Need encouragement after heater failure

[Indytraveler83]

It's been getting colder at night, and two nights ago my heater decided it couldn't take it anymore. Woke up yesterday to the tank at 67 degrees F. My elegance coral immediately bailed out and most of the zoas were closed up tight.

Fish were sluggish but alright. I fixed the problem immediately, but it took most of yesterday to get the temp back up. All fish seem fine, but most of my lps especially seem angry and closed.

I'm really upset about the elegance bailing. Don't need advice so much as just encouragement. (I'm running dual heaters now, with a backup on standby to help in the event of another failure) Not going to be dramatic and threaten to break down the tank or anything, but just really bummed out today...

 

[WIReefer]

This could be a sign to order a Apex or some type of controller!

 

[ca1ore]

Running redundant heaters really is a necessity IMO. Hobby heaters just aren’t that reliable and can fail both on and off.

 

[Indytraveler83]

This could be a sign to order a Apex or some type of controller!

An Apex is well above the budget for this system. I'm a "poor" reefer. Although if anyone has suggestions for a low cost monitor/controller I would certainly look into that.

 

[Weasel1960]

Hang in there. I don’t have a build yet but I would be amazed if there is anyone on this site that didn’t experience some sort of set back. You are making a correction by now having a backup and I have made a mental note of that as well. Good luck and I hope the corals improve.

 

[Weasel1960]

An Apex is well above the budget for this system. I'm a "poor" reefer. Although if anyone has suggestions for a low cost monitor/controller I would certainly look into that.

I think I am going to do RoboTank with ReefPi. Search the forums and the net. It’s open source build your own for less than half the price.

 

[WIReefer]

An Apex is well above the budget for this system. I'm a "poor" reefer. Although if anyone has suggestions for a low cost monitor/controller I would certainly look into that.

You can get a cheap apex classic that will suit your needs great I would check that out!

 

[KrisReef]

Inkbird makes an inexpensive heater controller. I use multiple heaters and a controller for redundancy.

Thanks for the reminder to check my own heater situation!

 

[Indytraveler83]

Running redundant heaters really is a necessity IMO. Hobby heaters just aren’t that reliable and can fail both on and off.

Totally agree now. Running a pair of 200W instead of a single 400W heater now. I've never had one fail "on," but I know it's possible, so I'm hoping this will prevent that from going off the rails too.

 

[Indytraveler83]

Inkbird makes an inexpensive heater controller. I use multiple heaters and a controller for redundancy.

Thanks for the reminder to check my own heater situation!

Good suggestion. I'd love an Apex, but this is a 90g system that came together for under $1,000. Saving up for a new house (and hopefully a much higher end reef for that house) and can't drop that much money on it. Now a $35 monitor is much more in my price range...

 

[GoVols]

It's okay not to feel okay

Just a reminder that we are all human beings, that comes with a understandable, natural emotion.

It's a lesson learned without being a failure. To me, failure would be tossing in the towel on something that you really have a desire to pursue over the long haul.

 

[Naturalreef]

Sorry that happened. I also went to two heaters for extra protection. You can grab a Finnex heater controller on amazon ~$50. It will alert you when your preset temp is above or below.

 

[Indytraveler83]

On Amazon, Inkbird has most of their controllers 20% off right now. Just snagged one that has what I need for $25 and it'll be here tomorrow. Much more peace of mind for that issue...

 

[HockeyRooster]

Inkbird makes great controllers. I am on my second and only because I wanted to go to a wifi version. The first one had cooling and heating functions. Both were less than $60 Canadian so you should pay less (assuming you’re in the US)
Don’t be discouraged. I had a an over heating issue that I totally made worse by quickly cooling. It caused me to kill most of my fish. It was horrible. Hang in there!!!

 

[Indytraveler83]

It's okay not to feel okay

Just a reminder that we are all human beings, that comes with a understandable, natural emotion.

It's a lesson learned without being a failure. To me, failure would be tossing in the towel on something that you really have a desire to pursue over the long haul.

I appreciate it. Coral is so unforgiving. One small mistake can wipe out hundreds of dollars in coral, even if immediately corrected. I love this hobby, but it's hard loosing money then having to throw in more money to fix it, and end up with a fixed system with less coral. Not for the faint of heart...

 

[Indytraveler83]

Inkbird makes great controllers. I am on my second and only because I wanted to go to a wifi version. The first one had cooling and heating functions. Both were less than $60 Canadian so you should pay less (assuming you’re in the US)
Don’t be discouraged. I had a an over heating issue that I totally made worse by quickly cooling. It caused me to kill most of my fish. It was horrible. Hang in there!!!

Thankfully I don't even need cooling functions. Living in a cooler part of the country with a good A/C, my home never threatens 74 degrees or more at any point.

Again I love the encouragement. It sucks. I'm just hoping the losses stop now and don't add up in the days/weeks to come.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I always say " Buy the best you Cannot afford". I recommend a titanium Heater with the inkbird controller- Never has let me down.

 

[Indytraveler83]

I always say " Buy the best you Cannot afford". I recommend a titanium Heater with the inkbird controller- Never has let me down.

Funny thing is that it was a titanium heater that failed. Off brand, so I probably shouldn't have trusted it. But still...

At the moment I've got a pair of glass Fluval 200W heaters (emergency run to PetSmart, it's all I could manage) with an off brand 250W as a backup from and old tank I tore down. The Inkbird will give me a lot more peace of mind.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Funny thing is that it was a titanium heater that failed. Off brand, so I probably shouldn't have trusted it. But still...

At the moment I've got a pair of glass Fluval 200W heaters (emergency run to PetSmart, it's all I could manage) with an off brand 250W as a backup from and old tank I tore down. The Inkbird will give me a lot more peace of mind.

I only use finnex and ViaAqua brands. Finnex is my first choice

 

[Indytraveler83]

Bit of an update-

I lost a bangaii cardinal, it took a nosedive into a carpet anemone that happily killed it. Not sure if that was age or temp related (bit of both perhaps?).

The polyp from the elegance looks happy where it landed at the moment, but I know there's no real chance of success with it.

Zoas are partially open and angry, acans are tightly closed up.

On the good side, my leather is fully open and my nearly irreplaceable hammer colony seems unaffected. All other fish seem fine and the snails are moving around again today.