Oops I forgot to leave my AC on!

[PharmrJohn]

I had something like this happen to a 29 gallon biocube about 10 years ago.
Except it was the light timer that malfunctioned and lights were on for 2 straight weeks. I was not as lucky as you. Total loss

My 29g in '95 was exposed to outside temperatures for two days (my wife left the slider open in the dead of winter). When I got back, only the Coral Banded Shrimp was alive. It was 35 degrees or so in the apartment. She still feels bad about that 30 years later!

 

[VirginiaReefer]

I just realized I turned my AC off before I left for vacation during a heat wave and my room happens to be the hottest in the house. Sadly not the first time I forget about this important thing and probably not the last time I’ll do it. The good news? Nothing died and everything seems to be fine as far as I can tell from the pictures and videos that were sent to me and the AC is back on. I also temporarily turned off the heater to see if I can drop my temp to where I keep it. Fish and corals are so resilient in my experience. So what the hottest or the coldest your reef tank has ever gotten and survived?

i will say i had my hang on filter pump seize up and heat up therefor heating up my tank to around 91 degrees for maybe a day or 2. lost most of my softies except GSP and all but 1 fish. after a few days the fish died and my giant toadstool leather started dying off. it took a long time to get things back in order.

 

[Uncle99]

Yes Hewbie is fantastic. He’s in the downstairs tank in the basement that always remains constant and is in a nice cool room. This was my upstairs reef tank.

Great news!

 

[AydenLincoln]

Apparently my AC got turned back on last night and everything appears fine so I don’t believe my tank is in the 80s at least now.

 

[crahan]

I just realized I turned my AC off before I left for vacation during a heat wave and my room happens to be the hottest in the house. Sadly not the first time I forget about this important thing and probably not the last time I’ll do it. The good news? Nothing died and everything seems to be fine as far as I can tell from the pictures and videos that were sent to me and the AC is back on. I also temporarily turned off the heater to see if I can drop my temp to where I keep it. Fish and corals are so resilient in my experience. So what the hottest or the coldest your reef tank has ever gotten and survived?

Feel for you. Been there.

I’m feeling bad for everyone in Houston with no power for three days and blistering heat.

 

[steveschuerger]

Yeah it’s been cooking in the low 90s outside here. A/C is a bit overwhelmed so my tank is holding 84.5. So far things look ok. And yeah, those folks in Texas…

 

[AydenLincoln]

Yeah it’s been cooking in the low 90s outside here. A/C is a bit overwhelmed so my tank is holding 84.5. So far things look ok. And yeah, those folks in Texas…

Me too!

 

[AydenLincoln]

Feel for you. Been there.

I’m feeling bad for everyone in Houston with no power for three days and blistering heat.

I know so sad!

 

[Formulator]

I just realized I turned my AC off before I left for vacation during a heat wave and my room happens to be the hottest in the house. Sadly not the first time I forget about this important thing and probably not the last time I’ll do it. The good news? Nothing died and everything seems to be fine as far as I can tell from the pictures and videos that were sent to me and the AC is back on. I also temporarily turned off the heater to see if I can drop my temp to where I keep it. Fish and corals are so resilient in my experience. So what the hottest or the coldest your reef tank has ever gotten and survived?

I’m honestly stunned you had no losses. I figured everything would be toast.

 

[OrionN]

I am happy that your tank did well

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Apparently my AC got turned back on last night and everything appears fine so I don’t believe my tank is in the 80s at least now.

Glad the ac started working again!

 

[vlangel]

I had a heater malfunction when I was a new reefer (in the 1990s) and everything died except a hermit crab who crawled up on the cord to get out of the water. I did not have much then but it was still very sad for me.

Then after I had a chiller malfunction in the middle of the night and cool the tank to 49°F. Luckily my husband got up and saw the condensation on the tank and woke me. I had 7 fish, a crocea clam, and a lot of coral. The fish were all swirling lifelessly on the sand and one was a clownfish that I raised from an egg. Amazingly the only losses were 2 damsels and a chromis. The clownfish, and 3 other fish revived as I slowly warmed the water. Not a single coral died although some of the softies gave off a slime coating. I was awed by the tank's resilience.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

I just realized I turned my AC off before I left for vacation during a heat wave and my room happens to be the hottest in the house. Sadly not the first time I forget about this important thing and probably not the last time I’ll do it. The good news? Nothing died and everything seems to be fine as far as I can tell from the pictures and videos that were sent to me and the AC is back on. I also temporarily turned off the heater to see if I can drop my temp to where I keep it. Fish and corals are so resilient in my experience. So what the hottest or the coldest your reef tank has ever gotten and survived?

I feel you. I once lived on the 3rd floor of an old victorian. it would get so hot that the toothpaste would run out like water. I would get home at 4pm, turn the AC on, close windows and hang out at a restaurant for 2-3 hours until it cooled down. was way too expensive to just leave it on all the time back then.

 

[AydenLincoln]

My Mom just ran home because I’m all worried because I believe at this point
my ATO is completely dry and I don’t think there’s any water in the back chambers. Which may be why the tank got so hot and is also a fire hazard since the heater and pump may be dry. I was so worried. Thankfully she went back home but I tried to reach her before she left. It’s so hard being away from my tanks and not being to troubleshoot. The salinity dropped so fast and the ATO alarm is going off but I’d rather have that than dry back chambers. And an extremely hot tank. Good news the room is 73 degrees now and when I get home this weekend I will try and recalibrate the probes etc. since the tank is showing 83-84 degrees which is warm but within a reef temperature and because the salinity went from 35 PPT to 31 PPT when she added that water in but there more than likely wasn’t enough in the chambers.

 

[mucky1957]

Over the last winter we were away and the central heating stopped working...house went down to 5c (41f) and the tank dropped to 12.5c (55f), Stayed that way for 3 days before I got everything running again. Tank was fine..no idea how...

 

[PharmrJohn]

Over the last winter we were away and the central heating stopped working...house went down to 5c (41f) and the tank dropped to 12.5c (55f), Stayed that way for 3 days before I got everything running again. Tank was fine..no idea how...

Your fish and corals were OK with no loss? If I remember right, the magic lower number is 63F give or take?

 

[Fritz05]

Glad to hear nothing died, and I keep my fingers crossed! I added a smart thermostat so I can manage my AC remotely. I also have a fan on my tanks and bought smart plugs, so I can also turn them on and off remotely. The fans really help, but of course increase evaporation significantly.

 

[Lavey29]

It's nice to relax in the jacuzzi and let the warm water relieve stress and aches.

 

[AydenLincoln]

So as I found out since my heater won’t turn back on since my apex is still reading 85+ something degrees and my Hanna checker is reading 69.3 degrees so my heater hasn’t been on at all these past few days. Nothing has died but I think I need to replace the temperature probe.

 

[AydenLincoln]

Let’s see if I can get it back up to a toasty 76-78 degrees.