Polarcollision's Nuvo 24: March FTS

[brandon429]

Polar would you remind me of something

 

its likely im mis-recalling here but did you have a powerful dinos invasion like 4 yrs ago and we tried and tried with it, was wondering how that came about. I think im mis calling the poster/ was that your tank?

[Polarcollision]

On 1/9/2018 at 10:19 AM, kimberbee said:

I have the micro, been running it almost 2 years, and the original, running for over 3 years. 

 

Only had a problem with the original ONCE (it didn't trigger when the water was too low) and cleaning the sensors fixed the issue. 

Cool, thanks for letting me know.

 

~~~~~~

It was a really tough decision, tbh. Average customer reviews across multiple websites were higher on the Tunze 3155 but I was pretty fed up with troubleshooting it. Price was considerably better on the Micro ATO but those who said it failed early on were out their investment. Roger at Tunze had offered me a discount on a replacement osmolator last year when I sent it in for service, which he recently honored. There are people who have had this osmolator running for years longer than mine with no issues so I’ve always been under the impression that i got a lemon of sorts and customer service has always been good. I’d rather support that business model—even if this new one has issues from time to time.

 

On 1/9/2018 at 10:33 AM, brandon429 said:

Polar would you remind me of something

 

its likely im mis-recalling here but did you have a powerful dinos invasion like 4 yrs ago and we tried and tried with it, was wondering how that came about. I think im mis calling the poster/ was that your tank?

Probably not me. We chatted about wire algae and hydrogen peroxide. I did have Dino’s in my little 8 gallon for a while but they cleared up.

[MortalWombat]

I've used the original AutoAqua ATO for like 5 or 6 years now without any problems, though it does need to be cleaned once every year or so. I love mine and would definitely buy the micro in the future.

 

I had a Hydor Smart Level that crapped out on one of my tanks after a year, not a fan, it was always having issues. I use IM Hydrofill ATO's on three of my tanks and think they are a great deal for the price. Though if you're space limited they might not be your best option. 

[markalot]

On 12/3/2017 at 12:32 AM, Polarcollision said:

12.01.17 Full Tank Shot

 

She's been running for 4 years now, and rockscape 2.0 has been running 1 year, 3 months.

 

Finally! A pic of the little eviota goby that lives in the pink bird. Isn't she just precious?

 

 

 

Also picked up a few new acros: Icefire echinata, hawkins echinata, and pearlberry. Can anyone confirm if the growth pattern matches? This was from an older colony with poor conditions.

 

 

Also thought I'd try an acan again. Crossing fingers it doesn't turn orange. And a few more rics. Clown is swimming around and rubbing on the leather like a cat begging for dinner.

 

Bringing this back because I just viewed the pics.  Awesome Polar!

 

Oh, it's January now. 

[Polarcollision]

14 hours ago, MortalWombat said:

I've used the original AutoAqua ATO for like 5 or 6 years now without any problems, though it does need to be cleaned once every year or so. I love mine and would definitely buy the micro in the future.

 

I had a Hydor Smart Level that crapped out on one of my tanks after a year, not a fan, it was always having issues. I use IM Hydrofill ATO's on three of my tanks and think they are a great deal for the price. Though if you're space limited they might not be your best option. 

OK, thanks for sharing. If the replacement Tunze 3155 gives me issues like the original one did, I'll try the AutoAqua ATO. I'm just really hopeful the original osmolator was defective and this one will be more reliable in the long run. Sadly, reaplcing both the skimmer and the osmolator means pushing back any controller upgrade. I was hoping to get the full apex system in the near future.

 

14 hours ago, markalot said:

 

Bringing this back because I just viewed the pics.  Awesome Polar!

 

Oh, it's January now. 

Thanks Mark! Nothing has really changed with the tank other than the pearlberry losing the brown. It's looking pretty good. Bubble algae is almost consumed by the crabs. Yay! None of the new acros has grown a bit in the last month. The solid green tricolor acro was stung by the green disk not-a-chalice-and-I-lost-my-cool-orange-color-and-I grow-too-fast coral. But I saved one of the 1/4" RTN frags. Oh and the yuma went after the forest fire digi, but it grows so fast no one will be able to tell in a month or two.

 

~~~~

KNO3 dosing update: I ran all the tests tonight to see where the 2.5 g KNO3 is at 4 days later.

NO3: a big fat 0 again

K: 430, down from 440

PO4: .23, down from .25

 

I could add some more phosban. Worry about stripping PO4 too quickly.

