Got in a hurry and almost cooked my fish.

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nfored

nfored

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 4, 2008
2,597
14
68
Missouri
I started my water change on my 3 small tanks, it was time to fill them back up. I turned on the water to about the spot where I normally kept, but I guess I was a little off and didn't stop to check. When Finished filling up the tank I noticed the water felt warm, I checked the temp and it was 96F, I had turned the hot water up just a bit to much. Since I use 1/4" tubing to supply water to the smaller tanks its very easy to get the mixture of hot to cold wrong. So those pour fish had to go through a 14 degree jump in what I would guess is 20 minutes.

I always think its good to share these duh moments because I used to beat myself up over them until I read where others made similar mistakes.
 
I feel yah when I first set up my 150g the heaters that came with it were messed up and i didnt know, well my oscar when I got him went into a tank that was 106 degrees thankfully I caught it and by the next morning it was all good
 
Did the exact same thing. Killed a pleco, but, it's tankmates the good ole trusty goldfish lived! They certainly are tough little creatures!
 
It happens to me too. Sometimes it take a few mins for the water to get to a certain temp. You may feel the water and it might be lukewarm, then a few mins later it gets hot. You can tell when it is too hot because the water stream will look wavy showing there is heat. Another thing I do and have been lucky about, is I almost overfilled my tanks a few times. As I got the siphon in filling the water I get distracted and have had a few close calls. Never get distracted during waterchanges.
 
Oh I have over filled a a couple times, especially my bio cube, because with the bio cube if you fill it to the top, and then turn it on the built in filter causes it to overflow. My worst and deadliest water change mishap cost me the contents of two 20 gallon tanks. I had just got home from a long shift and was pretty tired but had already missed one week of water changes due to work, well again I was using 1/4 tubing so it took 20 minutes to refill the tank. Well these two tanks where hooked up to a sump in the basement, the sump had a built in overflow incase I overfilled. So some times I would start the water change and just go back in 20 or 30 minutes, if I waited to long no big deal the extra water just flowed down the drain.

Well this time I completely forgot and feel asleep watching tv waiting for the water change, by the time I woke up I had really forgot that I started the water change, it was not until like 8 hours later I remembered. All the fish in both tanks where dead, either from the chlorine or the temp. As a result of that I now never leave the room when I am doing a water change.
 
Ive never overflowed that bad but I did my 150 pretty good one time. Started playing a game on the ps3 and was surprised by water coming down the hall. Oops took all my towels and a blanket to soak it up. Was no fun now every time I do a water change I set a alarm on my phone just in case lol
 
My wife was not happy when I had to use all the towels and that might be an under statement.
 
Oh I feel you on that one. GF was at work so I was able to wash them and clean up before she got home so it wasnt a big deal. The ex wife though OOOOOOHHH boy that would of been a time bomb lol. Guess thats why shes the "ex" :ROFL:
 
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