Cobalt NeoTherm heater exploded in sump.

Cell · Sep 17, 2020

A $30 inkbird is a pretty much no brainer if you have hundreds or thousands invested in livestock.

joec · Sep 17, 2020

clockman said:
My Cobalt 150W Neo Therm malfunctioned overnight, and by the time I noticed it, the water temp was already 94F! It was a fluke that I noticed it, as the ATO was beeping due to the IceCap sensor being a bit flaky. If not for that, I would not have stuck my hand in the water to notice how warm it was. So now II've ordered InkBird as a backup temp sensor to turn off the heater in case of another malfunction. I lost all my xenias, maybe the GSP and Umbrella Green Polyp survived, but they are all retracted atm. The spiderman zoas and twizzlers seemed to have survived. My prized blood-red fireshrimp cooked and became a meal for the nassarius snails. My pistol shrimp seemed to have survived. Saw it poke its head out of the rock burrow. All the fish survived, but acting a bit stressed. Frankly I feel completed spent and devastated by the loss. I can understand why some people give up the hobby when they encounter a major catastrophe.

Sorry about that, very frustrating. I've had Neotherms get stuck ON before too. I've also had an Eheim get stuck ON in a QT and it killed a fire Shrimp

I use three Neotherm 100's instead of two 150's on my DT. One got stuck on once but the lower wattage was not enough to do any damage becausee while that one was stuck on, the other two essentially cycled OFF, so no issues.

MrPike · Sep 17, 2020

I run an aquarium maintenance business, have seen a dozen Of these heaters fail just like this. Cobalt is poorly designed and poorly manufactured then imported from the lowest bidder but marketed as quality. Only thing cobalt I trust is maxi jet, and it’s because cobalt purchased an already tried and true design.

Such a disgrace.

Sorry this happened to you and well played with the gfci.

MrPike · Sep 17, 2020

On another note, a ranco controller with just about any titanium heater seems quite reliable. Not sure what it is about the ranco, perhaps fewer on/off cycling, but heaters seem to last way longer when they are used.