Heater stuck in on position!!!

[Diamond1]

Bad day in my 10 gallon nano. After fighting hair algea and cyano in the tank for the last 2 months then getting a handle on that and thinking things were looking up for the tank, I had a heater stick in the on position and raise my tanks temp up over 86 degrees overnight. Not sure how high it got because my thermometer doesn't register above 86. But it got hot enough to destroy 3 of my corals so far, and the rest are not happy. The first thing I did was get a fan on the tank and start to bring the temp back down. As of right now the tank is back down to around 79 degrees. I have a bag full of carbon running in the HOB filter and I am in the process of making another 5 gallons of water for a big water change. Water is looking quite cloudy from my Xenia and Frogspawn deteriorating.

I need to check the rest of my parameters and see if anything is terribly skewed. So far the worst of it is the Xenia and Frogspawn both look to be a loss. It also looks like my monti digi is a goner as well, it is starting to bleach. I might try to frag the top of it but I'm not hopeful. Other than that all the other corals in the tank except for my caulestria are showing really poor polyp extension and are generally not happy but none of them are showing signs of instant death like the Xenia and frogspawn. Here's a couple before and after shots of the two worst casualties so far.

Before

After

Before

After

Should I try to remove whats left of either of these 2 corals or should I leave them in the tank and hope that maybe something of them will grow back?

 

[pickupman66]

Yes. Pull them. They are gone

 

[Defect]

Sorry to hear. This is one of the reasons I am going to change out my heater every 6 months.

 

[rayn]

Sorry to hear. This is one of the reasons I am going to change out my heater every 6 months.

What size heater are you using on what size tank?

Diamond, sorry to hear. That really sucks.

 

[Diamond1]

The worst part about this was I was going to grab a Digital Aquatics controller next month so I could be sure this wouldn't happen.

 

[Diamond1]

It was a 50 watt heater and the tank is a 10 gallon

 

[vic67]

I would pull the Xenia but leave it in the Frogspawn. If there's any flesh left it's possible that it will make a comeback.

 

[menglish]

That sucks!!!!!!!!!
I do wonder where you are located. I have a 90G mix reef and ever summer I take the heater out of the tank, clean it out and store it away. I put it back in in the fall when the temp start to go down. With my AC on, my tank temp rance from 77 to 80 degrees. Would doing something like that, not work for you?

 

[El Chavito]

Wow. Sorry about losses.

 

[Diamond1]

I have pulled both the xenia and frogspawn and did about a 65% water change. Checked all my parameters before the water change and the ph was a little low (it's usually around 8.1) but before the water change it was 7.8. So far no added ammonia or nitrates so maybe I will get lucky and not have a mini cycle to deal with. So far so good.
Parameters are:
Calcium-450
Mag-1325
Nitrates-0
phos-0
Amonia-0
nitrites-0
ph-8.0

Now all I can do is wait to see if the rest of my corals recover and start opening back up. After the water change I notice that my montis were showing some regular polyp extension and about 2/3 of my zoas were opening back up. Most of the other softies A nepthia and a bunch of different shrooms are still not wanting to expand and open up.

 

[Prozium]

sorry to hear about that.
The cure isn't to buy new heaters every so often, what you should get is a controller or a digital heater like the Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm Heater.

The reason the old style heaters(glass tube style) stick ON some times is that they are mechanical in function, a little metal strip touches another to put it into the on position when the temp drops below the set temp(I think I remember the difference in temp setting being distance from each other.) and can create an arc. So, it basically welds the 2 strips together and becomes permanently ON.

 

[Velodog2]

Nope to the Neotherm. There is another thread on here describing how the plastic casing has begun splitting open on these. They are too new. Go with the ebo-jager and use a controller. Is the best, most time-tested solution. Set the heater thermostat a little above the upper limit of the controller. That allows the controller to turn the heater on and off. If the controller sticks on the heater theromostat will limit the temp climb. Since the contact switch in the heater thermostat is always closed in normal operation there is no arcing and no welding.

 

[ReeferRookie]

I change my heater regularly. Once a year maybe two

 

[Adam Baggett]

I use an Apex tank controller. It has a temp probe and will shut the heater off at a specific temp. I know the are a little costly. But the Apex Jr. Is only about 200 - 300 $'s. You have to weigh up the cost of losing your fish and coral to the cost of the controller. Me I would lose 1000's so it is worth it. Plus they can do so much more for you. For example my Apex texts and emails me if there is an issue and with ApexFusion ( web interface ) I can log into it from work to see what it going on.

 

[goldenboy]

Hello

I would recommend the aqua logic digital temperature controller. It's also call the Ranco Etc. There is a digital temperature probe and a single or duel out let for heater and chiller. Let's say your temperature is busted or you have a broken chiller. This unit will turn it on and off for you. It's also used for industrial farming they cost from 100-200 bucks new. I think you can pick one up from Aqua Exotic from Matt. He has a few used ones for cheap since he's closing up shop. Probably 50 bucks or less. I just bought the two out let version from him and running 900 watt heaters and works great. Super simple set up.

Good luck