Heater Failure And Its Freezing

[shelaghfishface]

just came home to notice the external heater has failed.. i left this morning noticing that the corals seem to be sulking- last night i turned the lights off both at the same time so assumed it was just shock

pretty sure its been off overnight

have just put 2 internal 300w heaters in there to try to get it back up

do i stand a chance?

fish are all ok from what i can see its the corals that seem to be struggling
TIA
shelagh xxx

 

[-Nemo-]

What a shame
What temperature did it drop down to?

 

[soph_betta]

I have no idea when it comes to marine but could you get a waterbottle or two and tape them to the side closest to the rocks to help warm it up bit quicker?

 

[Truck]

You need to heat it up as slowly as possible, Just keep the heaters that are in there, I'm sure the corals will be fine, there are temperature shifts all the time, how much did the temperature drop by?

 

[shelaghfishface]

its currently at 19C-( from 27) heaters have been in half an hour now
but the tank is situated very close to patio doors that might as well be wide open for all the good they are

 

[seffieuk]

Hope everything goes well Shelagh - put a duvet over the tank to help heat it up a bit quicker

Seffie x

 

[shelaghfishface]

thansk seffie
another question..
the heater (hydor) is leaking from both sides now..slow drips but enough to worry me.. if i replace it wil i need to drain the tank right down? ( its on the return hose) if i cant replace it then what the heck am i meant to do

( at this point im ready to cry)
the only thing i can seem able to do for the time being is running the return pump from the first section of my sump ( dont have any spare hose).. so it wont be filtered, it`ll be pouring and in straight back into the tank

 

[AK77]

Is it possible to post a picture of your pipework, to see how its all connected up?

 

[shelaghfishface]

hi AK
hope these are suitable ( and you can make everything out)

old pics but of course the pipework is the same

 

[AK77]

Hi Shelagh,

So the downpipe is at the back left, the return pump is in the right hand chamber? What's the pipe with the red tap valve fitted to it? Where is the hydor heater located? is it the thing right at the back in the middle of the green hose?

 

[Truck]

The red dial/valve thing is the heater.

 

[shelaghfishface]

thats the down pipe, and the one without a tap...spare part? theres nothing coming out of it

and obviously nothing going up it- was setup as per instructions tho

yes thats the heater

 

[AK77]

Ok,

Well firstly don't panic, your fish and corals should all be ok. As Truck says, heating it up slowly is the best bet.

You should also not need to drain your tank down to replace that in-line heater. The return hose should be high enough in the display tank, that should the power go out, only a small amount of water from your DT will syphon back down into your sump. The hose either runs out the back of the cabinet and up the outside of the DT or the bottom of the tank is drilled with hard plastic pipe work above, which the hose connects to. Either way, it should easily be replaced. Personally though, I'd not bother replacing it and just get a single piece of pipe and run that straight to the DT and just use normal water heaters in the future. Much less messing about and removes the chance of it leaking. In my experience of plumbing.. if it can leak, at some point it will leak lol.

Your tank will also be ok, if you shut the sump pump off, so don't worry on that score. It will just be without a protein skimmer until you can get some hose tomorrow/monday, which again, shouldn't be a problem for the corals. If you are worried, you could just dump that chaeto in the DT so that nitrates and phosphates are still being absorbed.

As a temporary fix, you'd either need a male/male hose connector barb, so slip inside both ends of the green hose, once the adapters are removed for the Hydor. I'm assuming that those blue fittings are either both male or both female? If by some miracle they are M/F, is it possible to connect them together? The only other option is larger diameter hose, that's large enough to fit the green hose inside. I've done this a few times and works pretty well. If the heater is leaking pretty rapidly and the water is not falling back into the sump, but rather into the cabinet, then just shut off the return pump and dump the chaeto in your tank.

Maybe that other pipe is a safety overflow, that should the main downpipe get blocked and the water level rise, it will begin to go down the other pipe (although you wouldn't want a shut off valve on that). The only other thing it could be is another return pipe for "hard piping" your return pump and the valve acts as a flow adjuster. It might also be for feeding a skimmer.

 

[shelaghfishface]

its up to 20c now - the bubbletip is waking and on the move.. the poor clowns havent left it bless, them even was it was closed up tight

they still look quire sad, but the one im really worried about is the sulphur toadstool... its been doing fantastically till now

its just fallen over and melty looking

but no worse than when i first had it and it spent a while in tub of water next to a radiator while i set up the tank
fingers crossed. tho i am still worried about the seal in the heater going, and coming down to find the whole contents of the tank over the dining room floor in the morning

i have no idea if the parts that go onto the hose to screw to the heater unit have some sort of return valve in them
anyone else use one?


oh nice one AK im off to check if they can be connected.... please let it work

thankyou so much for all the info, i`ll let you know how i get on xxxxxxxxxx

 

[AK77]

its up to 20c now - the bubbletip is waking and on the move.. the poor clowns havent left it bless, them even was it was closed up tight

they still look quire sad, but the one im really worried about is the sulphur toadstool... its been doing fantastically till now

its just fallen over and melty looking

but no worse than when i first had it and it spent a while in tub of water next to a radiator while i set up the tank
fingers crossed. tho i am still worried about the seal in the heater going, and coming down to find the whole contents of the tank over the dining room floor in the morning

i have no idea if the parts that go onto the hose to screw to the heater unit have some sort of return valve in them
anyone else use one?


oh nice one AK im off to check if they can be connected.... please let it work

thankyou so much for all the info, i`ll let you know how i get on xxxxxxxxxx

No problem. Remember, at the very least, if the sump pump is shut off then the water level should only fall as low as downpipe inlet. Your return pipe should always be at least the same height as your downpipe or above it. That way, should the power go off, you know that the water in the sump will only rise by the excess water that's above the level of the downpipe inlet. I remember on my old juwel 180, I was working on the tank/sump and I moved the return pipe and it fell into the DT. About a minute later, my sump overflowed all over my bedroom floor lol.

If that black plastic weir in the back of your tank is solvent welded or sealed against the glass/acrylic of the tank, then the water should only drain down to the level of the black grills.