azvictoria
Fish Fanatic
Hi All,
Last night I did my weekly water change, very basic gravel siphon and 50% clean water plus chemistry test. It's routine. Very vibrant fish and plants, well maintained. Mostly South American - angels, tetras, corys, pleco, etc and nothing new added recently. I run it as a river system, high current canister, lots of bubblers. I didn't change any filter media, clean deco. This morning everyone was perfect, hungry and got fed, normal. Came home at lunch to let a young dog out and all were gasping at the top - some tetras were vertical. Even nerites and assassin snails were at the top. I went to test the water and noticed it was HOT. Too hot, and likely compromised oxygen. The heater / thermostat failed. Yes, it was off when I did the water change last night - the filter, heater and light are on a strip and I switch it off before a siphon goes in. Fortunately I was able to save most. I was draining and filling at the same time to bring in cool water / O2 and all living fish snapped back very quickly. Any advice on a heater that will shut itself off before this happens, or before it's starts zapping things like the one I had last year? Or do I just get a new every year? I'm in Colorado, USA - it does get cold in the winters and I'd like one that doesn't have to work too hard to keep up. My tank is a 60 gallon. Thank heaven for puppies - if it wasn't for that dog, I would have come home to a disastrous loss. I'm sad for the four little tetra lives lost
Last night I did my weekly water change, very basic gravel siphon and 50% clean water plus chemistry test. It's routine. Very vibrant fish and plants, well maintained. Mostly South American - angels, tetras, corys, pleco, etc and nothing new added recently. I run it as a river system, high current canister, lots of bubblers. I didn't change any filter media, clean deco. This morning everyone was perfect, hungry and got fed, normal. Came home at lunch to let a young dog out and all were gasping at the top - some tetras were vertical. Even nerites and assassin snails were at the top. I went to test the water and noticed it was HOT. Too hot, and likely compromised oxygen. The heater / thermostat failed. Yes, it was off when I did the water change last night - the filter, heater and light are on a strip and I switch it off before a siphon goes in. Fortunately I was able to save most. I was draining and filling at the same time to bring in cool water / O2 and all living fish snapped back very quickly. Any advice on a heater that will shut itself off before this happens, or before it's starts zapping things like the one I had last year? Or do I just get a new every year? I'm in Colorado, USA - it does get cold in the winters and I'd like one that doesn't have to work too hard to keep up. My tank is a 60 gallon. Thank heaven for puppies - if it wasn't for that dog, I would have come home to a disastrous loss. I'm sad for the four little tetra lives lost