 

I'm going to need a nitrate source without potassium at this rate. Was thinking about dosing ammonia. How's that for living on the edge? I'm thinking that if I start off small that it won't be any different than fish waste. The bacteria population *should* blossom and then concert to nitrite and finally to nitrate.

 

What do you think? Bad idea?

 

pH: 7.7 (salifert, so probably 7.9)

KH: 9.5, down .5 - yay!

Ca: 420, up 20 - yay!

Mg: 1250, no change

[cobra2326]

11 hours ago, Polarcollision said:

 

I'm going to need a nitrate source without potassium at this rate.

This is interesting. A lot of people report daily dosing of KNO3. I wonder if they have elevated Potassium? Maybe water changes or other processes keep it from rising too high. I'd do some deeper research before switching. Just my 2c.

 

No comment on dosing ammonia

[Polarcollision]

On 1/12/2018 at 9:53 AM, cobra2326 said:

This is interesting. A lot of people report daily dosing of KNO3. I wonder if they have elevated Potassium? Maybe water changes or other processes keep it from rising too high. I'd do some deeper research before switching. Just my 2c.

 

No comment on dosing ammonia

Yeah, I also expected it to raise NO3 more than K. acropora are looking good ATM, except for the pink tips on the rainbow and red planet. It happened after adding phosban and the alk swing to 10.

[Polarcollision]

Today's test results:

NO3: ---------

K: 360, down from 430

PO4: ---------

pH: 8.0-8.15 hard to read color. I'm not a fan of this brand for pH. Up from 7.7 with a window open for 2 days and if I correct for the known salifert error, pH is probably back to my typical 8.2-8.3

KH: 8.5 (ELOS),  8.75 (Salifert), down another 1.0 from 10 - yay!

Ca: 450

Mg: 1200

 

The replacement Tunze osmolator was installed Friday night and it's working well so far. Being without an osmolator for so long, salinity was all over the place. With the sensor determining the new back chamber water level, salinity stabilized somewhere around 1.028. Too high. So I took out 3 tuperware containers of tank water and replaced them with RODI to bring salinity down to just over 1.026 tonight.

 

I think all the salinity swings, plus a closed up house with low pH, plus the alk spike to 10 at the beginning of January is related to all my pink acro tips to turning brown. interestingly, the green colors on the exact same coral have not changed. Not sure if just keeping everything stable will help the pink color back up or if its also because of the high PO4 and cyano coating everything. Tonight I also noticed that the ice fice echinata has lost its blue tips. It's a super white coral which means its impossible to tell if it's RTNd or just having a loss of color. I wanted to dose more KNO3 to raise potassium levels back up, though it seems wise to wait a few days to see if the echinata stays white (still living) or grows algae (dead, dead, dead). The banana lokani is looking bad too. A year ago I found a flatworm on it and another acro. I dipped them both and they both colored up quickly. They've actually been doing really well for about a year since then, maybe the flatworms are back--can't see them--maybe its just the same hardships as the others. Also, my previously super happy and thriving forest fire montipora was attacked by the yuma. Half of it RTNd, but seems to have stopped. There's one plus for breaking off a piece and super-gluing it back together--the superglue was a fabulous RTN wall. So yeah, a bit of a struggle bus lately.

 

Kind of sad about all the color dulling and recent losses. Feels a little overwhelming at the moment, like I'm losing to death and disease. Probably not helped by the fact that I'm also waiting to hear whether a dear friend's test results are a false positive for cancer or if life is about to get complicated. If anyone reading has experience with helping friends through this - even if it turns out to be just a scare, please feel free to offer advice. I'm a bit of a mess, can't imagine how she's feeling.

 

To end on a less serious and more positive note, thought I'd give a little product review: For my entire reefing life I've used the blue and white bonded poly filters to catch detritus, but they were out at the local Petco and super over-priced online. So I decided to try the white fluffy filter fiber pack instead. Can I say I don't think I'm ever going back to the blue and white bonded stuff? First off, this can be easily stuffed and molded to fit around the awkward shapes left by chiller pump hoses in one of the return chambers. Second, I cannot believe how much detritus and uneaten fish food is captured in it! Waaaaaay more junk is captured in this floss than the other. Big win here at least.

