100degf water temp!!!

newtankman

newtankman

Member
I came home Sunday after being gone for 4hrs and my 29gal was at 100degf and the heater was still running!!! :scared:
I unplugged the heater, started a 20% water change with my water reserve that I have made-up all the time, and placed a sealed bag of ice in the tank.

This slowly got the temperature was down to 85degf in 2.5hours and in 4.5 hours it down to 78degf.
I lost two blue legged crabs and an engineer goby by the time I found it.

Could I have done anything different?
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
you got to do what you got to do. Heater malfunction. What type of heater was it brand and wattage? I would have done the same thing.
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by newtankman
I came home Sunday after being gone for 4hrs and my 29gal was at 100degf and the heater was still running!!! :scared:
I unplugged the heater, started a 20% water change with my water reserve that I have made-up all the time, and placed a sealed bag of ice in the tank.

This slowly got the temperature was down to 85degf in 2.5hours and in 4.5 hours it down to 78degf.
I lost two blue legged crabs and an engineer goby by the time I found it.

Could I have done anything different?


Alot of people I have spoken with and the countless threads I have read, have all said to use two smaller heaters. This way if one malfuntions it won't throw the system off as much. Sorry to hear of your loss.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by Vpotts28
Alot of people I have spoken with and the countless threads I have read, have all said to use two smaller heaters. This way if one malfuntions it won't throw the system off as much. Sorry to hear of your loss.
that usually helps prevent a cooldown, but wouldn't help with an overheat situation. putting in the ice and doing the water change and bringing down the temp that fast may have caused some stress, but what would have happened if you hadn't i guess is the question. you did the right thing i'd say.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by newtankman
This slowly got the temperature was down to 85degf in 2.5hours and in 4.5 hours it down to 78degf.
This is not very slow. Most reef animals can handle fast increases in temperature but very few can handle fast drops in temp. It might not have made any difference but adding cold water and ice is probably not the right thing to do. Most of the animals that die in an overheat situation die from the rapid temperature drop, not the increase in temp.
Adding as many airstones as you can until the temperature gradually lowers is a much better remedy. The main difficulty with warm water is the lack of Oxygen so increasing water flow at the surface can help.
If it were me I would have let the tank cool to 90F one the first day and 85F on the second day and then a degree per day until at the regular temperature.
Originally Posted by renogaw
that usually helps prevent a cooldown, but wouldn't help with an overheat situation. putting in the ice and doing the water change and bringing down the temp that fast may have caused some stress, but what would have happened if you hadn't i guess is the question. you did the right thing i'd say.
Multiple heaters certainly do help with overheating situations.
Using a controller is also very beneficial but it's a lot of money for a 29. It would be worth it IMO.
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by renogaw
that usually helps prevent a cooldown, but wouldn't help with an overheat situation. putting in the ice and doing the water change and bringing down the temp that fast may have caused some stress, but what would have happened if you hadn't i guess is the question. you did the right thing i'd say.

Sorry I took the original question wrong. I thought he was asking a question in hindsight. Good to know on the overheat situation.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
This is not very slow. Most reef animals can handle fast increases in temperature but very few can handle fast drops in temp. It might not have made any difference but adding cold water and ice is probably not the right thing to do. Most of the animals that die in an overheat situation die from the rapid temperature drop, not the increase in temp.
Adding as many airstones as you can until the temperature gradually lowers is a much better remedy. The main difficulty with warm water is the lack of Oxygen so increasing water flow at the surface can help.
If it were me I would have let the tank cool to 90F one the first day and 85F on the second day and then a degree per day until at the regular temperature.
Multiple heaters certainly do help with overheating situations.
Using a controller is also very beneficial but it's a lot of money for a 29. It would be worth it IMO.

