PSA - Check your heaters.

[abcdefghi]

I work from home, last Tuesday came downstairs to my office where my tank is located and noticed a dead corydoras. While sad, I know fish ultimately die so was not overly concerned, as I went to get the net in order to remove the body, I then notice one of my coral red pencilfish also dead. OK, so now it's clear there is a problem.

Grab the net, put it in the water to remove the body, the water touches my hand........ oh dang, that's hot. Looks like sometime between me changing the water Friday and Tuesday one of my heaters failed and was stuck on. Immediately unplugged it (the LED was on, so I knew which it was) and started changing water to bring the temperature down. The thermometer I have in there showed the temp at about 95F. Ended up doing about a 50% water change in order to get the temperature down. I remember walking in Tuesday morning and thinking a lot of water had evaporated from the tank, now I know why.

In the end it looks like I lost 3 corydoras, 1 glowlite tetra (the oldest fish I had) and all 7 of my pencilfish. The angels, apistos, candy cane tetras and surprisingly, the small BN pleco's I have in there all survived.

So, make sure to check your heaters! I never really bothered to check mine, never had one fail like that before. Had them just quit working, but never stay stuck on.

 

[chriscoli]

I'm so sorry to hear about your losses! I don't think I've really ever heard anyone praise their heater...they're very fussy devices.

 

[Wet Sleeves]

This sucks. Sorry to hear. I will only buy heaters with lifetime warranty's for this very reason. The minute I notice faster water evaporation or temperature spikes I pull the heaters, send the manufacture an email and replace it. I've got back ups on the shelf, so there is no downtime in the tank until the new one shows up. I've been fairly fortunate with catching them in time, but I also keep mostly warmer water fish.

 

[Frank Cowherd]

I find the best strategy is to use two heaters that are undersized, like two 50 watt heaters. One of these can be on all the time and still will not heat the most tanks above 80. And if it is on all the time you will probably notice it.

If you use a high wattage heater, if they go bad, bad stuff happens.

 

[JLW]

A redundant heater controller is the way to go. They've greatly fallen in price. Set them at the temperature you want your tank at, set the heater at that temperature plus 3-4 degrees. The controller shuts off the heaters at, say, 76, but if it fails, the heaters shut themselves off at 80. Only possible failure is if the controller and the heaters fail.

Also way easier to adjust the temperature on a controller outside the tank.

https://smile.amazon.com/Inkbird-Electronic-Temperature-Germination-Controlling/dp/B01486LZ50/
Starting about $30, well worth the investment!

 

[abcdefghi]

I find the best strategy is to use two heaters that are undersized, like two 50 watt heaters. One of these can be on all the time and still will not heat the most tanks above 80. And if it is on all the time you will probably notice it.

If you use a high wattage heater, if they go bad, bad stuff happens.

I actually do use 2 heaters just in case one does go bad, but had not thought to undersize them. At the moment I just have one running on the tank while I figure out picking up a second.

A redundant heater controller is the way to go. They've greatly fallen in price. Set them at the temperature you want your tank at, set the heater at that temperature plus 3-4 degrees. The controller shuts off the heaters at, say, 76, but if it fails, the heaters shut themselves off at 80. Only possible failure is if the controller and the heaters fail.

Also way easier to adjust the temperature on a controller outside the tank.

https://smile.amazon.com/Inkbird-Electronic-Temperature-Germination-Controlling/dp/B01486LZ50/
Starting about $30, well worth the investment!

Think I might pick one of these up, $30 is nothing considering I likely just lost more than that in fish. Assuming the heater plugs into the controller, then a sensor is placed in the tank and the controller just shuts power off when the sensor reads the temperature you want?

 

[JLW]

Correct. That is the biggest way they can fail: the sensor needs to be in the water. If it falls out, or you're lazy about topping the tank off, and it winds up out of the water, the heater will stay on until the room reaches whatever the temperature is ... by which time, your fish will have boiled. That's why I use it with a heater with a built in thermostat (like 85% of them) set just a couple of degrees higher (which should account for the variation in calibration, too). Should that controller somehow fail (or the probe get knocked out), the heater should shut off at its point.

 

[b considine]

Sound advice, Josh. And it gives me another item for my Christmas wish list!

Blaise

 

[CichlidAddict]

Don’t oversize heater. When it comes to heater, more is not better. In a heated/AC room, pick a hearter rated to raise the temp to no more than 5 to 10 degree above ambient, so if the thermostat gets stuck, the temp can’t rise to lethal level

Two heaters will help a little but still vulnerable if you oversize. If you buy the same branch, when one fails, the other one won’t last long. I have simultaneous failure of heaters bought at the same time.

The safest heater is your house HVAC. Your goal is not to rely solely on the heater but to use it to moderate the room temp.

 

[captmicha]

I work from home, last Tuesday came downstairs to my office where my tank is located and noticed a dead corydoras. While sad, I know fish ultimately die so was not overly concerned, as I went to get the net in order to remove the body, I then notice one of my coral red pencilfish also dead. OK, so now it's clear there is a problem.

Grab the net, put it in the water to remove the body, the water touches my hand........ oh dang, that's hot. Looks like sometime between me changing the water Friday and Tuesday one of my heaters failed and was stuck on. Immediately unplugged it (the LED was on, so I knew which it was) and started changing water to bring the temperature down. The thermometer I have in there showed the temp at about 95F. Ended up doing about a 50% water change in order to get the temperature down. I remember walking in Tuesday morning and thinking a lot of water had evaporated from the tank, now I know why.

In the end it looks like I lost 3 corydoras, 1 glowlite tetra (the oldest fish I had) and all 7 of my pencilfish. The angels, apistos, candy cane tetras and surprisingly, the small BN pleco's I have in there all survived.

So, make sure to check your heaters! I never really bothered to check mine, never had one fail like that before. Had them just quit working, but never stay stuck on.

Really sorry to hear about that.

I've had a few heaters do that before and have been lucky enough to catch them. So far...