What An Idiot

[Jonno]

hi there,

i feel a right idiot

in a rush on saturday morning i needed to iron some trousers so for quickness i unplugged the heater from my 30ltr tank so i could plug the iron in. now i remember, clearly reminding to myself to plug the heater back in afterwards. I was tidying up tonight after dinner and noticed the fish looked a bit sheepish (infact they did seem slow to eat last night but i payed little notice). Out come the test kits - ammonia and nitrite fine - then it dawned on me that the water seemed a bit cold It turns out i plugged the heater back in but for some reason i turned the power socket off - temp was down to about 14 degrees!!!!

temp is now up to 18 degrees and the fish are starting to look a bit more active

just wanted to vent my stupidness somewhere, hopefully someone can learn something from this

Jonno.

 

[WILDER]

Be surprised on how many members have done it.
Let the temp go up gradually don't do warm water changes worse thing you can do.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Jonno

Wilder is right; warm the tank up slowly.

BTW, what kind of corys do you have? After a drop in temperature like this, they might spawn for you.

 

[rdd1952]

I've left the heaters and filter unplugged but have always caught it within about 10 to 12 hours. It happens all the time (not from me but in general). Most tropicals won't suffer too much from a gradual drop in temp as long as it isn't long term.

 

[cheesy feet]

I've flooded my bedroom 3 times, and left heaters on outside the tank So it's nothing to be ashamed of

 

[part-timer]

not so bad, but I put timers on my air pump and lights but instead of the lights I put it on the heater..... same result!

 

[Talleyrand]

Ever had a heater thermostat go out and the heater sticks in the "on" position?
If you only have stick on digital thermometer once the water temp goes over 88F or 30C, it doesnt register on the thermometer anymore.
I turned the lights one morning to feed the fish and noticed a floater. And the lid was warm to the touch. Wow, the water is warm?

 

[abzorbd]

One time I had to completly start my 35 gal. over and when I was draining it I left the heater plugged in. I was crouching on the floor next to it and heard some crackling/popping sounds and I was confused as to what they were at first. Luckily the glass didn't shatter.

 

[Faythee]

I use a heater that automatically shuts off when the water lowers below the case as I almost did that one too many times !

I stupidly plugged my 10 gal. into the outlet that shuts off with the light switch. Doh ! I had to put tape in the switch so I wouldn't shut it off at night again.

 

[shelaghfishface]

been there.done that....you wont do it again

 

[littlest]

yep done that.
My filter and heater are plugged into a four-way extension lead (buried somewhere behind the cabinet) so I just unplugged the one plug for both of them. Left it unplugged for 14 hours or so. It was a newly cycled, small (30L) tank with pretty new inhabitants. I ended up with an ich outbreak and lost 3 out of 4 of the fish.
really WON'T be doing that again.

 

[billy0510]

im glad i read this post did a water change in my 20 gal a few hours ago and just realized i didnt plug my heater back in

thanks

 

[Faythee]

im glad i read this post did a water change in my 20 gal a few hours ago and just realized i didnt plug my heater back in

thanks

LOL !!!

 

[Jonno]

glad to see i'm not the only one!!

temp seems to be at 20 degrees now so looks like i'm nearly home and dry, had to happen on the coldest day of the year so far too, was -5 when i went to work yesterday morning

i was considering water changing and adding some walmer water in - glad i didn't now!

glad to be of service billy