Heater just blewup.

dennism · Jun 23, 2019

My heater blew up so to speak.
I heard a pop and have a burnt smell around the aquarium. It blew the GFCI I saw the heater and it didnt explode but the top separated from the glass tube but all internal components were still captive in the tube. I have a few turbo snails and 2 clowns that appear to be doing ok. Are there any dangerous elements in a heater that may kill the fish? I dont have anything that can test for trace metals if so.ill monitor the fish if they start looking stressed I'll put them In a temporary holding container while i do a 50% water change.

geddavis · Jun 23, 2019

Pull out the heater do a 50% change and vacuum out the sump. Watch fish closely. In some heaters there can be toxic chemicals.

Silver14SS · Jun 23, 2019

Maybe run carbon if you think there may be some contaminants?

Cell · Jun 23, 2019

What brand is it? Going to avoid that one...

Gareth elliott · Jun 23, 2019

You can run some carbon or polyfilter. there are always weird metals in equipment. But your gfci did its job and saved the bigger danger, electric shock

Skynyrd Fish · Jun 23, 2019

Water change and carbon if you have it. Everyone will be fine.

Gareth elliott · Jun 23, 2019

Cell said:
What brand is it? Going to avoid that one...

Any heater can fail. Read reviews on even the supposed best, you will see occurrences of heaters failing catastrophically.
Best bet would be redundancy, heater on a temperature controller and an electrical probe in the water.

The safest option is honestly no heater and a keeping the room through a thermostat at the temperature you want the reef to be. Also the most expensive option.

Cell · Jun 23, 2019

Gareth elliott said:
Any heater can fail. Read reviews on even the supposed best, you will see occurrences of heaters failing catastrophically.
Best bet would be redundancy, heater on a temperature controller and an electrical probe in the water.

The safest option is honestly no heater and a keeping the room through a thermostat at the temperature you want the reef to be. Also the most expensive option.

All heaters can and will fail. I dont believe all heaters can literally fall apart into your tank. I could totally be wrong though.

Gareth elliott · Jun 23, 2019

Cell said:
All heaters can and will fail. I dont believe all heaters can literally fall apart into your tank. I could totally be wrong though.

If you take apart any of the glass heaters the thermostats are all very delicate. Add its in a glass tube, that can scratch and sound travels well through. It doesnt take a lot for any of them to think its a lot colder stay on, and pop.

Crabs McJones · Jun 23, 2019

geddavis said:
Pull out the heater do a 50% change and vacuum out the sump. Watch fish closely. In some heaters there can be toxic chemicals.

Silver14SS said:
Maybe run carbon if you think there may be some contaminants?

Gareth elliott said:
You can run some carbon or polyfilter. there are always weird metals in equipment. But your gfci did its job and saved the bigger danger, electric shock

+1 best advice to follow.

MCooper · Aug 5, 2019

How did your tank hold up? My heater blew the other night sadly and every single coral is dead. 90% of my fish are dead and now a few remaining that I still think will die. So sad.