 

Oh! I can't recall if I've mentioned it here, but my diving classes start next week. Pool session on the 1st, and the four open water dives on the 3rd and 4th. It will be in Puget Sound, in the middle of winter. On the neg side, it will be so flippin cold. On the pos side, the water is as clear as it gets around here. Looking forward to seeing more of our tide pools and temperate life up close and doing something completely new. Always stay curious. :-)

[vlangel]

Yay on the diving class.  I always wanted to get certified too.  

[cobra2326]

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I just got a Hanna ULR Phosphorus meter, and it turns out my PO4 is at .5ppm (!), but with 0 NO3, so I'm in a very similar boat. One thing I'm learning is that SPS seem to be much more sensitive to swinging from Zero->High Nutrients, and potentially from high->zero, than from many other things. I've seen some pretty crazy swings in my tank without having issues, but now that Nitrate has bottomed, things seem a lot more touchy.

 

Am I correct in seeing your PO4 AND NO3 at zero? Did you end up replacing the GFO or was it something else that got rid of the Phosphate? If you can share what happened, I'd appreciate it, since I'm planning to start dosing Sodium Nitrate when it arrives friday, and I'd love to know what will happen to my PO4.

[Polarcollision]

On 1/23/2018 at 6:16 AM, vlangel said:

Yay on the diving class.  I always wanted to get certified too.  

I just took a practice online PADI open water exam.... and passed! Yay! Getting anxious about the pool session on Wednesday. We have to flood then clear masks and take our buddy's emergency regulator and then swim across the pool.

 

On 1/24/2018 at 11:15 AM, cobra2326 said:

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I just got a Hanna ULR Phosphorus meter, and it turns out my PO4 is at .5ppm (!), but with 0 NO3, so I'm in a very similar boat. One thing I'm learning is that SPS seem to be much more sensitive to swinging from Zero->High Nutrients, and potentially from high->zero, than from many other things. I've seen some pretty crazy swings in my tank without having issues, but now that Nitrate has bottomed, things seem a lot more touchy.

 

Am I correct in seeing your PO4 AND NO3 at zero? Did you end up replacing the GFO or was it something else that got rid of the Phosphate? If you can share what happened, I'd appreciate it, since I'm planning to start dosing Sodium Nitrate when it arrives friday, and I'd love to know what will happen to my PO4.

Oh, those dashes just meant I didn't bother testing those two. I don't bother if there's no reason to expect a change. Nitrates are still zero and PO4 is still high. siiiiiggggghhhhhhhh. LOL

 

I did change out the filter floss. It was incredibly filthy. Wait, I said that above already. Sorry. The one type of cyano that grows a thick mat and is blood red/purple is gone. And I think, knock on wood, that the second type of cyano that's more rusty reddish brown colored which grows in a thin film (over literally everything not a coral) is just a little thinner than last week. So maaayyybe there was a little nutrient factory action in the nasty filter floss. I dunno, though. This zero nitrates issue we both have is a bugger. If PO4 wasn't high it would be easy to just feed a lot more. and the only accessible thing I know of to increase nitrates without increasing PO4 is ammonia. And then you have to really trust your bacteria to do it's job. Unless you can just buy nitrate??? Or, gah, would that put me on some watch list for sure??? LOL

 

Well. a little pause for google searching and I've just nixed that idea 100%. while fish excrete ammonia, it is toxic to them. So is nitrite. Nitrate in low quantities is OK. So this is just going to be the loooooooooongest game of cyano cat and mouse in the history of reefing as I can only add 2.5 g of KNO3 every week or two. The end. Ha! And yes, I'm definitely keeping GFO in the media basket to absorb some of the PO4. It also lowers iodine levels, which I can't test for, and I have 6 crabs and tons of zoas in the tank so have to be cautious with GFO use. Not to mention the notorious SPS death crash from over-stripping of PO4 with too much GFO.

 

Yeah, if both NO3 and PO4 were low in your tank, it would be cut and dry, keep Ca, Alk, Mg on the lower side of natural seawater, but with one high and the other low, it takes a lot more listening to the coral. Mine seem to be happy as long as alk doesn't go above 9.25 or so. When nutrients are higher, it's OK to let Ca and Alk drift up, as long as pH doesn't fluctuate into levels specific to each tank that effective alk spikes become a thing.

 

I lost the ice-fire echinata. That's a bummer. But on the pos side, there's a shimmer of color on the growth tips of the two browned-out pink acros. and my salinity is holding steady again at 1.026. It's been a whole week and the osmolator hasn't gone rogue on us yet. So far the new one is out-performing the original one (not saying much...yet). Which means it likely wouldn't be too much for corals to adjust if I dose KNO3 again this weekend.

