Nano Lagoon (Overheating Disaster)

My heater got stuck on for some reason and rose the water temps to above 90 degrees. Sticking my hand in the water felt like a warm bath. Yikes! Luckily most everything seems to be doing ok as I think I caught it just in time! Sadly I have not yet seen the firefish come out, but also haven't found a dead fish, nor have my ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites spiked, so I am hopeful!

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• aquarium
• saltwater
• fish
• tank
• sump
• refugium
• live
• sand
• rock
• nano
• lagoon
• aquarist
• crab
• shrimp
• coral
• LPS
• SPS
• soft
• hard
• anthropod
• copepod
• turbo
• snail
• hermit
• blenny
• cerith
• astrea
• API
• master
• test
• kit
• RO/DI
• RO
• DI
• reverse
• osmosis
• de
• inionization
• ionize
• zoanthid
• frogspawn
• toadsool
• leather
• button
• polyp
• chaetomorph
• reef
• chili
• ricordia
• green
• digitata

[LimeGreen871]

dude you got a bad tem reader the ones outside the tank are very bad go get a temp reeader for inside the tank

[LordoftheReef]

I actually recently got a reefkeeper elite for my upcoming 150g system and tested it on the nano. The temp sensor on the RKE was withing 2 degrees of what the stick on reading was. Good enough for me ;)

[LUCKY4908]

oh ok, so get the top of the line heater, ;)

[LordoftheReef]

HAHA. Unfortunately with what i read all heaters have the potential his problem. I need to just get a temp sensor that turns it off and be done with it.

[LUCKY4908]

dont rely on the temp sticker get the real temp on ebay it is cheap, digital, it dont cost you a lot of money not even $5 or less. good luck

[LordoftheReef]

Temp sticker wasn't the problem. The heater simply malfunctioned. I do have a glass therm in the sump now and it is remarkably close to what the sticker reads. For a quick glance I feel the sticker is fine.

[LordoftheReef]

The heater I had in there was for aquariums and was supposed to auto-shutoff, however it was stuck on. I have a temp gauge on the left siide of the aquarium. Not sure why you comment on reptile lights as I am not using any such thing on the aquarium. The sump light is just a light I picked up from the hardware store with a normal bulb in it which I am using to provide light to the macro algae. This produces very little heat.

[LordoftheReef]

I completely agree. It is summer here and crazy hot so the heater isn;t even plugged in and the temps stay normal now. I actually have a backup heater that I have been too lazy to drop in there. Will do so when the heat wave subsides.

[lordvad3r]

using the same small heater that failed .. not really a good idea .. use a good brand perhaps 25 watt or above .. a reliable brand and u wont have to keep watching it .

[LordoftheReef]

Yes. The heater is set to 78-80 degrees with a dial. It was still set to that point, yet it was on (there is a light indicator when it is on) well above that (over 90 degrees). I am using the same heater now and it has been working fine. I will eventually replace it, but for now I am just watching it like a hawk.