Central Iowa - it happened in February so... yeah, it gets cold. I'm always hot though so I keep our house at 68 year round, and that probably contributed to it.

After this happened I added the heater from my QT and bought a heater controller. Going to add a 2nd heater too, for extra backup. It was pretty frustrating because the heater that failed was only a month old! I'm trying to not let it bother me too much cuz you're right, things happen. I was still pretty gutted. My husband was the one that found the fish dead in the morning and he he wasn't happy having to be the one to break the news to me when I woke up. Ugh. I'm thinking of upgrading to a 75 or 90 gallon soon, so I think I'll try another BTA eventually, but will wait until I have the larger tank that would weather freak swings in temp or parameters better for extra stability's sake. I would really love to have a nem host my new clownfish one day - it's just one of those symbiotic relationships that I love. Though my captive bred clowns have no interest whatsoever in my LTA (I know they aren't usually a natural clown host but a girl can dream, lol).