Heater broke - next step questions

[Mr Hughes]

While my wife and I were at the hospital for the birth of our second son, my cobalt neotherm decided it wanted to break. Came home to everything looking bad, so I just figured it needed a water change as it was a bit past due.

Next morning my birdnests and acans were all bleached, my line across was brown, my bta lost all color and two cleaner shrimp were nowhere to be found. Pulled out the test kits figuring something was way off in the chemistry. As soon as my finger touched the water I knew it was the heater. Water had jumped to 94 degrees.

So, I grabbed two fans and rotated the power heads up to increase evaporation. Then I did a 15% water change bringing the temp down a couple degrees over 10-15 minutes.

It’s now been 2 days since the temps were returned to 78 degrees and everything that survived is still stressed.

So my question is this: Besides the anticipated rise in nitrate due to die off from organisms in the tank, what other issues will arise? Will the bta regain its color or is it a lost cause? Any insight from those that have had this happen is greatly appreciated.

 

[EmdeReef]

Sorry about your losses.

First thing, assuming you threw away the heater, would be to test for ammonia and see if the dieoff caused a spike. High nitrates won’t cause serious issues.

Water changes, carbon, and throwing out anything that’s decaying would be your best course for now.
The BTA may recover, what does it look like? As long as it’s attached and somewhat reactive to touch there’s a chance. Bleached corals aren’t necessarily dead but not much you can do to bring back, sometimes target feeding is supposed to help if they’re not too far gone.

You should get a temp controller like inkbird to prevent this from happening again. Good luck!

 

[Flippers4pups]

Did the heater break, like fracture or just fail on?

 

[Mr Hughes]

Did the heater break, like fracture or just fail on?

Failed in the on position.

 

[Mr Hughes]

The BTA may recover, what does it look like? As long as it’s attached and somewhat reactive to touch there’s a chance. Bleached corals aren’t necessarily dead but not much you can do to bring back, sometimes target feeding is supposed to help if they’re not too far gone.

You should get a temp controller like inkbird to prevent this from happening again. Good luck!

Definitely need a controller. The color of the bta is similar to a pearl. The pic gives it a lot more blue than is representative.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Failed in the on position.

Sorry this happened to you. I personally use an inkbird controller on my system. Depending on your water volume, running multiple smaller watt heaters can help. Each heater not big enough to heat the tank by it's self or enough to heat the tank quickly, giving you time to react.

The inkbird is cheap and for me, very reliable. I would at least get one.

All you can do now is hope for the best and wait it out to see how things improve. Good luck!

 

[EmdeReef]

Definitely need a controller. The color of the bta is similar to a pearl. The pic gives it a lot more blue than is representative.

It’s probably bleached. You’ll have to target feed it for a few weeks and minimize any other stress. They’re pretty resilient and can come back. Good luck