The temps not an issue. A 2 degree swing wont harm anything. What will harm everything though is a shock. If the damage to the heater is a result of a surge, then it might be possible that the tank got a good shock which can kill fish and inverts and sometimes not immediately. Are your fish acting strangely?
Surges are very common during power outages. A lot of time the reason you lose your power(especially during storms) is becuase a line comes down and creates a short which can cause large surges in the vicinity before a breaker(on the pole) trips. I spend a lot of time replacing line electronics at work because of this after storms.
The only time i have had heaters crack and short is if i forget to unplug it when doing a water change or something and it gets left high and dry in the air.
Ken - the stealth heaters will turn off when they are not in water. at least they are supposed to ;D
offtopic, i just found a nudibranch im pretty sure eating my zoas, it looks like all the pics i googled, it blended right in with the ones i have, i got it out, but is it like termites when theres 1 there more?
also resilliance your right bc i had rock from last year i put in tank , and it still had hitchhikers on it, either that or they migrated to it lol .
Opps stand corrected on the naming I have the stealth heaters.(actually was just cleaning four of them as last night was bleaching night, which I do occasionally for power heads that get bio build up or anything I used in a qt tank)
I forgot about the plug and play GFCI outlets. Good call.
Keep a close eye on the zoas. Most of those animals will spend 99% of there time on the coral itself. You might try removing the coral into a bucket during a water change. When all the polyps all close up, no nudibranch that I know can mimic it and they are a lot more visible. Try to get a rough ID the pest you have and read up on it. Sometimes dips work, but some dips work for some pests and not others.
contrary to whats EVER said about them, nudibranchs are ALL carniviorous… and finnicky too… every species has ONLY 1 prey, they will only eat one type of coral, if that runs out they die (dumb imo)
i say the contrary part because i keep seeing stores trying to sell seaslugs as nudibranchs to help algae, the slugs will help but the nudi’s order meatlover supreme only.
[quote=“TimH07, post:28, topic:1842”]
contrary to whats EVER said about them, nudibranchs are ALL carniviorous… and finnicky too… every species has ONLY 1 prey, they will only eat one type of coral, if that runs out they die (dumb imo)
i say the contrary part because i keep seeing stores trying to sell seaslugs as nudibranchs to help algae, the slugs will help but the nudi’s order meatlover supreme only.
if you have one, eliminate it.[/quote]
nice reply!! I did indeed eliminate it, its actually still alive in a container, looks like my zoa lol. they all opened back up now, and look good, no signs of eggs. so hopefully all goes well
The problem is that may places sell “Lettuce Sea Slugs” as “Lettuce Nudibranch” which is completely wrong. Why cant people just use the scientific names… it would all be much easier.
yea that threw me off, made me think nudibranchs were good at first. lettuce slugs look awesome, i did want one at one point.
sell is right, i mean theyd ( LFS employee) would sell anything and say anything to earn that buck , and playing tords peoples ignorance and trust in them.
true, many new heaters have out of water shut offs built in. If they work. a cracked, shorted heater is a good sign it may not have worked, at least one time. Un plug em first and be safe. costs less on replacement parts. and saves power too.
Im not crazy about those vinyl coated stealth heaters. I like to see the little red light when they are on. just another visual aid to say when it is stuck on. or not. My old favorite heater has been the TRONICS. Their circuitry keeps the heater on until set temp is reached, and then they are pretty close to stable. But hagen bought them out and doubled the price. not a good deal anymore.
Ive use a bunch of those little mini glass heats called THERMAL COMPACT heaters. they have a temp setting knob covered with a sealed tube. its hard to set the temp. got to do it up a little, wait, down a little. until you find your temp. but they have seemed to last forever. relatively cheap too. the 100 watt one in my new frag tank now is only 9 inches long. compact.
[quote=“michaelangelo, post:32, topic:1842”]
sell is right, i mean theyd ( LFS employee) would sell anything and say anything to earn that buck , and playing tords peoples ignorance and trust in them.[/quote]
wow… sounds like u need a new lfs.
besides, whos responsibility is it really? to research these animals prior to bringing them home?? i understand that if a question is asked about a particular animal, a truthful and knowledgable answer should be given. and if its not available, then it’s the stores responsibility to find it, or simply say “im not sure”. but if no questions r asked prior to purchase, then where does the responsibility lie?? spouting all info they know about EVERY animal that someone wants to buy would certainly turn some people off.
(i know, i opened the can here. but some comments deserve debate.) esp. something of this nature. slap-stick
honestly you are right, i dont expect the employess to tell me what can go in my tank ok. Alot of times ill do some research and act dumb like i dont know and see what they say to me. there are alot of good LFS’s around here BUT not every employee is knjowledgable and good. Usually to me their is one main guy that is awesome, and the rest i could live with out. no specifics though. Rule of thumb and most know coral species cant even be identifed properly but a fish they should know all about.
As for the heater, the back up is the heater with a cover over the knob the cheapy glass one, its doing its job for now ,
also the tank that got fried today i found a bristle worm after lights out moving around the bottom, not in a rock… bad sign? also i had orange feather dusters and the all were in , i saw 1 not open but a little extended, i guess thats a good sign
[quote=“fishguy9, post:34, topic:1842”]
besides, whos responsibility is it really? to research these animals prior to bringing them home??[/quote]
both IMO, why is something detrimental even offered at a place that should be helpfull to the hobby? why are coral eaters even in a store that sells to a reefer?
yes you shouldnt buy on a knee jerk reaction, research first… but it always helps if your “professional” would do the same.
[quote=“fishguy9, post:34, topic:1842”]
besides, whos responsibility is it really? to research these animals prior to bringing them home??[/quote]
Yours
[quote=“fishguy9, post:34, topic:1842”]
both IMO, why is something detrimental even offered at a place that should be helpfull to the hobby? why are coral eaters even in a store that sells to a reefer?[/quote]
Same reason Triggers are sold - not everyone that has a SW tank has a reef, not everyone that has zoos likes zoos and may see them as a pest so the LFS provides an animal that will erradicate that pest. Same reason we put pep shrimp in to battle aptasis - somewhere someone is asking the quesiton “why would they sell an animal that is almost guarunteed to eat this beautiful aptasia anemone?”
[quote=“TimH07, post:36, topic:1842”]
yes you shouldnt buy on a knee jerk reaction, research first… but it always helps if your “professional” would do the same.[/quote]
Keep in mind your professional deals with a lot of different people and different tanks each week -you can’t possibly expect them to know everything about your set-up and what you can and can not keep. Ultimately it’s YOUR responsibility to research, read, and learn as much as oyu can BEFORE you put an animal in your tank. I have yet to be in a LFS and be yelled at for looking something up in a book on their shelf before making a purchase.
more bad news on the cycling tank, apparently teh back up heater doesnt really work that good, a cheap thing and the temp dropped to 76, i found like 3 dead britleworms on the rocks, my poor tank.
I just hope after today when i go buy that new stealth or get it free, ( lifetime warrenty ) my tank will go back to normal, now it feels the cycle i gonna take even longer.
any reason for the dead worms? i mean they crawled out of the rocks last night and are dead on my sand bed.
also i called marine land, and they said if its their fault theyll replace everything, but she said if it was in a sump warranty if void. i told her i didnt have a sump, it was fully submerged so im sending it in, just have to wait 2 weeks or so.
so the temp is like 77, all is good? despite the worms? my cycle still going ok? i have all the green hair algea it kinds stopped growing so fast, ill do a wc and test it tonight to see whats up