Heat Wave hits tank!

[RAV-65]

hi all,

the following incident happened to me and would like to share it to send a reminder/warning/caution to fellow reefers here...

Here goes :

Came back from Iwarna last night happily with 3 colonies of SPS and a empty pocket ( not that I'm happy I got an empty pocket! )... went on to acclimatise the 3 colonies...

After placing the new corals in my tank, I decided to shift 2 of my maxijets to hopefully "improve" the flow in my tank ( still having difficulties in getting the right flow setup in my tank )...

At 8am in the morning, was woken up by my maid that my "pump" dropped! Rushed out of my room to realise that the two maxijets has detached from the glass and has caused a huge big hole in my sandbed! to make things worse, I'm using a plenum system in my tank!

Quickly switched off the maxijets and in my morning stupor, I just flicked and swtiched off the whole row of switch ( why the hell did I do that?! )

Den proceeded to cover back my sandbed and also to savage my little rics garden now under a sand dune caused by the runaway maxis!

Went back to sleep after about 30mins and decided to leave the maxijets off in case it detaches from the glass again! Wanted to come back home later in the day to see if it's still secure...

Came home about 9.30pm just now and proceeded to inspect my tank... hmm... my cyanrinas seems a little stressed and is not blooming... so is my pratas, so are my cateye corals.... My rics also seem shrivelled... u mean they haven't got over being buried under the sand??

Continue to inspect my SPS... seems like the polyps extension isn't very good today... can it be I overdosed the amino acids this morning?! Hmmmm....

I was getting worried... noticed that one of the maxijets have detached from the glass again! Damn!! proceeded to try to secure it to the glass again and when I dipped my hand into the water... hey! the water abit warm leh.... took a look at my thermometer... it's 33.7C...... HEY!!! it's 33.7C!!!! wat the !@#$%^&!!!

U mean the !@#$%^&* weather so HOT meh?!?!!?

Den it struck me, the damn chiller broke down ah?? did a check, the @#$%^&* chiller is not on!!! wat happened?!!!! Hey the switch is not on!!! who the heck switched off my chiller?!?!?! @#$%^@#$%^@#$%^!!

Eh... dun tell me........................

It turned out that in my morning hangover, and when I was super kan cheong over the hole in my sandbed caused by the maxijets, I've switched off my chiller... attempted murder and assasination of my own reef!

Okay, it's a desperate situation and it requires a desperate remedy.... switched off all the lights, switch on the chiller, robbed my refrigerator of all the ice in there and dumped it into my sump.... Also bought a bag of ice from the 7-11 downstairs and chucked the whole bag into my sump, turned on a standing fan to blow directly at my sump!

45 minutes later, the temp is down to 30.3C, about 1 degree every 15mins..... And I started typing this thread... still waiting for my tank to cool down to discover if there are any confirmed casualties....

Lesson to be learnt :

1) Always make sure u clean the glass before attaching powerheads with those rubber suckers to the glass! And make sure it's secured!!

2) Use masking tape to stick over your chiller and chiller pump switch so that you would never switch them of accidentally. Alternatively, attach a live wire to the switch so that you get electricuoted if you try to switch it off.

3) If you can afford, get some device that would cut off the lights the moment yout tank's temp hits a certain level ( tink I gotta find this device liao ).

4) Always make sure you have lotsa ice at home if you dun have a 7-11 downstairs!

It's now about 1.5 hours since I started my emergency procedures and the temp stands at 29.1C...

Will continue this story once I assessed the damaged....

[roidan]

condolences....

but sadly you are not the first and neither will u be the last.....

many have forgotten before you did and many will forget in time to come as well.

i just said the above not too long ago....sigh

another similar incident below

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32438

[Clownfish]

hi bro RAV-65,

seems like the heat wave hit u too!

mine seems alright liao....

hopefully no casualties on ur side too!

bro roidan realli noes how to console ppl with his prophecy

i hope no more of such incident will occur on other pple too

[RAV-65]

condolences....

but sadly you are not the first and neither will u be the last.....

many have forgotten before you did and many will forget in time to come as well.

i just said the above not too long ago....sigh

another similar incident below

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=32438

Thanxs bro... haven't confirmed if got any casualties... but my case definitely worse than clownfish... mine hit 33C... but luckily only for about 2 hours as my tank lights come on at about 7pm... The 2x250W I'm using really cooked the water...

[RAV-65]

hi bro RAV-65,

seems like the heat wave hit u too!

mine seems alright liao....

hopefully no casualties on ur side too!

bro roidan realli noes how to console ppl with his prophecy

i hope no more of such incident will occur on other pple too

Bro,

that's why I'm sharing this experience here... even if I become a laughing stock... hope I can become an example to others... I used to tink that such things happens to OTHER PEOPLE.... Well, I became other people's other people...

[kschew1498]

Bro...you consider lucky liao......my power head also detached recently in the night........luckily my Mdm woke up to get a drink and saw the whole tank so blur........to make things worst I was travelling during that time......she frantically attached back the power head and used a long pair of chopstick to dig out my corals which are buried under the sand......however very unfortunately she misses my 3 favourite Ricordea They were all melted when I came home the following night.....sigh!

I cant blame her.....she woke up in the night to save my corals.

Lesson learn, clean the glass frequently!!!!

[wa_lanz]

my condolences..... hopefully everything is alright vincent... u just spent so much stocking up....

[roidan]

bro clownfish, i hope we dun see another case soon....sigh....

