My heater failed.....

XSeaNX

XSeaNX

Giggity-Giggity-Gig-a-ty
May 21, 2005
121
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My heater went spaztic on me today and caused a temperature spike of 90º...

Now my tank is starting to recycle itself...I tested ammonia at 1ppm.

this sucks.....question though....in what temperature does bacteria start to die off? is there a chance that this will be a light cycle? Nitrites still at 0ppm at test time.

*sigh* just thought I would post....Im off to do a water change now...
 
I find that hard to believe. Nitrifying bacteria do best at a temperature of 78 to 87 degrees, at temperature's above 95 degrees however, they will become stressed and this could become life threatening, this is most likely due to enzyme disruption. Nitratifiers have a temperature limit of about 105 degrees, at this temperature their activity completely stops, while the nitritifiers have a temperature limit approximately 10 dgrees higher. So the bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrites will only begin to be stressed at a temperature above 100 degrees. I hope that answers your question.
 
As Ashdavid said, bacterial nitrification wouldn't be adversely affected by that temperature alone (though my sources say that the process is actually most efficient between 30-35C (86-95F)). Nitrification can take place in water up to 42C, but once again the bacteria will be severely stressed.

DO levels lower then 1-2mg/L can inhibit the bacterial nitrification process, however. It takes more than 4 times as much oxygen than nitrogen (by weight) to convert ammonium to nitrate. Since warmer water holds less oxygen, and fish and bacteria use more oxygen when their metabolisms are increased due to temperature increase, you could have created a circumstance where the bacteria were starved of oxygen.

Consider that 90F water will only hold 7.33 mg/L of oxygen at full saturation at sea level with perfect gas-exchange rate between the air and water. Under normal aquarium conditions that figure is far less, with imperfect gas exchange, elevation above sea level, and oxygen consumers (your fish and bacteria) working against DO saturation.
 
hmm....thats something to think about.

I wouldnt have figured it might be caused by lack of oxygenation. I still dont know why the heater went nuts its been the same for about 3 months (had to adjust it when air conditioning changed). Either way I now have a stable temperature again at 80º.

Any way to test the oxygen level in the tank? there are no overt signs of stress from any of the fish in the tank and appetites are still healthy. Current setup is an emperor 280 bio wheel with a slightly low water level to allow surface agitation more than normal. BTW this is the 38 gallon. Well I guess theres a first for everything Ive never had a heater fail on me and in 8 years constant fish keeping Id say thats pretty good.
 
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