the way i'm reading vpotts is advise to prevent a cool down. but if there are 2 heaters in a tank and one of them doesnt turn off, how will having 2 in there prevent an overheating?
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Originally Posted by renogaw
the way i'm reading vpotts is advise to prevent a cool down. but if there are 2 heaters in a tank and one of them doesnt turn off, how will having 2 in there prevent an overheating?
A 50 watt heater is not going to be able to get a 29 gallon tank up to 100 degrees but a 200 watt heater can. There is a chance that 2 heaters could malfuntion at the same time but it's a very low probability.
It doesn't prevent overheating but it lessens the effect of a stuck heater which is a big help. It also gives you a lot more time to notice the situation. A single heater can overheat the tank in an hour but a smaller heater will take many hours to have the same effect. On larger tanks it could take days for a malfunctioning heater to raise the temp. The more time it takes the better chance you have of noticing it.
 
renogaw

renogaw

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
A 50 watt heater is not going to be able to get a 29 gallon tank up to 100 degrees but a 200 watt heater can. There is a chance that 2 heaters could malfuntion at the same time but it's a very low probability.
It doesn't prevent overheating but it lessens the effect of a stuck heater which is a big help. It also gives you a lot more time to notice the situation. A single heater can overheat the tank in an hour but a smaller heater will take many hours to have the same effect. On larger tanks it could take days for a malfunctioning heater to raise the temp. The more time it takes the better chance you have of noticing it.
i learned my something new today
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by Bang Guy
A 50 watt heater is not going to be able to get a 29 gallon tank up to 100 degrees but a 200 watt heater can. There is a chance that 2 heaters could malfuntion at the same time but it's a very low probability.
It doesn't prevent overheating but it lessens the effect of a stuck heater which is a big help. It also gives you a lot more time to notice the situation. A single heater can overheat the tank in an hour but a smaller heater will take many hours to have the same effect. On larger tanks it could take days for a malfunctioning heater to raise the temp. The more time it takes the better chance you have of noticing it.

That was exactly my thinking. The wattage on the smaller heater isn't going to provide enough energy to overheat a tank it is not designed for, well not nearly as quick as a larger heater.
 
earlybird

earlybird

Active Member
Originally Posted by Vpotts28
That was exactly my thinking. The wattage on the smaller heater isn't going to provide enough energy to overheat a tank it is not designed for, well not nearly as quick as a larger heater.
Right and if you have 2 heaters and one craps out you already have a backup.
Question, when using 2 heaters do you set them both at the same temp or do you keep one a little lower?
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by earlybird
Right and if you have 2 heaters and one craps out you already have a backup.
Question, when using 2 heaters do you set them both at the same temp or do you keep one a little lower?

I still think you have to set them at the same temp. That way if one does crap out on you it is not going to be a larger fluctuation. I would think a 2-4 degree swing either way is going to add more unnecassary stress to the inhabitants.
 
mr. green

mr. green

Member
On the topic of controllers, do you have to go expensive or do the less expensive models work just as well? I have found some less expensive units and I plan on getting two of them for my future heaters.
 
newtankman

newtankman

Member
This is my first problem resulting in the death of one of my little friends and I feel awful.

I have never felt so discouraged. :mad:
I will look at getting two small heaters to replace the one and will remember the air stones in the future. I guess I just went into panic mode before thinking it through, I just knew that I needed to get it down but not too fast.
 
tahoetanks

tahoetanks

Member
Originally Posted by newtankman
This is my first problem resulting in the death of one of my little friends and I feel awful.

I have never felt so discouraged. :mad:
I will look at getting two small heaters to replace the one and will remember the air stones in the future. I guess I just went into panic mode before thinking it through, I just knew that I needed to get it down but not too fast.

I did this myself at the beginning. Temp probe fell out of tank in the middle of night. I put frozen dacquiri cans in ziploc and floated (with the water change) I too panicked. Then when I figured out that I over reacted, I really panicked because I had no dacquiri mix left.
 
vpotts28

vpotts28

Active Member
Originally Posted by tahoetanks
I did this myself at the beginning. Temp probe fell out of tank in the middle of night. I put frozen dacquiri cans in ziploc and floated (with the water change) I too panicked. Then when I figured out that I over reacted, I really panicked because I had no dacquiri mix left.


The question is what is the best procedure? You turn the power off to your heater and let it fall on its own :notsure: I would assume that you are going to kill more by doing this than by putting something in the tank that will cool if off alot faster. I know we don't want to lose any of our little friends but two is better than 10..
 
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