Rav, either u get a temp controller like you plan or u can set up a 2nd cooling loop to take over the cooling duties if the main chiller konks out....

the temp controller will prevent the MHs from 'boiling' the water but the heat from pumps may still push the temperature above comfortable limits....

if you can get your hand on another chiller within your budget as a backup, go for it

[Clownfish]

Thanxs bro... haven't confirmed if got any casualties... but my case definitely worse than clownfish... mine hit 33C... but luckily only for about 2 hours as my tank lights come on at about 7pm... The 2x250W I'm using really cooked the water...

heng 2 hrs of lights on nia... tink shld still be alright... tink ur corals can pull thru 1... dun worry so much

[RAV-65]

About 2 hours after the commencement of the emergency procedures, the temp now reads 28.7C...

Peered into my dark lightless tank and so far dun see any obvious casualties... praying hard that the corals have made it through...

[Terryz_]

Hope there is no casualties....

[Clownfish]

bro clownfish, i hope we dun see another case soon....sigh....

Rav, either u get a temp controller like you plan or u can set up a 2nd cooling loop to take over the cooling duties if the main chiller konks out....

the temp controller will prevent the MHs from 'boiling' the water but the heat from pumps may still push the temperature above comfortable limits....

if you can get your hand on another chiller within your budget as a backup, go for it

hmm... i wonder if there is any thermometer that can sound/buzz off if a threshold temp is reached?

maybe that way, we can be warned insteadly too

[roidan]

got...i saw in sim lim tower basement..

some kinda digital thermometer that has built in alarm at preset temperature

but then again, for a reefer who has no one at home during the day..the alarm can beep forever and it's not going to help much..hehe

my personal preference to deal with cooling mishaps is to set up the 2nd cooling loop with its own feed pump.....during normal days, the backup chiller is not in operation as it is set at a higher point than the main chiller....only when the main chiller konks out or the main chiller pump konks out, then the backup chiller will kick it when the temperature starts to rise..hehe

[Clownfish]

got...i saw in sim lim tower basement..

some kinda digital thermometer that has built in alarm at preset temperature

but then again, for a reefer who has no one at home during the day..the alarm can beep forever and it's not going to help much..hehe

my personal preference to deal with cooling problems is to set up the 2nd cooling loop with its own feed pump.....during normal days, the backup chiller is not in operation as it is set at a higher point than the main chiller....only when the main chiller konks out or the main chiller pump konks out, then the backup chiller will kick it when the temperature starts to rise..hehe

but thot it might be useful for pple like me with mum at home and esp when i got no money get backup chiller mah

at least i noe it sounds when i get home or when i woke up next mornin... not to the extent of realising it after 2 days

hmm.. tink i will go check out sim lim tower when i free... thanx for the info

[RAV-65]

Bro...you consider lucky liao......my power head also detached recently in the night........luckily my Mdm woke up to get a drink and saw the whole tank so blur........to make things worst I was travelling during that time......she frantically attached back the power head and used a long pair of chopstick to dig out my corals which are buried under the sand......however very unfortunately she misses my 3 favourite Ricordea They were all melted when I came home the following night.....sigh!

I cant blame her.....she woke up in the night to save my corals.

Lesson learn, clean the glass frequently!!!!

Bro,

at least she helped to savage most of the corals... already saved alot of money liao...

[RAV-65]

bro clownfish, i hope we dun see another case soon....sigh....

Rav, either u get a temp controller like you plan or u can set up a 2nd cooling loop to take over the cooling duties if the main chiller konks out....

the temp controller will prevent the MHs from 'boiling' the water but the heat from pumps may still push the temperature above comfortable limits....

if you can get your hand on another chiller within your budget as a backup, go for it

Thanxs for the advice bro!

[roidan]

ya...for those with parents, maids and others at home while they are out working...the gadget will definitely help...afterall, i dun think it cost alot..

another gadget to consider is a water detection gadget..u can place it near the floor around the tank and if it senses water...there will be an alarm.....alert you before u wake up the next day with a flooded place

many interesting gadgets out there

[RAV-65]

ya...for those with parents, maids and others at home while they are out working...the gadget will definitely help...afterall, i dun think it cost alot..

another gadget to consider is a water detection gadget..u can place it near the floor around the tank and if it senses water...there will be an alarm.....alert you before u wake up the next day with a flooded place

many interesting gadgets out there

yup... i have 2 of these devices... can get it at Homefix...

[ervine]

yup... i have 2 of these devices... can get it at Homefix...

Oooo.. how much? I also wanna know...

[RAV-65]

Oooo.. how much? I also wanna know...

Cant really remember, but less than $20 each...

[RAV-65]

Turned on lights back on.... still no signs of RTN on my SPS... fishes seem okay... rest of the LPS okay except my cateye and one of my cyanrinas...

[ervine]

i too recently had a heat scare... came back and I though everything was fine... but then when I touched the water it seemed warmer than usual.. but my chiller temperature was reading 28... which is fine for me..

Then only after a while did I realise that the chiller pump was no longer functioning... and coz I dumped my old digital thermometer I didn't know the true temperature of the tank... not to mention one of my adapters for the DC cooling fan konked out...

luckily I din lose much before I rectified the problem... had to cool the tank with my room's airconditioning!

Prevention is better than cure man...

[bonjour2]

Bro RAV-65 , u wouldn't believe this , when i read yr thread 2hrs ago , i thought such thing wont happen to me , guess what i did some maintenance on my sump tank and when i restart the system 2 hrs ago, i forgotton to switch back on my chiller! Abt 30 mins ago , i decided to check on my tank and realised chiller no led light , then realised that chiller was off for 2 hrs tank temp rose to 31.

Moral of story , never be complacent. Learnt my lesson.

[valerossi]

Bros, that is a very good example for all of us....hopefully all ur coral is okie....

[wil_lee76]

hope ur stuff are all OK!!