Almost Nuked Tank!!!

[SHOmuchFUN]

My dog saved the reef today... Thankfully, I went home for lunch to let Anni out and feed her. Upon looking at the tank, and checking the PH (because of the newly added reactor) I noticed that the temperature in the tank read almost 88 degrees!!!

I panicked... I felt the water and it was definitely bathwater warm. I opened up the cabinet and felt the reactor (cause I noticed the mag was running warm) and it was definitely warm, but not HOT. I then checked the heater, pulled it out, and sure as ****, it was on and HOT. I took it out of the sump and heard it crackling, so I dove for the plug and unplugged it immediately! It must've stuck on! :eek1:

So I took out the heater, opened the canopy, and left one of the fans running over it. I had to come back here for work, so I put the 150w heater in the sump, left the canopy open with a fan running. I'm nervous as all hell, cause now the system is really unstable. The 150w heater is probably not enough to keep the tank warm if the fan and the open canopy are too much in the cold this afternoon... And the heater is definitely *NOT* the most reliable heater and could just as easily stick as the other 300watt heater (but I guess, wouldn't nuke it quite as quickly).

So, now I'm off for a controller... :mad2: I think I'll just get the digital aquatics reef-keeper for now, to run my heater, fans, and lights, then maybe trade up for an aqua-controller down the road. Someone, PLEASE ease my nerves and let me know that everything will be alright and I did the right things! I guess all I can do now is cross my fingers and order a new heater and controller OVERNIGHT...

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[SHOmuchFUN]

Well... Through Championlighting.com, I ordered the digital reefkeeper and a ProHeat 350w titanium heater. It's coming from Pennsylvania, so I decided to save the $40 on overnight shipping and I'm having it shipped just standard ground service which should only take a few days (here by the end of the week).

[tsalter]

Why not get a bunch of little thermometers? A couple 2-3 100's instead? a controller is cool too. What type thermo stuck on for you?

I guess it doesn't matter with a controller if you have one big one and it would be able to controll your props. I mean fans. :)

T

[SHOmuchFUN]

I thought about the many little thermometers... I don't really have a definitive answer as to why I ruled it out. I guess I just didn't want to buy 3 heaters and run into similar problems, or have one leak electricity and wonder which one it was, etc. etc. There is only a few dollars difference between wattages. The 250w was $25 and I think the 350w was $27.95.

A medusa is close to $200 and a Ranco is over $100. I figure I buy a $28 heater and a $200 controller that also times my halides, T-5s, and can run my fans, is a decent preventative measure/failsafe. If you buy any of those three thermometers and one of THOSE sticks on, there is nothing that will shut that one off and I'm in no better position than I was before, except that the heat creep will be slower...

I dunno.

[SHOmuchFUN]

Sorry, the heater was a 300w proquatics hydro-stat or something. A typical "set it and forget it" heaters. I opted to go titanium this time as well.

[SHOmuchFUN]

Oh, and since I moved the heater from the nano into the main display, how do you think the nano will do without a heater? Should I just leave the light on 24/7 now?

Grrrrr

[tsalter]

I have been using the via aqua titaniums and they have been pretty decent for me. I had my ebo stick on but only after I dropped something on it. titanium is key for the sump!

I have been trying to gauge my heating needs and only use enough thermometers to take care of it. don't know if this is the best way as I don't have a lot of extra heating capacity in the tank but with halides and pumps it doesn't take much to get the heat up. right now I have 275 watts on my 65 and that seems to hold the temp well. I had 200 on it and it wasn't enough. the tank stays pretty constant with the basement sump and it runs much cooler than it used to which means I spend more in heat. It is money I wish I could spend elsewhere because running 200+ watts in something that doesn't have metal or halide in the name kinda sucks.

[SHOmuchFUN]

PREACH ON...

That is why this controller is going to come in VERY handy. Not only does it monitor the temperature, but it SHUTS OFF the heater completely depending on the temperature. If it gets above say 79 in the tank, it essentially unplugs it. It doesn't allow it to turn on/off/on/off/on/off like most heaters do throughout the day.

It will also do this for the -props- (I mean fans) in the canopy which are LOUD and power hungry at 18watts a piece! Lord knows that 600 watts over a 55gal should be enough to heat the tank itself, so I doubt that during the day the heater will be on at all. I can imagine the prop-start will be a bit delayed as well.

[SHOmuchFUN]

So should I worry about the 150w I have in the 55 now? Will that be enough to tide me over until the end of the week?

I still have LR in the nano that needs to be removed ASAP. Now especially that the tank doesn't have a heater in it....

[tsalter]

mmm dunno for sure . It will probably get you to 80 I imagine. running 24/7 I had 175watts and it was only getting to 78 but that is with the basement sump and more water. I think you will be okay with that. you could allways turn your heat up to 82 :)

T

[SHOmuchFUN]

I NEED TO GET RID OF THIS NANO... I'm trying to heat up one tank, while trying to cool down the other. ARRGGH :furious:

[SHOmuchFUN]

Got home last night and everything was alright... Nano was getting cold, so I put the small heater back in the nano and was going to give the other heater a try. I remember I had an outdoor digital thermometer lying around somewhere and managed to find that. I tested it against the other digital thermometer I had in the tank and the tanks thermo. was about 5 degrees off :furious:

So... It may not have been the heater afterall. I remember testing the water in the tank after coming inside from the cold, so it probably felt hot to the touch because my hands were cold. I took out the heater and it was cool in the house, so it probably seemed like it stuck on, because it wasn't in the water when I was testing it!

I set the heater back in the tank and monitored it with the new digital thermometer and everything seemed fine. Woke up this morning to a 79F tank, which is right where I had it set.

Needless to say I'm a little ****ed at myself, but figure the controller and new heater will be a nice peace of mind... I left the house this morning and remembered that I didn't plug my canopy fans back in, so it'll be another lunch trip to go home and make sure I plug them in... This controller is going to be a nightmare and take a lot of the guesswork out of many of the things that I worry about throughout the day. It's not an aquacontroller, but one of the only things that an aquacontroller does, that I would have it do, is monitor the PH...

Hopefully (crossing fingers) this will be the last bit of equipment I have to buy for the reef for a LONG time...