[cobra2326]

Sodium Nitrate is an option! I used this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/222604951/sodium-nitrate-4-ounces-fine-powder-996?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_b-craft_supplies_and_tools-raw_materials-other&utm_custom1=a4c5703b-0907-4323-a16e-88b4e49541e5&gclid=CjwKCAiAqbvTBRAPEiwANEkyCFAjO5C_ZKSJVZdoMPuBOZ_qIWc9dx9uoSBdghXsx1MjTDdcX4wXRhoCnmUQAvD_BwE.

 

I'm not exactly sure if it was the small amount of GFO I ran, or the NaNO3, but my phosphates totally bottomed out within days. I'm sitting on 0-1ppb Phosphorus now, which isn't what I wanted either. I still have a hunch your system is PO4-limited if Nitrates keep hitting 0, but every system is so different I can't say for sure.

[Polarcollision]

On 1/29/2018 at 12:09 PM, cobra2326 said:

Sodium Nitrate is an option! I used this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/222604951/sodium-nitrate-4-ounces-fine-powder-996?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_b-craft_supplies_and_tools-raw_materials-other&utm_custom1=a4c5703b-0907-4323-a16e-88b4e49541e5&gclid=CjwKCAiAqbvTBRAPEiwANEkyCFAjO5C_ZKSJVZdoMPuBOZ_qIWc9dx9uoSBdghXsx1MjTDdcX4wXRhoCnmUQAvD_BwE.

 

I'm not exactly sure if it was the small amount of GFO I ran, or the NaNO3, but my phosphates totally bottomed out within days. I'm sitting on 0-1ppb Phosphorus now, which isn't what I wanted either. I still have a hunch your system is PO4-limited if Nitrates keep hitting 0, but every system is so different I can't say for sure.

Oooh! Sodium nitrate. I will have to give that a try. Thank you for the suggestion! Checked everything again last night and included PO4 in case your hunch was spot on. It unfortunately still comes back at 0.32. When I lowered it down to 0.2x with more GFO all my smooth-skin acros reacted badly, so this tells me that either the test kit is wrong or cyano is out-competing for nutrients and/or amino acids. Just for piece of mind, I tested my RODI bucket that's been sitting for a month or two, wondering if it's possible that Seattle area water is nutrient dense on top of being silt-dense. It came back 0.04. So that's a relief--not a larger problem with water supply. AND I'm super excited to read that NaNO3 did the trick for you!!! That's fabulous!!! (Aside from bottoming out PO4, of course) That part is easy, just adding a little bit less or extra feedings should fine tune that solution. How much did you add? So I don't over-do it also.

 

So since I've installed the new Tunze osmolator, the high water alarm has gone off TWICE. It's clearly NOT reading the water level. I'm pretty upset (just deleted all the cursing from my original draft of this update for courtesy). I've had issues with my dosers on some of the reefkeeper power bar outlets. Something to do with relay type. So I'll buy another extension cord and plug the osmolator directly to the wall just to rule out a failing reefkeeper power bar. I'm so frustrated with equipment right now.

 

My friend had aggressive cancer surgery and a port placed for chemo. She's suffering and it breaks my heart. Most of my internet time has been put toward researching optimal treatments so I may be away from NR more in the near future.

 

Thursday was also the pool session for our dive classes. It was terrifying. I'm a natural swimmer however I did almost drown in the swim portion of a triathlon when I got caught up in milfoil around 10 years ago. All that fear of being trapped underwater came back in the form of my first ever panic attack. After a while I managed to calm down and started to trust the regulator. A little congestion kept me at 5' depth, but I do like the sensation of breathing underwater now. I hoped to be certified this weekend, but will have to wait for the sinuses/ears to clear. Now, we're considering finishing our open water cert in Cozumel, then coming back and applying our credit towards dry-suit classes here in Puget Sound.

 

[cobra2326]

I only dozed about 1ppm NaNO3, but for several days. It’s close enough to KNO3 that you can basically use the same calculations. I’d also use less and work your way up just in case.

 

Im so sorry to hear about the fight your friend is having with cancer. I’ve had several (older) family and friends go through that, and it’s just heart breaking how difficult it can be. You are both in my prayers. 

