squiddly December 2, 2006 Share December 2, 2006 So I was off at a convention in DC when a power hit somehow reset the aqua medic controller in my tank that was going through hypo. I lost a purple fire gobi, flame angel, jawfish, kole tang, engineer gobi, yellow watchman gobi, two hawkfish, possibly 2 yashia gobis, not sure since we can't find them, and my gorgeous purple tang is on his side struggling to survive. Hubby was home when he noticed this and did all the right things, cooling down the tank with bags of ice, etc. etc. After all this work, I'm totally devestated. Yes, a controller would likely have prevented this, but I hadn't gotten around to specing out what we needed. *sigh* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamal December 2, 2006 Share December 2, 2006 thats terrible! i am sorry for your losses. these horror stories are convincing me to invest in a controller and some other things when funds allow because you save a few hundred and it can easily cos several hundred when a tank crashes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jager December 2, 2006 Share December 2, 2006 oh no squiddly im so sorry. ill start looking at my stores fish lists and see what if anything i can find of those fish as well as a controller. i know im a few hours away but its the least we can do for yah hope we can get you on your feet again quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emissary December 2, 2006 Share December 2, 2006 Oh man, I'm so sorry to hear about your losses! :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbartco December 2, 2006 Share December 2, 2006 ouch, really a bummer. What happened again? Overheating? Heater got stuck on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadgets December 2, 2006 Share December 2, 2006 That sucks! Sorry to hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason the filter freak December 2, 2006 Share December 2, 2006 You said your tank went HYPO so I'm assuming that means that means your salinity went way up? Or did something else happen? I'm really sorry to hear about your losses, let us know if theres anything we van do to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dzekunoi December 3, 2006 Share December 3, 2006 Really sorry to hear... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smarsh97 December 3, 2006 Share December 3, 2006 I am so sorry to hear that Squiddly Jason, this is the hyposalinity tank that was being used to fight ick I believe. I am really sorry to hear that. Sandy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiddly December 3, 2006 Author Share December 3, 2006 Thanks guys. i won't be near the computer so much for the next few days, but apparently a power outage somehow reset the aquamedic temp controller, setting it to over 100 degrees. I still haven't been home yet, so I'm not certain of everything, but my copper banded, hippo tang, two pairs of clowns, perhaps one jawfish are ok, and the purple tang was hanging on. I'll know more when I get home. The fish were looking SO good with the hypo, and we were counting down until we could start raising the salinity back up. I'm just so darn disappointed. And to think that I bought a temperature controller because I was afraid the Won heater would stick on after reading all the horror stories about them. Great..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch December 3, 2006 Share December 3, 2006 Squiddley... use both... redundancy is a good thing Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiddly December 4, 2006 Author Share December 4, 2006 Squiddley... use both... redundancy is a good thing Dave Not sure it would have helped given that this controller set the temp to over 100. But the AC III would have at least alerted hubby before the fish were cooked. I'm so darn sad. It's amazing how attached you get to fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Folta December 4, 2006 Share December 4, 2006 From what I remember on the instructions of most temp controllers I've seen, they typically say to set your heater to as high as it will go (to give the controller full control). But that would make sense to set it at a cut off. For example, if you had your controller to cut it at 80 degrees, and it got stuck on it would start going up... but then the heaters cut off at 85 degress would kick in and shut the heater off. Is that what you were saying? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjm817 December 4, 2006 Share December 4, 2006 (edited) Sorry to hear! Set the heater(s) just above the controllers temp to safeguard against this type of failure. My AC jr keeps the temp @ 78. The heaters are set for 80. Edited December 4, 2006 by sjm817 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch December 4, 2006 Share December 4, 2006 Tim, Yes exactly what sjm said. Mine are set to go off at 82-84 ish... but my tank temp never exceeds 80 (by heating)... Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiddly December 4, 2006 Author Share December 4, 2006 Lost the purple tang this morning. That was a serious blow. I was so hoping he was going to make it. The heater we were using did not have a temperature control, which is why we bought the aquamedic controller. That will change. When I'm up to it, I'm also getting the ACIII pro. It's goign to take awhile to emotionally recover. Yeah, they're only fish but darn....all at once? And the purple tang was show sized and absolutely gorgeous. II'm so darn disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandy7200 December 4, 2006 Share December 4, 2006 Sorry to hear of your loss. I hate heaters :( . Keep your head up, this hobby is painful at times but worth it in the long run. I know it seems funny to become attached to "only a fish" but, if you never let yourself become emotionally attached to these creatures than you will never get to experience the true joy of their life. