Calamity turns to comedy

[zantwin]

I'm now fully 8 months into my reef hobby and doing well. Nothing's died, except the two adventurous fish who decided that air is better than water. Too bad the didn't quickly evolve legs. I don't yet have all the automated equipment to make the hobby easier, most notably a light timer, but since there's always someone at the house things are fairly easy to maintain. But as the saying goes, I digress...

 

The family had the need to attend a wedding party for a full day and we were pretty much worn out when we got home, so it was lights out ASAP.

 

0700 following morning: "Oh ^#&!!! I left the halides on overnight!!!"

 

Running downstairs I see that the temp is a roasty 92 degrees F. The fish are either hidden or at the bottom of the tank; the corals are all retracted; other critters seem to be doing their best to bear the heat. At least nothing's floating. Still tired but now panicky, I throw caution to the wind and dump ice from the freezer into the sump, hoping that tap-water chlorine out-gasses in the freezer leaving me with mostly pure, but very cold, water.

 

Temp gets down to 86 F by early afternoon with this limited approach. Nothing seems to be terribly affected, but I'm still concerned about the lingering high heat. While I'm less panicked, I do have to think about dinner, "Hmmm... Sunday, nice weather, think I'll grill something. I'll pull some meats out of the freezer."

 

So I walk by the tank with [sealed pre-packaged] steaks in hand and give a wink & nod to my wife, who's occupying herself with some entertaining task. She says sarcastically, "You should put those in the tank to cool it down some more." It was the joke that turned into the successful recovery of the tank's regular temp, but! it also turned out to be the best dang way to thaw a frozen steak - ever. Like 5 minutes. It's become my main method now. I even have a pic of the tangs investigating a frozen tilapia.

 

A moral, perhaps? Never let sarcasm get in the way of making a good steak.

[Happyfeet]

tangs investigating a frozen tilapia.

 

 

The entire time thinking.. We live with a monster!!!

 

Jokes aside, you need a timer for them lights!!! It will make your life a lot less stressful.

[BowieReefer84]

The only thing I have automated is my lights, and the fan that goes with them. What I did was buy a cheap one outlet marineland timer. Plugged the timer into the wall, and plugged a surge protector power supply into the timer. Now I have like 5 outlets instead of one all on the same timer. I have 2 plugs for the light fixture plus a third for the fan. Works well, and has truly made my life so much easier.

 

 

[Coral Hind]

All you need is a simple light/appliance timer that runs about $10 each. You can pick it up any department or hardware store.

http://www.amazon.co...d_bxgy_hi_img_b

Edited June 3, 2010 by Coral Hind

[BowieReefer84]

Yea, just make sure it doesn't block both sockets when plugged in.

[Origami]

Get timers, yes. But my thought is that you really need to think this through so that you're not this vulnerable in the future. You need some form of temperature control and, even with a timer, you don't want to hang what could easily become a very large investment on the reliability of a $10 or $20 timer (even though it's often better than our memories as you've discovered). Depending upon your setup, you could use continuously running fans, fans (and heaters) along with a two-stage temperature controller such as an Ranco ETC-211000, or a chiller. You could also increase the ventilation in your canopy if this is where heat is initially building up.

 

I've read that some people keep ice frozen in milk jugs in the freezer to deal with heat emergencies like this. It's relatively easy to put a jug in the sump to pull the temperature down in an overheated tank. Sort of like the steaks - but it doesn't lead directly to dinner.

[zantwin]

Thanks to all who suggested some timers. You're right: I need to get one. I have one of those Coralife rotating dial timers, but I'd been told to be wary of them since they've been implicated in house fires. I'm using them only as powerstrips at the moment and not using the timing features (they were part of a bulk buy when I got the tank). I plan to get a decent timer that can be controlled rather finely, by computer and possibly remotely.

[Origami]

You'll find that a simple heavy duty appliance / light timer for less than $20 (digital) or around $10 for an analog is pretty reliable. While I control my lights using my AC-III, I use these timers in a variety of applications, including intermittent stirring of my saltwater reservoir (change water), controlling the refilling of my top-off container (once a day) and my RO/DI reservoir (3x per week). They're very handy. I always have them on hand.