Minor Tank Disaster: Heater Blew Up

[kien]

could you post a picture of this black stuff ? That would help.

74 degrees isn't that cold. I suspect the temperature dropped gradually so it probably didn't shock your fish. Last year my tank lost power for 24 hours and my temperature dropped to the mid 60s and I only lost 2 fish (but that was probably more due to lack of oxygenation).

[spedly]

Thanks for the replies. This might be a non-issue. The tank is looking a lot better today. A lot of the black stuff that was on the rocks is gone. I'll wipe down the inside later and post a picture of the black stuff on the glass.

I guess the only thing I need to worry about is my CUC. They've disappeared. I suspect the hermit crabs buried themselves in the substrate. I hope I don't get a mass die-off of inverts.

[kien]

Clean up crews in general can be hit and miss. They (snails and hermits) can just up and die for various reasons. One reason being the lack of stuff to actually clean up (ie, food). Another reason is competition. It's a hard knock life being a snail or hermit crab scrounging for leftovers. I guess what I'm suggesting is that the die off of your CUC could be unrelated. Hang around the hobby long enough and you'll hear repeated frustrations of people having troubles keeping a clean up crew. In the end your tank will sustain whatever clean up crew it can. You can buy all the snails and hermits you want but your tank will only be able to sustain a certain population which may or may not match what you've actually purchased (usually not).

[spedly]

That's good perspective kien. Thanks. I think I was probably a little heavy with CUC to begin with. So you're right, it might have been teetering on the brink to begin with and then this incident might have just pushed some over the edge. I am seeing some life with the crabs and shrimp so that's all positive.

Ya know this has been a great learning experience. Mother Nature has a way of taking care of some problems by herself. My protein skimmer has been working overtime and has pulled out all sorts of dark nastiness. I just did a big water change and in the process checked for black sludge. It was almost all gone. I wiped it down with a paper towel anyways but really the tank seems to have recovered well on its own.

And you can bet that now that I'm done with the water change I already have sea water mixing and am making more fresh RODI water to have on hand. That's probably the best lesson in all of this. You just never know when disaster might strike.