeVito · Mar 13, 2016

Okay thanks guys, just landed and was very happy to read all these helpful replies.

WilRams · Mar 13, 2016

Should be fine. Lesson learned don't do anything to a tank right before leaving! The last time I touch my tanks minus feeding is the day before I leave.

MDeVito · Mar 14, 2016

Thanks for the help guys, had someone go check on my livestock, all seem excellent.

briancarterkc · Mar 14, 2016

WilRams said:
Should be fine. Lesson learned don't do anything to a tank right before leaving! The last time I touch my tanks minus feeding is the day before I leave.

This. I spent a whole trip worrying because I did my WC the day before a trip once and my brain was all:
1 Did I turn the ATO back on?
2 Did I shut off the RODI?
3 Did I plug the heaters back in?
4 Did I make sure the skimmer was tuned after cleaning?
5 GOTO 1