Yikes! My heater overheated!

[JaFish720]

I got home and noticed the tank glass (40 g breeder) was WARM TO THE TOUCH and checked the thermometer which read nearly 100 degrees f!!! Holy cow I was freaking out. I lowered the temp by opening the lid (when I opened it the water was literally steaming!), opening windows and doors and turning fan on. Also put a bag of ice floating in the sump. My tank is fairly new, only 3-4 weeks old and I only have 1 fish and no coral. My orange storm clown seems to be doing fine shockingly. Do I need to worry about my bio filter? Is my tank going to recycle? Waters a bit cloudy. I think the tank couldn’t have been that hot for longer than a couple hours at most. I feel so bad for my fish. I ordered an ink bird and I’m switching to two small heaters. This is my first saltwater tank and I’m already traumatized.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Good luck. I think you should be OK, but 100 degrees is really hot. We have water on shallow reef flats near shore that get up into the low 90's for weeks during the summer.

Keep an eye on things inside the tank and be prepared to do a partial water change if things go south.