My heater just broke... how long do I have
- Thread starter i<3fish
- Start date
aw2
Active Member
Here's my story about glass heaters.
I once got a Scorpionfish from a LFS, in Chicago...no name on the tag.
Come to find out, it was a species that had never been seen in the hobby before and people at the Shedd Aquarium even said it was most likely a new species, caught and sent off as something else.
I had people from Shedd, Boston Aquarium, Berkely in Cali...just to name a few...that were hounding me, wanting that fish. I kept refusing and kept refusing and finally decided to give it to Shedd, with the understanding that if was truly a new species, I'd get credit for donating it to the aquarium.
The day before I was supposed to take it to Shedd, the glass heater in the Scorpions tank broke and killed the fish.
Just say no to glass heaters! Buy Titanium heaters...they're not that much more expensive.
I once got a Scorpionfish from a LFS, in Chicago...no name on the tag.
Come to find out, it was a species that had never been seen in the hobby before and people at the Shedd Aquarium even said it was most likely a new species, caught and sent off as something else.
I had people from Shedd, Boston Aquarium, Berkely in Cali...just to name a few...that were hounding me, wanting that fish. I kept refusing and kept refusing and finally decided to give it to Shedd, with the understanding that if was truly a new species, I'd get credit for donating it to the aquarium.
The day before I was supposed to take it to Shedd, the glass heater in the Scorpions tank broke and killed the fish.
Just say no to glass heaters! Buy Titanium heaters...they're not that much more expensive.
rhomer
Member
I have a titanium heater with the controller outside the tank. I went through 2 glass heaters in 8 months prior to getting this heater. I've had this one for 3 years. If you have a lot of pumps in your system I would think your temp will stay fairly stable. You could bump your heat up in the main room and you should be good to go for a while. My heater goes on very rarely, and my temp of my tank stays stable at 79.
Rob
Rob
robn
Member
I had a glass heater break in my 29gal freshwater frontosa fry tank. I didn't know it was broken until I stuck my hand in the water....found out really quick!!!! Gave me quite a jolt. The fish were fine though.....the only thing I can think of is the fish are not "grounded" and I was.....don't know if that's it because I'm not an electrician, but it's my best guess.
I had a heater get "stuck" once and it spiked the tank up to 95.....I lost almost everything, all inverts and most fish. A couple of fish survived. Almost all corals died....from then on I've had my heater on a timer, 4 hours max at one time.....never had a problem since....
I had a heater get "stuck" once and it spiked the tank up to 95.....I lost almost everything, all inverts and most fish. A couple of fish survived. Almost all corals died....from then on I've had my heater on a timer, 4 hours max at one time.....never had a problem since....
scsinet
Active Member
Originally Posted by I<3Fish
I dont understand what a heater does without glass over it? Does it electricute the fish?
Possibly. Saltwater is extremely conductive. You should see what happened when I spilled some on a power strip. Lesson: Always have a SW tank running off a GFCI.
It's less likely to electrocute your fish if you don't have a grounding probe or anything else grounded in the water, and if the heater is in a sump or something other than the display tank. Electricity travels from the hot to neutral or the hot to ground, and always follows the shortest path, so unless the fish are between one of those two combinations, the electricity will likely not travel through them. If your heater is in your display tank, it's more likely a fish will end up between the wires (I.E. "in circuit").
AW2 is right. Always buy Titanium. 0% chance of breakage.
... and while you are at it, buy two. Even if the second one is glass, you can keep it on the shelf for emergency failures, quarantines, water changes, etc. As cheap as they are, there is no excuse not to.
I run two heaters on my system, both Won titanium heaters. One is set to 78, the other to 74. If the first one stops working for whatever reason, the tank will cool to 74 and the other one will kick in as sort of a "failover."
I dont understand what a heater does without glass over it? Does it electricute the fish?
Possibly. Saltwater is extremely conductive. You should see what happened when I spilled some on a power strip. Lesson: Always have a SW tank running off a GFCI.
It's less likely to electrocute your fish if you don't have a grounding probe or anything else grounded in the water, and if the heater is in a sump or something other than the display tank. Electricity travels from the hot to neutral or the hot to ground, and always follows the shortest path, so unless the fish are between one of those two combinations, the electricity will likely not travel through them. If your heater is in your display tank, it's more likely a fish will end up between the wires (I.E. "in circuit").
AW2 is right. Always buy Titanium. 0% chance of breakage.
... and while you are at it, buy two. Even if the second one is glass, you can keep it on the shelf for emergency failures, quarantines, water changes, etc. As cheap as they are, there is no excuse not to.
I run two heaters on my system, both Won titanium heaters. One is set to 78, the other to 74. If the first one stops working for whatever reason, the tank will cool to 74 and the other one will kick in as sort of a "failover."
