Entire Aquarium Died--Heater Broke

[Iowa Clown]

So, I'm posting this more because I have what I think (?) is a rhetorical question, but does anyone know at what temperature saltwater fish can survive to? I just returned home from a two-week vacation to a really depressing sight: my entire 40-gallon aquarium is dead. I had two clowns (one a platinum percula), two Chinese zebra gobies, a firefish, and a royal gamma. I'm really depressed. It's obvious the heater broke while I was away because the temperature is too low to be read on the thermometer (I had it the heater set for 78 degrees, which is what the thermometer always read before). Worse, besides the fact that my heater obviously broke, I put my house temperature down to 55 degrees while I left to conserve energy . . . so I'm pretty sure that water is 55 degrees.

I'm obviously really upset about this, and really, I'm just trying to make sure that this is what killed them because, if I restart this tank, I definitely do not want to do this again. Incidentally, I had an automatic feeder set up for while I was gone, and it's still working, so they didn't starve to death. Any advice you could give me would be appreciated. Also, if I do set up a new tank, I would also like a recommendation on water heaters. This one that broke is only a year old. Is it normal for them to break so soon? Thanks.

 

[lmforbis]

Not sure how low they can go but I've gotten shipments where the water dropped to the mid 60 s because of poor packing and all fish were gone. They is the primary reason that I get fish arriving DOA.
In the future I'd use two smaller heaters. That way if one dies the temp. won't go so low and on the other side if one gets stuck on it wil take longer to get too hot, hopefully you check the temp often enough that you catch it before that happens.
For future vacations I'd keep the house temp normal and maybe have some one come over and check the tank.

 

[bang guy]

Yeah, it was definitely the temperature drop. Below 60 can't be tolerated by most of the tropical saltwater fish for very long.

This is why I always recommend two smaller heaters instead of one large heater.

 

[Iowa Clown]

Thanks for your advice--I really appreciate it. I'm going to get two small heaters from now on and leave the house temperature up if I leave the house again. Thanks for your help, and I won't make the same mistake again . . . though I do wish this learning curve hadn't been so steep. I had all of those fish for over a year, and I feel terrible that I killed them all.

 

[bang guy]

You didn't kill them. It was an accident.

The reason for the two half-sized heater is also because sometimes heaters fail in the ON position. This can eventually cook a tank if you have one single large heater.