Please help! Chiller broke and tanks is at 89 degrees!

[Meaty24]

I just got home from vacation and my tank is at 89 degrees. The chiller sounds like it is running properly, but the temp. is off the chart.

What do i do? The corals as looking horrible! Help!!!
Hobby Experience: 6 years saltwater but 6 months reef

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

get as many ice cube as possible, put them in water tight bags and float them in the sump. make sure the bags are not causing an overflow.

watch the temperature at a gradual speed

Freeze more 2 liter soda bottles with water(leave room for the ice to expand)

 

[jackson6745]

lower the room temp, blow a fan across the surface of the tank water, and remove all/any dead or dying corals.

 

[Meaty24]

I have a 185 gallon with three glass panels. Do I take the panels off and blow the fan that way?

 

[grknyer]

:irked: These things always seem to happen when we go away unfortunately. I know it's hard but take a minute and calm down. Shut any lights if they are on because they throw more heat into the tank. Take ice cubes and put them in zip lock bags and float them. Make sure you dont put to many causing the tank to overflow. Monitor the temperature.



Yes remove the panels. They will keep the heat in if you dont

 

[Meaty24]

Thanks all! Can you recommend anyone to call in the morning to come look at the chiller?

 

[jackson6745]

I have a 185 gallon with three glass panels. Do I take the panels off and blow the fan that way?

Yes, evaporative cooling. Your tank will run much cooler without the glass covers.

 

[KathyC]

First off - you do NOT want to lower the temperature quickly! Slowly lower the temp back down through the suggestions above and also take a look at this thread..there are numerous ways to do it..

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/42407-emergency-measures-use-now.html

Too quick a reduction and you may well have stress illnesses start in your tank from the temp swing.

The other thing you want to do is to oxygenate the tank, the higher the temp, the less oxygen available to the fish and corals. This can be especially deadly.

If you don't have an air pump and air stone available tonight, resort to the 'water pouring' method...grab a clean vessel that holds about a quart or 2 of water and repeatedly take some water out the the top of your display tank and dump it back in from a height of at least a foot above the waters surface. It will get oxygen into the water in the quickest way. You want to keep this up for a good solid 10 minutes and then do it as often as possible until you can get an air pump & stone.

If you have a needle wheel skimmer, you can always disconnect it from your skimmer body and let it jet a bunch of bubbles into the tank.

If you were lucky and the temp climbed slowly, bring it back down the same way (aim for about 24 hours to get it back down to it's usual range.)

..and please pitch the tank covers, they hold in waaay too much heat and severely reduce the oxygen exchange in a tank

 

[Meaty24]

I have two over flow boxes and a sump, so I should be getting enough oxygen, no?

 

[KathyC]

I have two over flow boxes and a sump, so I should be getting enough oxygen, no?

No, not really. At this point your oxygen levels are lower than 'normal' (for your tank) due to the increase in temp. The bigger the surface area of a tank (why they are rectangular to start with) the better it is for the tank, add to that the reason why we always suggest pointing power heads upwards to disturb the surface of the water (oxygen exchange) .
In your case, you have already reduced the tanks ability to properly oxygenate the water by having the glass tops on there which trap the gases you are trying to exchange.

With the issue you are having now, you would always want to increase the oxygen level, hence my suggestions

 

[Josh]

Take the glass covers off, put a fan near the top and watch the temp. Take one panel off every few hours to slow down the process.

See my PM as well.

 

[morphiii]

Why don't you turn on the room AC to lower the temp?

 

[mstrpln03]

A friend of mine turned me on to a cheap chiller idea. Get a dorm size refrigerator cheap off craigslist for maybe $20 drill 2 holes (1 on each side) and run coils of tubing through it. The number of coils will affect the cooling effect:

more coils= more cooling

less coils= less cooling.

I plan to build one to keep on hand for such emergencies, although I use T5 lights and a room air conditioner and my tanks never get over 78 degrees.

Just a thought, good luck with whatever you decide to go with.

 

[Solace Aquatics LLC]

Take the glass covers off, put a fan near the top and watch the temp. Take one panel off every few hours to slow down the process.

See my PM as well.

I agree. Ice Cubes are a BAD idea.

 

[Salty Dog]

weird my chiller dyed too and its new, I cranked the A/C up in that one room now my tank is holding @78 but I did lose one acropora frag. I will be fixing my chiller tommorow since I used to own a refirgeration & a/c buisness.

 

[KathyC]

weird my chiller dyed too ...

oh no, not again...:bigeyes:

 

[DevIouS]

Oh man....:biglaugh:

 

[ming]

Don't forget, you can always turn off the lights which heat up the tank a lot.
For the past week, my lights only been going on for a few hours or less because it automatically shuts off when tank temp goes above 82F. They might be losing a little color, but nothing they can't bounce back from when the temp starts cooling down and lights stay on as normal

 

[Solace Aquatics LLC]

Did you have the chiller in an enclosed space?

 

[grknyer]

Any updates?