Temperature in tank reached 105 degrees

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IndyReef

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jun 12, 2002
Messages
116
Location
Westfield, Indiana
I love my son, but him turning the heater on the tank to 105, didnt make daddy happy.

killed off everything in the tank, fortunately not a lot in there at the moment. i think my tank is cycling again. i tested and my ammonia is through the roof. guessing that the high heat killed of the bacteria.

105 lasted for about 24 hours.

i did a 30% water change and got the temp back down. am i right thinking my tank is just cycling again?
 
Sorry about that. How along ago did you cycle it? The higher the heat the less oxygen in the tank. That`s what happened to the Livestock. Again sorry. Maybe after doing a few PWC`s you`ll be back to normal.
 
I agree with Mike, PWCs are a great place to start. The bacteria will more than likely be fine, it can withstand a lot more stress than our livestock.
 
The others have it all right. Things that died caused the spike and the bacteria can't process the large amount of ammonia quickly enough for it not to register on your test.
Sorry about your losses. :(
 
This is what I am worried about when my son gets older; I am not a salty (yet :p) but I would be very sad if he killed off my tank. I am sorry to hear about this.
 
My best advice (as a father of a youngster) is to involve your son in every aspect of your tank and teach him how important maintaining it is.
 
That is what I want to do, ^^^ I am excited to set my little guys' first tank up and let him pick out a fish!
 
he got an education on it. he thought it was a little chilly and wanted to make sure the fish were warm for the night.

my ammonia is back down and the nitrates and trites didnt spike. did give me a chance to do some new aquascaping :)
 
This has happened to us ours went to 115* For how long I do not know it happened over night some time , so it had to have been awhile since it got that hot ... I suffered only 2 losses a hammer and 1 small frag ... I dropped the temp to 86* in 15 minutes and then brought it down from there over 1 hour to 77* with fans and central ac (in the middle of winter :p) I set up ran 2 filters with carbon changing them out every 4 or so hours and did a 50% H20 change that evening ...I had no other losses ....Ours happened due to a heater malfunction after that I got a reefkeeper that also has a thermostat and will shut lights off and turn on a fan ...it will also keep the heater off in the event of a malfunction ... best $150 I ever spent ... I no longer worry about the issues of heater malfunction or bumping it and turning it up the dial is on the outside unlike others that are inside the tank ..and must be hands in tank to adjust .. since the RK2 (replaced with RKLite) I know that the thermostat in the RK watches as a "second" eye now this is not 100% fail proof as the probes do need replaced for the thermostat occasionaly but it gives you time to see it and also to "fix" it .... Not to hard to do if you keep an extra probe in stock for the inevitable failure of them ... This is in a nano so swings are harsher as well...it sucks and with all the equipment we use a good back up plan is a MUST ... Good luck
 
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