[mystersyster]

Hey! Was looking through all the TOTMs and saw your tank. Looking great! Sorry to hear the news about your friend. Where are you doing the certification at? Edmonds? I've been wanting to get mine for a while. 

 

The pajama cardinal I picked up from you a while back is doing really well! He's like a dog, very personable lol

[Polarcollision]

On 2/4/2018 at 8:20 PM, cobra2326 said:

I only dozed about 1ppm NaNO3, but for several days. It’s close enough to KNO3 that you can basically use the same calculations. I’d also use less and work your way up just in case.

 

Im so sorry to hear about the fight your friend is having with cancer. I’ve had several (older) family and friends go through that, and it’s just heart breaking how difficult it can be. You are both in my prayers. 

Thanks for the dosing info. In all the ‘excitement’ I forgot to order. Friend got through debulking surgery a little rougher for the wear but is starting to feel more normal now. Chemo starts in a few weeks. Thank you for the prayers, she appreciates it. :-)

 

On 2/9/2018 at 8:29 PM, mystersyster said:

Hey! Was looking through all the TOTMs and saw your tank. Looking great! Sorry to hear the news about your friend. Where are you doing the certification at? Edmonds? I've been wanting to get mine for a while. 

 

The pajama cardinal I picked up from you a while back is doing really well! He's like a dog, very personable lol

We did the pool session and book work through Seattle Scuba School. I would choose another outfit if your interested in diving. Turns out my uncle is a dive master and instructor so he’s going to do the open water dive certification while we’re all in Mexico. I’m so happy to hear the PJ cardinal is doing well! And my husband is going to be even happier! Do you have pics on your thread?

[samnaz]

Hope all is well with you and your beautiful tank these days

[mystersyster]

On 2/16/2018 at 5:26 PM, Polarcollision said:

Thanks for the dosing info. In all the ‘excitement’ I forgot to order. Friend got through debulking surgery a little rougher for the wear but is starting to feel more normal now. Chemo starts in a few weeks. Thank you for the prayers, she appreciates it. :-)

 

We did the pool session and book work through Seattle Scuba School. I would choose another outfit if your interested in diving. Turns out my uncle is a dive master and instructor so he’s going to do the open water dive certification while we’re all in Mexico. I’m so happy to hear the PJ cardinal is doing well! And my husband is going to be even happier! Do you have pics on your thread?

 

[Polarcollision]

On 3/19/2018 at 5:53 PM, samnaz said:

Hope all is well with you and your beautiful tank these days

Yep! I joined in on the acro grow-out contest. And my strawberry shortcake acro is starting to color up after 8(?) months of being a brown turd.

 

19 hours ago, mystersyster said:

 

Awww! He looks like he found his forever home. So glad it worked out.

[Polarcollision]

Husband called at work yesterday to tell me there was an explosion at the aquarium and then everything shut off. We quickly discovered that the Cobalt Neotherm 100 W heater had exploded which must have gone right through the reefkeeper power bar to the GFCI wall outlet, cutting all power to the Aquarium. Now all heaters fail. And while I don’t remember if this heater is original with the setup or not, it’s very possible. That makes it a little over 4 years old. It had a fairly decent run. On the other hand, I’ve since discovered that the heater was manufactured 02/2013 which is the same timeframe as the 200W versions that were exploding a couple years ago. This model just took longer. It’s not that the heater failed, it’s the way it failed. 

 

The house still smells terrible. There’s a heat transfer resin inside that is scented with benzine to alert us if anything goes wrong. This orange greasy goo spewed out into the water column and all over the heater. And, it’s still doing it’s job. The smell won’t let us forget what happened, even a day later with all windows open. (38 degrees outside) While Cobalt says it is innert, they also said it will mechanically break down to smaller and smaller particles of the stickiest, smelliest crap I’ve ever had on my hands. It doesn’t wash off with soap and water. Or solvents. No idea what this will mean for skimmer, pumps, much less gills and coral. Did I mention the water column reeks?

 

So far everything appears to be alive and well. No fish losses, though it was touch and go yesterday morning. And all coral seem to be colored up and extended, with the exception of a branching montipora. 

 

Overall I feel very lucky. It could have been waaay worse. The explosion sound could have been the dreaded Nuvo 24 cracking. It wasn’t. Fish and coal could have died. So far so good. There could have been a short or fire. Thank you GFCI!! Tim could have gotten electrocuted. He didn’t.