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiddly December 4, 2006 Author Share December 4, 2006 Sorry to hear of your loss. I hate heaters :( . Keep your head up, this hobby is painful at times but worth it in the long run. I know it seems funny to become attached to "only a fish" but, if you never let yourself become emotionally attached to these creatures than you will never get to experience the true joy of their life. Dan I know that you guys understand how it feels when all of your effort for months is put into something that you are responsible for the care of, and something goes wrong and you lose them. This was the tank I was doing hypo in, had gone through all that heartache, etc., just lost a purple fire goby to her mate doing whatever ridiculous thing he did to make her jump into the overflow and stayed up all night trying to nurse her back to health unsuccessfully, then I go off for the weekend and BOOM. Yeah, I'm whining, but I'm glad that there are people who understand total suckola. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Folta December 4, 2006 Share December 4, 2006 Lost the purple tang this morning. That was a serious blow. I was so hoping he was going to make it. The heater we were using did not have a temperature control, which is why we bought the aquamedic controller. That will change. When I'm up to it, I'm also getting the ACIII pro. It's goign to take awhile to emotionally recover. Yeah, they're only fish but darn....all at once? And the purple tang was show sized and absolutely gorgeous. II'm so darn disappointed. I'm sorry to hear about your losses. I know we'd like to tell ourselves that they 'are only fish', but they do all seem to have personalities that really make the hit harder when they go. I hope the rest of your fish live through this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiddly December 4, 2006 Author Share December 4, 2006 I'm sorry to hear about your losses. I know we'd like to tell ourselves that they 'are only fish', but they do all seem to have personalities that really make the hit harder when they go. I hope the rest of your fish live through this! I really appreciate that. So far, so good. I have left 2 pairs of clowns, a PJ cardinal, copper banded, hippo tang, yellow watchman, and MAYBE 1 jawfish and 1 yashia. We're figuring out how best to prevent this in future, auditing all of the systems for possible failure points and how to prevent them. Given the number of issues I've had in my very short time in salt, I'm truly getting depressed over all of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhoch December 4, 2006 Share December 4, 2006 It can definitly be frustrating, BUT also very rewarding (what is really rewarding thats not frustrating at some points in time)... Redundancy is VERY important in my mind. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rascal December 4, 2006 Share December 4, 2006 We're figuring out how best to prevent this in future, auditing all of the systems for possible failure points and how to prevent them. Given the number of issues I've had in my very short time in salt, I'm truly getting depressed over all of this. I know what you mean. There is something just so incredibly depressing when you see something so magnificent and so totally dependant on you suffer and die. It s**ks. Plain and simple. As far as eliminating failure points in the future, one thing I would add (in addition to getting a quality controller and using the controller on the heater as a back-up) is to use 2 or more smaller heaters rather than 1 larger one. It may be less efficient, but there is less chance of something really bad happening really fast if just one malfunctions. Just my $.02. Sorry again for your losses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiddly December 5, 2006 Author Share December 5, 2006 I know what you mean. There is something just so incredibly depressing when you see something so magnificent and so totally dependant on you suffer and die. It s**ks. Plain and simple. As far as eliminating failure points in the future, one thing I would add (in addition to getting a quality controller and using the controller on the heater as a back-up) is to use 2 or more smaller heaters rather than 1 larger one. It may be less efficient, but there is less chance of something really bad happening really fast if just one malfunctions. Just my $.02. Sorry again for your losses. Thanks. I really do appreciate all of the suggestions. I agree, redundancy is better, and I plan to implement that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emissary December 6, 2006 Share December 6, 2006 Implement redundancy, yes. Then implement it again just to be safe. :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjm817 December 6, 2006 Share December 6, 2006 Again sorry for the loss. Heater malfunction really stinks. Many a tank has been lost. To reiterate: External controller to control temp 2 or 3 small heaters instead of one large one. Heaters have their own thermostat set just above temp of external controller Heaters on separate controller outlets if possible Dont overdo the wattage. Typically heaters only need to maintain heat along with what is added from pumps, lights, etc. I use 3W/gallon then round up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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