bad luck continues!

grrrr! Very frustrated. Been noticing a bacterial bloom in the 125g that was just put back up a little over a month ago. Couldnt figure out why...was running diatom filter and continued to get more and more cloudy. Tonight inwall noted a smell, checked in the sump and the JBJ true temp heater had caught on fire...melted the plastic casing off the heater releasing God knows what into the water. Havent seen the 2 fish that were in the tank today...going to try to feed again and see if they come out. Luckily have been running diatom filter, carbon and phosphate reactor, along with UV sterilizer....

 

Awful news Schackmel

Im sure everything will be OK once the water clears

Steve

 

What the heck

You have had a lot of bad luck. Just hang in there, Schmackel.

 

do a few huge water change to get the bad stuff out of the water

 

not sure...we have had the lights off today for the bacterial bloom...looked at the corals in there, and there is a lot of tissue sloughing going on a few of the pieces. I just purchased a bubble gum chalice this weekend and worrying about that. Right now have a large blue tip acro, merulina, stalagite monti, reverse sunset monti bubble gum chalice and pectina (I know spelling is horrible!)

We saw one fish the sailfin blenny...he is just sitting on a coral...wouldnt eat. The flame angel is MIA. Tested ammonia and that is negative.

We thought that our clean up crew we got from Reef cleaners died and was causing the bacterial bloom, but now we know...it is the crap in the water that killed majority of the cuc.

I have sent an email to JBJ asking about the heater. It is a 150.00 heater and I suspect it was just a fluke...but a fluke that happened to us of course. Hopefully they will resolve the issue and at least replace the heater...luckily the rep was one of the old LFS owners that I worked for (could be good or bad)

going to do a large water change in the morning and going to by polyfilter to remove any crud in there but doesnt look good

 

I was puzzled. A bacteria bloom can be removed by the skimmer and by the UV sterilizer, but the water was actually getting cloudier and cloudier as opposed to getting cleaner. Not only that, she's running a high quality Lignite Activated Carbon in a reactor.

The plastic on this heater clearly has been melting for some time now. I wish I would have noticed this was happening instead of assuming it was a bacteria bloom.

 

I have been considering spending the few extra bucks for the titanium heaters for the 180 project im planning, think I just found the justification for it.

Sorry it had to be your tank after everything youv'e been through this year

 

surely with it melting down it was also putting some electricity in the tank. that could lead to some massive coral death. lots of continually dieing tissue can cause that bacterial bloom.

 

well heard back from the JBJ rep, they will be sending replacment heater....so that is good. The rep stated that nothing would leach out into the water but i find that hard to believe................The water is crystal clear this morning.

The heater is a titanium heater.

corals actually do well with the stray voltage, it is the fish that dont fair well. I guarentee we had voltage in the tank! I am sure the fish are dead, along with majority of clean up crew. Hopefully the corals pull through havent seen any new tissue rescession this morning, so keeping fingers crossed. Picking up the polyfilter tonight on way home to nab whatever was leached out

 

UV was turned off, diatom filter was turned off, and heater turned off. The only thing that remained on was the media reactor. When you can smell burning from a heater that is 6 inches under water, you're putting some seriously nasty stuff into the water.

This is a nice heater. I've used this model on quite a few installs without issue. Mel just got a bummer one. Luckily, both of us know the rep for the company and he's taking care of the issue. (Yes, I do still have faith in the product).