 

Cobalt called and offered to replace the heater. I declined, my trust in the brand is broken. But I did accept their offer for a batch of carbon. They were responsive and accepted responsibility, which I appreciate. They also want me to ship the heater to them. I could, if you all think it’s worth while? Mostly I just want to put this stressful past 2 days behind me.

 

On the plus side of life, I went to the second scuba class this week. It was soooooo much fun this time! I’m going to love it!

[pappadumplingz]

15 minutes ago, Polarcollision said:

Husband called at work yesterday to tell me there was an explosion at the aquarium and then everything shut off. We quickly discovered that the Cobalt Neotherm 100 W heater had exploded which must have gone right through the reefkeeper power bar to the GFCI wall outlet, cutting all power to the Aquarium. Now all heaters fail. And while I don’t remember if this heater is original with the setup or not, it’s very possible. That makes it a little over 4 years old. It had a fairly decent run. On the other hand, I’ve since discovered that the heater was manufactured 02/2013 which is the same timeframe as the 200W versions that were exploding a couple years ago. This model just took longer. It’s not that the heater failed, it’s the way it failed. 

 

The house still smells terrible. There’s a heat transfer resin inside that is scented with benzine to alert us if anything goes wrong. This orange greasy goo spewed out into the water column and all over the heater. And, it’s still doing it’s job. The smell won’t let us forget what happened, even a day later with all windows open. (38 degrees outside) While Cobalt says it is innert, they also said it will mechanically break down to smaller and smaller particles of the stickiest, smelliest crap I’ve ever had on my hands. It doesn’t wash off with soap and water. Or solvents. No idea what this will mean for skimmer, pumps, much less gills and coral. Did I mention the water column reeks?

 

So far everything appears to be alive and well. No fish losses, though it was touch and go yesterday morning. And all coral seem to be colored up and extended, with the exception of a branching montipora. 

 

Overall I feel very lucky. It could have been waaay worse. The explosion sound could have been the dreaded Nuvo 24 cracking. It wasn’t. Fish and coal could have died. So far so good. There could have been a short or fire. Thank you GFCI!! Tim could have gotten electrocuted. He didn’t.

 

Cobalt called and offered to replace the heater. I declined, my trust in the brand is broken. But I did accept their offer for a batch of carbon. They were responsive and accepted responsibility, which I appreciate. They also want me to ship the heater to them. I could, if you all think it’s worth while? Mostly I just want to put this stressful past 2 days behind me.

 

On the plus side of life, I went to the second scuba class this week. It was soooooo much fun this time! I’m going to love it!

Ah damn that sucks. Heard that some of the older cobalt heaters have a tendency to do this. And scuba is great, got into it last year and have done 3 dives on the GBR and a bunch down here in Sydney. Where abouts do ya plan to go and dive?

[Indiana Reefin]

Phenomenal tank!!  

[Christopher Marks]

I'm so glad to hear the heater failure didn't harm anything in the tank, those situations don't usually end well! What a relief, hopefully the stinky smell dissipates today. That resin sounds insane, but I guess it helped prevent greater harm? Yuck!

 

10 hours ago, Polarcollision said:

On the plus side of life, I went to the second scuba class this week. It was soooooo much fun this time! I’m going to love it!

How exciting, you probably weren't nervous the second time! Do you have a goal for where you'd like to go diving some day?

[Felicia]

Wow, I am so sorry to hear this!  Heaters are one of those things that are just terrifying, but we have to use them.  I am glad everything is doing ok so far because it could have been much worse!  I hope you can get it all cleaned up and that everything stays healthy and happy!  If you're looking for a new heater, my personal favorite is the Aqueon Pros.  They seem pretty indestructible and I've used them for years and never had one fail.  The only issue with them is that they're pretty long relative to the voltage.  The 50W fit in my IM 14 gallon, but it wasn't cutting it this winter, so I needed to up to a 75-100W heater.  The higher wattage Aqueon Pros were too long for my IM 14, so I bought my first Cobalt Neotherm.   Which now I am nervous about!

 

I would return the heater to the company if you have time.  I work for a consulting firm that does a lot of failure analysis for companies.  If companies can get the incident units back, they can do failure analysis to figure out what happened and hopefully improve their product so that type of failure doesn't happen again.  It definitely helps them to keep improving!

[teenyreef]

Holy crap! I hope the tank is recovering and I'm glad nobody was hurt.

 

I switched to titanium heaters several years back. I was always afraid of breaking the glass on my glass heaters, but I never thought about having one explode.