My reef is cold!!!

[Pip Tazo]

Looks like I had a power failure at 6am in the garage where I have my fish tank.

During that time, between 6am and 12:40pm, my temp took a plunge from 72 degrees to 60 degrees.

After that, it has steadily warmed up again and is currently at 69 degrees and climbing.

All the fish seem to be ok, but the zoas are still closed and the montipora and birdnests corals are closed.

Am I looking at a complete loss of my corals? =(

(they are all small frags on the plugs still)

 

[Scooterman]

Only time will tell but I'd expect some loss but not everything. Be prepared for some water change. What happened to your heaters?

 

[mfinn]

Bummer.
Bad time of year for the power to go out. My power went out last night for a very short time.
You may get lucky and save some, but as Scooterman said, it will take some time to see what lives.

 

[Pip Tazo]

Yea, bad timing on the power failure, but maybe it was caused by the heaters working so hard?

Any suggestions on higher powered water heaters made for cold seasons? I know the heaters I use are made to be used at room temp and are definitely being overworked. but I wasn't expecting below freezing temps for so many days.

 

[trido]

I have three 250 heaters on my tank all year long. yesterday I noticed they were struggling to keep temps where I like them and I added a fourth 300 watt heater. Temps are holding steady 78 but the heaters have not turned off in three days.

I'm wondering why your temp went from 72 down to 60. Is 72 the temp you keep your reef at regularly?

 

[Pip Tazo]

they are usually at 76-78.. but it has been a progressive drop the past couple of week. I added 2 more 300-watt heaters last week, it helped a little, but then it got colder!

 

[Pip Tazo]

 

[trido]

76-78 is good. I guess you're going to need to build some walls in your garage to keep the heat in. Or talk your wife into bringing the tank in the house.

 

[trido]

I have a couple more heaters if you need to borrow them until this cold snap is over. I also have a 1500 watt space heater if you think that would help.
I'n not too far from you.

 

[Pip Tazo]

Way ahead of you, the negotiations are underway. but they started a few years ago! haha.

so far I have been offered many settlement deals such as a stipend for more heaters and a chiller for hot summer months.

 

[Pip Tazo]

Thanks for the offer, it is nice to know there is help nearby when needed!. I will keep that in mind, the weather report says we are suppose to get above freezing this week, so hopefully my heaters will keep up. It is my suspicion that the excess amount of heaters blew the circuit in the first place, so I don't want to add any more burden.