Heat wave!

[rthompson14]

So my temp was a little low....74, heater set on 78, so turn heater to 82 to raise temp....holy crap i get home today and its 86.5 in my tank....my poor fishes and corals, i just unplugged that faulty heater off and drop in 3 ice cubes to try to bring down the temp....fish seem ok. my one coral is closed up, hope its alright. its only 60 outside and heater isnt even on inside yet 0.0

 

[rthompson14]

im so lucky they didnt die. i have an ice pack floating trying to bring the temp down slowly, about 60 gallons of water in there

 

[DianaKay]

Very sorry to hear this Hope all turns out OK....keep us posted please.
With good circulation in the tank that temp might not have done any damage. Just very glad you caught it in time. I've heard temp in coral reefs sometimes exceeds 85° So fingers crossed :fingerx: that all is good. Don't drop temp too low too fast....SLOW reduction is best.

 

[rthompson14]

Ok, so I decided to give my heater one last chance, I have it set to 80 right on the button. I picked up a digital thermometer.....currently says its 79.3. My heater hasnt kicked on yet but closely monitoring it. I'm assuming it has to be working fine now, because I haven't put a heater in my spare saltwater bucket yet, and when I stick my hand in there its definately colder.

On another quick note.....what is a normal level of Nitrate. I tested and I am at 5.0ppm....should I do a water change or something. It's been 5 days since my last 10% change, is this a normal level? Thanks

 

[DianaKay]

Did all fish/corals survive?
I'd be thinking that setting your heater at about 77° would be a better test. I keep my tank at 77°-78° with my chiller setting. That way if it gets to 80° you will know that it's over heating.
Your nitrates are still in acceptable range UNLESS you are planning to keep SPS corals, then you'd need to not let it start climbing any higher. LPS do good with a low nitrate level.
Bigger weekly WC should bring nitrates down tho. Say 20% weekly & if it starts staying down reduce WC percentage.
Just be sure & keep a close watch on that heater.