Oops I forgot to leave my AC on!

[AydenLincoln]

I just realized I turned my AC off before I left for vacation during a heat wave and my room happens to be the hottest in the house. Sadly not the first time I forget about this important thing and probably not the last time I’ll do it. The good news? Nothing died and everything seems to be fine as far as I can tell from the pictures and videos that were sent to me and the AC is back on. I also temporarily turned off the heater to see if I can drop my temp to where I keep it. Fish and corals are so resilient in my experience. So what the hottest or the coldest your reef tank has ever gotten and survived?

 

[Rjukan]

I just realized I turned my AC off before I left for vacation during a heat wave and my room happens to be the hottest in the house. Sadly not the first time I forget about this important thing and probably not the last time I’ll do it. The good news? Nothing died and everything seems to be fine as far as I can tell from the pictures and videos that were sent to me and the AC is back on. I also temporarily turned off the heater to see if I can drop my temp to where I keep it. Fish and corals are so resilient in my experience. So what the hottest or the coldest your reef tank has ever gotten and survived?

The tank water got up to 95°+ and everything was ok? That's awesome, enjoy your trip!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

I'm glad everything was ok, especially with the water getting that hot!

 

[AydenLincoln]

The tank water got up to 95°+ and everything was ok? That's awesome, enjoy your trip!

Yup it was less than a day and happened over a day so I think that helped.

 

[Australian_Reef]

I had a tank get to 65ish during a power cut in winter for several hrs and I believe all I lost was one hammer. I had no sps though.

 

[hoffmeyerz]

Wow, I'm glad everything pulled through for you!
Lost a hawk fish when our pet rabbit chewed through the temp probe wire and apex heated the tank up into the 90's thinking it was low.
Murderous rabbit!!

 

[PharmrJohn]

Wow. That's amazing. The Reef God's were looking down on ypu!

 

[ScottJ]

I forgot to turn the pumps and heater off in my small softies tank overnight once. It got down to about 65 because it was winter. Didn't loose anything though.

 

[VirginiaReefer]

this is why i love having smart thermostats. sorry you had to deal with this. hope it turns out alright.

 

[Clawfish]

I had something like this happen to a 29 gallon biocube about 10 years ago.
Except it was the light timer that malfunctioned and lights were on for 2 straight weeks. I was not as lucky as you. Total loss

 

[AydenLincoln]

I forgot to turn the pumps and heater off in my small softies tank overnight once. It got down to about 65 because it was winter. Didn't loose anything though.

I’ve had this happen to me too. Humans are forgetful and make mistakes.

 

[AlyciaMarie Verified Admin]

Oh, wow. Glad everything was okay! I haven't had anything like this happen to me yet, knocking on wood that it doesn't.

 

[Australian_Reef]

I forgot to turn the pumps and heater off in my small softies tank overnight once. It got down to about 65 because it was winter. Didn't loose anything though.

Heater stayed on but temp went to 65? Or heater was off?

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I will be surprised if you don’t get some coral bleaching when it’s all said and done. 95 for 2 days is going to be hard to walk away from unscathed.

If they do bleach, just try to feed them extra for awhile until they build their zooxanthellae #s back up (will take months)

 

[KStatefan]

The 85 for two days before that would have bothered me also.

 

[braaap]

You haven’t seen deaths yet. But you will. The coral aren’t surviving those temps unscathed. Your temps are really wild as well. Might want to try and stabilize that.

 

[smitten with ocean life]

wow. im glad for you. one time, i had a heater malfunction overnight and lost a ton of stuff!

 

[AydenLincoln]

You haven’t seen deaths yet. But you will. The coral aren’t surviving those temps unscathed. Your temps are really wild as well. Might want to try and stabilize that.

These are over a week also I had this happen before and nothing died this was like last year. I also don’t keep SPS for multiple reason but I’m a softie, mushroom, and LPS person. I also admittedly haven’t calibrated my temp probe in a very long time. In my defense and I worried about this in the beginning a few years ago a degree or two or less over 24 hours is not a huge deal. It was only when it was in the 90s that it wasn’t good. But like for the most part my tank fluctuates less than a degree sometimes two.

 

[Uncle99]

Is Hewbie OK?

 

[AydenLincoln]

Is Hewbie OK?

Yes Hewbie is fantastic. He’s in the downstairs tank in the basement that always remains constant and is in a nice cool room. This was my upstairs reef tank.