Well, I just got done burying most of my fish :(

[bleedingthought]

Thanks guys. Tank is very cloudy now and the extent of bleaching is more evident. We'll know more tomorrow.

One thing though, if your temp defaulted at 20F, why did the heaters kick on? :?

The controller's temp defaulted to 20F, so the heaters kicked on to try to raise the temp to 80F. Of course, it never got there since the controller was stuck on 20F, so the heater just kept going until the temp got to where it did.

Makes sense now.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry Len.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear about this Len.

Louey

 

[IceMan0124]

sorry man, I've had a slow cooked reef before too, and not to make you feel worse, but I'd remove the clam as it probably wont make it, mine looked fine, but werent very responsive, picked one up,gave it the smell test and the insides were already rotting

 

[NKT]

Yikes... I think UCLA beat SC today because they heard about your tank and wanted to cheer you up.

The heater you used doesn't have a built-in temperature regulator?

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry Len. That stinks.

Question though. What kind of heaters are you using? I have a Ranco controller for my temp and I also set the heater temp for 80. I am hoping if the Ranco ever sticks on at least the heaters thermostat would work as backup.

 

[Len]

I have a titanium heater without the controller. I'm going to get a controller on there now as redundancy. I'm also going to get a temperature monitor with alarm as a backup. I need to replace my controller, so getting the AC3 with built in alarm will be yet another means of detecting problems. It seems the very worst catastrophes in reefs past and present have to do with temperature malfunctions.

I just removed all the dead corals (about 10 lbs worth). But the good news is, the angel is alive. It slept all day and appeared about 5 minutes before I made this post. I don't blame it. Clam is still doing well (responsive and looking very normal). I don't know why some things got wacked the way they did and others seem to coast through the 104F temp.

 

[ChrisRD]

Wow, that sucks Len...

Best of luck with the recovery.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear about that buddy.

 

[Anonymous]

Len - hopefully your tank can make a full recovery.

I would send you my frags but you know that dreadful story. Send me old controller so I can nuke my tank.

 

[Anonymous]

That's awful Len. Hope you can bounce back from this.

 

[adinsxq]

 

[Anonymous]

Bad news on a Monday morning...


Any updates?

 

[Anonymous]

I am very sorry, Len. I know the sadness and guilt you must be feeling all to well. Chin up little buckaroo. :wink:

 

[Chubosco]

So very sorry Len. That just makes me sick. I really got tears in my eyes reading this. Damn I hate this. Thank God no fires and such. Still...

 

[Len]

Update: The tank seems to have stabilized. I've used a lot of carbon and mechanical filter in the last couple days. 50 gallons of water is being prepped for a water change this weekend and I think all should be back in order.

All told, mortalities are:
Cirrhilabrus earlei mated fairy wrasse pair
C.rhomboid fairy wrasse
Terelabrus wrasse
2 cleaner shrimps
1 fire shrimp
all my Blastomussa collection (about 20 colonies)
about 30 SPS colonies (all Acropora and Montipora plating/whirling variety only)

About a dozen SPS are bleached but alive. Things of notable interest which which survived include my captive-bred Elegance coral, the one T.maxima clam I own, all the micromussa sp., the peppermint shrimps, the Emerald crabs, the Black Tang, and the Joculator angel.

 

[Anonymous]

At least it wasn't a complete wipe out.

Glad to hear the elegance survived.

Not to be a smart ass, but I guess this sets your pictorial update back a few years, huh?

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

That is horrible. I am very sorry. I feel kind of sheepish offering any advice, but if you will permit me. Since it is so unusual to require a heater, I actually unplugged mine rather than risk an overheating event. But if you are worried and want to have a heater, get the lowest-wattage one possible, and it will be harder for it to raise your tank temperature more than a few degrees in a 24 hour period. Since all you really probably want it for is to maintain the temperature at night, it doesn't need to be very powerful.

 

[liquid]

Man, I'm sorry to hear it!

Shane

 

[Minh Nguyen]

I am very sorry to hear about your tank.