Heater blew up in tank. Now what?

[Salty_Box_Reef]

My 100w has been struggling to keep up at night, so I figured I would throw the little heater I've been using for water changes in the tank this morning. Hung it over the side, and about 30min later heard a loud bang. The heater had blown the top completely off and scattered what looks like black sand all over the tank. Mostly I'm thankful there was no fire, but now I'm worried the black sand might cause the tank to crash. I vacuumed out what I could but it's everywhere.

 

[JMSKI333]

I would make sure you run some carbon in there and do at least 30% water change. Any signs of stress in the fish or corals?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Yikes!! I would get plenty of saltwater ready and do frequent water changes. I would also get a good amount of carbon on hand and change it once a day. Keep an eye on all parameters, especially ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. If you could, you may want to remove your sand slowly to get all of the black stuff out.

 

[sqcube4me]

never heard of 1 popping but i would def be in the range of a water change ..n keep a close eye on my fish and corals .. GL hope everything works out for you ..

 

[TJ's Reef]

tIMO, IME would not be overly concerned about the black sand as is just that an inert sand mix. Worst thing may be that there are some ferrous content to it and could be picked up by a magnetic algae scraper. The piece or substance that I would be concerned of would be any of the little circuit board with its components that looks to be missing in photo. A water change and a fresh bag/change of carbon is well advised in any case.

Cheers, Todd

 

[gtbarsi]

+1 on the carbon, water change now and be ready to do more.
While you are doing your water change vacuum out more of the black crap. Perhaps you should use some rigid airline tubing for better control while you are vacuuming.

If there is any of the crap floating in the water column you should try running a 100 micron filter sock to get it out.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

Thanks guys. Going to start cycling my other tank now too. I'll do large water changes daily for two days and then another couple over the next week. There's no circuit board missing. Just the top and two wires. The fish looked stressed but I'm sure anyone would be if a bomb just went off in your house. Corals I can't tell cause only the moonlights are on so nothing's really open yet.

 

[Diesel]

You're real lucky that your Glass of your tank didn't cracked.
I had a friend and the same thing happened just to find out his tank was about to explode too.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

Dang. Makes me want an acrylic tank and plastic heaters.

 

[jokerman826]

I had that happen in a QT. It was a cheap heater that i had for a week. It actually caused the circuit breaker to blow which had my cable and internet boxes on.

 

[aslmx]

I had that happen before. Really didnt cause any problems. We came home one night and my son had a 150 watt mh fixture in the bottom of the tank. Luckily it was timed out. Dried it off and let her rip.....GFCI from now on though.

 

[Velodog2]

I had a heater do that years ago and wipe out my tank. You are lucky you were there to catch it.

As far as "just the two wires" that are missing ... are those copper wires? You may want to find them if you are keeping corals.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

They aren't missing. They are attached to the cap that blew off.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

Five hours later and the fish seem ok. Hopefully all is well and I can do a couple water changes and vacuum up the evidence and move on.

 

[gtbarsi]

I got that exact same heater for mixing salt. Last week I was cleaning my pumps in vinegar and RO/DI, and decided to pop the heater in as well. 6 hours later the suction cup was completely warped, rippled, and covered in strange bumps. I have no idea why this happened but after seeing your issues with that heater I am going to be really careful with it and never put in in my DT or sump.

 

[navila06]

one of the reasons I use an inline heater.

 

[Salty_Box_Reef]

Toss it man. Not worth causing a fire or getting yourself electrocuted or something. It also made one heck of a mess too. Blew black smelly stuff all over my office.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

I crashed a tank before because of this but I didn't catch it until about a week after it happened! Carbon and a few water changes and you'll be good.