Hello everyone, so currently we are having crazy weather in Las Vegas, (snow and rain) and of course during this crazy weather my heater stopped working. I don't know for how long since I was gone for most of the day. I have a 90gallon mixed reef. The heater was a 300w. The temp in the aquarium got down to 72 degrees. Lucklily I had a spare 150W heater that I quickly dropped in. So hopefully it will do till I get a new one this morning. my question is will my fish and coral have any negative effects withe temp being so low. Any advice would be greatly appreciated if.
Heater stopped working
- Thread starter dcowboys2000
- Start date
- Tagged users None
Mical
2500 Club Member
Always have a spare. BRS did a video on heater lifespan and their final conclusion - replace your heater at the end of it's warranty. I know sounds like a sales pitch but I personally have spares.
Me too. I like the Finnex titanium heaters. In my experience they have been the most reliable. Every other I've tried has failed on me.
It's terrible to think that all that hard work, time and money invested in your reef tank can be undone by a 40$ piece of equipment.
So far all my coral, inverts, fish and my clam look good.
Saltyreef
I'm not your dad...
The newer digitally controlled titanium finnex heater I recieved was a dud right out of the box [emoji17]. Ive had issues from day 1 with new generations of finnex and via aqua. Sadly both brand heaters acted the same way, even their replacements acted up when a new one was sent.
I think it all comes down to QA/QC.
No doubt you got a good one but for some of us, they dont work right out of the box or shortly after start drifting, never coming on or stick on.
Good advice above about replacement backup heaters and or replacing at the end of warranty. I keep the inaccurate ones around for mixing water lol.
Saltyreef
I'm not your dad...
Yes, two 150w heaters will always be safer than one 300w. For under and over temping issues alike.
The most depressing things I tell new people.. One of them is my outlook on the inevitability of a tank, the other is my personal feelings towards livestock. Both grim, but with a purpose.
1) One day you will wake up, and your whole tank will be dead. It's almost an inevitability, something will fail, a heater may crack.. Just recently a friend of mine had a UV Sterilizer crack and melt ABS into his tank. This guy has well over 20 years experience and a very nice system. He never would have guessed that was the cause. One day he went to check on it after MONTHS of everything dying and poof, black tar on his hands (melted ABS). Nobody would have guessed. Not me. Not him. Not our friends. Not our club, with probably a combined 200 years of reefing experience!
2) Your tank WANTS to die. Every animal you have wants to go explore the carpet. Every coral wants to sting each other to death, or melt away for no reason. It's our job to play detective and keep that from happening, with jump screens for fish, safety tops for overflows, clean water, coral placement, trace supplementation, etc etc etc.
This can at first seem like a very bleak outlook... But really having this mindset does two things... Soften the blow, and prepare you for the uphill battle that is keeping a saltwater reef. And you can have success for MANY years, for it all to suddenly crash one night when you're asleep, or on one vacation. I'm not saying this to scare people. I'm saying this to get them prepared, and ready to act without panicking. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. Panic is reckless, reckless is slow.
Lastly, my two favorite sayings that pertain to reefing (and one from fishing)
1) Only bad things happen quickly.
2) If you think you're fishing (reefing) slow enough, SLOW DOWN.
If you keep those two mindsets and sayings in the back of your mind, you can solve ANY problem you run into. The only other thing one needs besides some mental adjustment is a few pieces of backup gear... A cheap "just in case" return pump, a flow pump, a few heaters. Cheap ones are fine for emergency.
