Lost my fish :(

[Aztlan_LA]

Hi all, a month ago I lost my fish, I have had them for almost 2 years.

I was out for the day, when I got home I noticed the living room was too quiet. I checked the tank, all my fish were lying on the rocks motionless. All power to the tank was turned off by my GFCI. I pulled out the flashlight and found the culprit. My heater had exploded in the tank. I'm still not sure if the fish died by electricution or because all the pumps were off for a while.

It's so frustating, to have the tank running great. Then to have it all gone in an instant.

I'm right on the borderline of quitting and parting out my tank.

My wife wants me to get rid of it, so she can recover the lost livng room space.

My tank was a 55gal FOWLR.

Here are the casualties

Dragon Goby
Yellow Tang
Green Chromis
Yellow Tail Damsel
Flame Angelfish
Cleaner Shrimp
Pepppermint Shrimp
8 Hermit Crabs
Tons of snails

RIP

[NanoGurl]

That's a shame =( Sorry for your loss.

[kfisc]

Very sorry for your loss! Any idea how the heater cracked? My goodness!

[tami1024]

Sorry for the loss, but don't lose hope. If being a Reefer is what you enjoy then by all means you should start again. Good luck to you!

[boxfishpooalot]

You will come back better the next time!

Fwiw I dont use a heater for this reason. Pumps, lights and other electrical devices keep my tempurature stable. And not to mention even without anything contributing to heat, the rooms air temperature is acceptable to most corals and fish.

[2fishy]

I'm sorry to hear about your loss! That is the same heater I have running in my make up water. Do you know how it happened? I think I might be changing out my heater for a different one.

[kimsie]

What heater is that - I can't tell?

[Aztlan_LA]

Thanks for all the condonlences. The heater was a Visi-Therm Deluxe, I have 3 of them. I think I have owned them for 4 years already. That heater had Coralline all over it, not sure if that would make it weaker. No rocks have ever fallen on that heater.

Maybe I should of replaced them out every two years?

I still don't know what I will do. That tank is empty right now and
I took all the live rock out.

[Macimage]

You may want to switch to a titanium heater if you set it up again, which I hope you do.

Joyce

[jmsf7]

Sorry for the lost. I know how fustrating it can be and is discouraging keeping up the hobby. I do not use any heaters that is breakable. My titanium ViaAqua works great.

[Aztlan_LA]

Thanks guys.

If I do decide to bring my tank back to life, I will replace all of the heaters with titanium ones. When I first set-up my tank, I was borderline titanium or not. Since they cost more, I made the wrong decision and went for the glass ones.

[Mental1]

It is devastating to return home and find something like that. It happened to us before I took over taking care of the tanks. My husband set it up and had aggressives -- lionfish, green wolf eel, panther grouper, picasso trigger... they got big and he got lazy on the water changes. Must have been a nitrate spike as we woke up one morning to find them all dead. He gave up reefing and about 5 years later I set up a tank ....sometimes taking a break is okay.

[Aztlan_LA]

It is devastating, I was going to upgrade my sump too.
Was going bigger, I got a glass tank and just needed to silicone the baffles in.

I will probably sell it all. Since I'm planning to get a house next year, I can start fresh. I'll get me a really nice Reef Ready Glass tank. Maybe 180 Gallons or bigger.

I'll just admire all your tanks in the meantime. I'm so jealous.
Some of these tanks are amazing.

[edwing206]

That's too bad
It's a little scary as I have the same heater.