Chiller Malfunction :(

iTzJu · Jul 21, 2013

I really don't know how to begin this but my chiller on the frag tank malfunctioned and all of my SPS has died, everything else looks to be alright but in really bad condition. I was out of town since early Friday morning and I came home last night to a 88* Degree tank, assuming this was probably around 90ish early in the day.

I honestly don't know how to feel right now and I'm not sure what I want to do at this point. I feel very discouraged and I'm trying to keep everything else alive. I successfully dropped the temp to 80 using fans and ice in zip lock bags.

jgraz · Jul 21, 2013

This sucks. Sorry for the losses. We're you able to save anything? If I wasn't having my own acro problems I would gladly offer some. I can help you with a few monti frags that I have. They are small but your welcome to them. Let me know when your ready.

BuGG · Jul 21, 2013

Hey Judeo, sorry to hear that. If u need a holding tank, i have a fairly empty 20 gal tank running right now. Let me know if you need a hand.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk 2

Arce · Jul 21, 2013

That sucks man. Hang in there.

iTzJu · Jul 21, 2013

jgraz said:
This sucks. Sorry for the losses. We're you able to save anything? If I wasn't having my own acro problems I would gladly offer some. I can help you with a few monti frags that I have. They are small but your welcome to them. Let me know when your ready.

Thanks John.

I'm highly considering taking a break for awhile...

i don't know, this was unexpected and highly discouraging.

lost a lot of favorite sps frags and colonies and everything just looks bad.

iTzJu · Jul 21, 2013

BuGG said:
Hey Judeo, sorry to hear that. If u need a holding tank, i have a fairly empty 20 gal tank running right now. Let me know if you need a hand.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk 2

I'm ok for now, I went out and purchased a portable ac for the room. temp is stable.

thanks for the offer.

Zippy69 · Jul 21, 2013

So sorry, have some sps frags, or can cut some. I unfortunately am battling montipora eating nudis in DT. Making progress but will be a while befor I feel ok to pass frags on.

iTzJu · Jul 22, 2013

Zippy69 said:
So sorry, have some sps frags, or can cut some. I unfortunately am battling montipora eating nudis in DT. Making progress but will be a while befor I feel ok to pass frags on.

Thanks Pete, I most likely won't be ready for awhile either.
going to let everything else sorta catch up and get back to full health or at least what I perceive as good health.

everything looks like it stabilizing. few of my LPS look beat but looks like they are recovering, my zoa are recovering, doesn't look like they were really affected.

my heart broke when I was picking off the all the white sticks I had to throw away.

asonitez · Jul 23, 2013

Hey bro, sorry to hear about the tank man. When I'm back up and running feel free to drop by and grab some stuff. you get the "brought 60lbs of sand all the way from sterling freakin jersey to me good guy hookup."

I have to say though.. Having gone through 1 or 2 chillers they DO fail sometimes. Sometimes I think we do our corals a disservice when we keep such a perfect temp all the time. In the wild I think I read their temps fluctuate like 10 degrees or something like that a day. Yet.. I heard some ppl blame their corals death on moving from 78 degrees to 84.. I actually have my chiller set to turn on at 84 degrees and only cool to 80. I've kept EVERYTHING at 82 degrees for years before.

One thing I can always say though Is that maybe getting a box fan or another backup Large Fan that you put in play when you go away. Basically I have 2 window fans above my Canopy pointed directly at the water. I used to put a box fan at one end of the tank blowing across it. I have them hooked up to 2 temp probes... They are set to go off of my tank temp gets out of control and the chiller fails when i'm on vacay or extend time away from the house. I came home to a failed chiller and my tank at 82 degrees and both fans running all my critters were fine.

ReeferNets · Jul 25, 2013

Judeo,

I agree with tristan on temp not always being consistantly at one temp and that little swing is good.

If you need anything call me and let me know. I got ROOOM.

iTzJu · Jul 25, 2013

Thanks for all the generous offers guys. I appreciate whatever you guys can do. I will be taking it easy for awhile and let the current batch of corals get back to 100% before adding anything new. As far as SPS, I will definitely get back in it and definitely take Tristans advice on small temp fluctuations. my goal was always to create a very stable environment but I may have gone over the top. you learn something new everyday, right?

ReeferNets · Jul 25, 2013

Water in the oceans temp can vary based on tides, weather, seasons.

I also think the addition of a window AC is better option then a Chiller. If the temp in the room is 99 and your tank is at 80, that chiller is worked very hard to keep the temp down. With an AC the room will be 75, so your heater might have to do a little extra work but its meant to do that.

If you need anything let me know.