Heater malfunctioned and killed my fish

[JackPumpkinKing]

Hi all, I’m new to this site and new to saltwater aquariums. I set up my 10 gallon nano reef a couple months ago and everything was going great until this morning. Woke up to my damsel and cleaner shrimp dead and water at 86 degrees F. Ammonia, nitrates and nitrite levels seem normal according to my tests this morning. Salinity is 1.023. I think my heater malfunctioned last night. I have a 35 gallon freshwater tank I’ve had for years that is at a constant 77 F and they’re doing fine. I’ve been reading about chillers and controllers that stop heaters when they get too hot. Does anyone have any recommendations for what to get my 10 gallon to regulate the temp? Are there heater and chiller combo equipment? I had one large heater from Petco that is a few years old. I should prob get a better quality one right?

 

[Billdogg]

IME, 86 is not enough to kill your fish. It didn't help them but was almost certainly not the cause. I'd suspect another cause. What test kits are you using? Some of the less expensive are not all that accurate so your parameters might not be where you think they are.

There are a number of reasonably priced controllers out there so that you can bypass the built in "control". Most of the time when a heater fails, it fails in the "on" position. A controller will fix that possibility for you.

In any case, you are usually better off with a couple smaller heaters than just one larger one so that when one fails it is more difficult for it to take the tank with it. In your case, 50 - 75w should be more than enough so you are sort of limited in options.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Inkbird makes some good (and inexpensive) controllers. I had a similar issue recently and added an Inkbird to help prevent future issues. They come in heat only as well as heater/cooler varieties.

 

[JackPumpkinKing]

I’ve been using API ammonia test kit and API test strips. I bought them from the local Petco. I just finished the cycling stage about two months ago. The salinity tester is a more expensive one that is pretty accurate as far as I can tell. It’s an Icecap salinity/temp thermometer. I used ammonia drops and dr Tim’s nitrifying bacteria to complete the fish less cycling. Had a bout of brown algae for a couple weeks that I fixed by having the light on for a few hours at a time versus all day. The damsel and shrimp were good for about two months and seemed fine last night. Do you have any test kits you recommend? Should I get two small heaters and a controller? Are there heaters that have a built in controller? When I touched the water this morning it seemed a lot warmer than normal. Maybe it was too fast of a temp change?

 

[Billdogg]

Because it is just 10g, you will be hard-pressed to find two smaller heaters that aren't total overkill. As mentioned above - an inkbird controller will do you just fine,

As for test kits - I use Salifert for everything and have for over 30 years. They are reasonably priced, easy to use, and give repeatable results.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

50w heater would be best. Get the green inkbird controller with the heat and cool plugs and hook up a small fan on the cool side (chiller shouldn't be necessary unless the room gets really hot).

There are lots of heaters with built in thermostat controllers but those are very prone to failure

 

[stanlalee]

I guess I'm in the minority but I always buy an undersize heater so that if it fails stuck on its not powerful enough to grossly over heat my aquariums. For YEARS I never ran a heater at all. I also don't think 86deg is hot enough to kill livestock.

 

[JackPumpkinKing]

Thanks everyone for the advice I’ll buy some Salifert test kits a small ~50 Watt heater and inkbird controller. There’s two small snails left in there. I’m hoping they can last until a new heater comes in. Also I get a ton of white floating salt it looks like on the top of the water is that normal?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Looks like you need more surface agitation. Point a powerhead towards the surface. Even better would be a filter that takes in water right at the surface.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I'm with some of the other comments. 86-degrees with plenty of oxygen, probably wouldn't take down an otherwise healthy fish so quickly. But 86-degrees and as little surface oxygenation as you seem to have had would probably equal 'suffocation.' Sorry for your loss. All you can do is make your adjustments, then get back on the horse and ride.

 

[bfpierce99]

HELP! I just came home from being gone all day. My heater overheated. Tank was in the low to mid 90's. snails and two shrimp are toast. royal gramma appears dead. clownfish still alive. look like some of my coral kicked it to. not even sure where to start at this point....... will all my coral die? i have two torchs, couple birdnest, acan, etc.,etc.

i pulled the heater and now expect the temp to drop to something that is too cold ...

this is terrible.

 

[Uncle99]

Push some air across the tank by fan.
Don’t let it drop below normal if possible.
Always use the Inkbird or ranco controller for safety.
Remove the dead.
10% water change.

Did the heater stick in the on position?

 

[xxkenny90xx]

HELP! I just came home from being gone all day. My heater overheated. Tank was in the low to mid 90's. snails and two shrimp are toast. royal gramma appears dead. clownfish still alive. look like some of my coral kicked it to. not even sure where to start at this point....... will all my coral die? i have two torchs, couple birdnest, acan, etc.,etc.

i pulled the heater and now expect the temp to drop to something that is too cold ...

this is terrible.

Definitely start a new thread to get some real help. If it's a big tank you can put something from the freezer that's already sealed into a ziploc bag and float it in the tank. For a small tank just wait it out. Once the temp drops you can heat the room for now to keep the temp in the 70s

 

[bfpierce99]

Push some air across the tank by fan.
Don’t let it drop below normal if possible.
Always use the Inkbird or ranco controller for safety.
Remove the dead.
10% water change.

Did the heater stick in the on position?

yup