Oh NO.

[Webslinger]

A few weeks ago... I came home from work and went to feed the tank, the water was very hot to the touch. Looked at my heater and it showed it was at 77 and on, I keep it at 78. Threw in another thermometer and the tank was at 98. I removed the heater and the temp got back to 78 by the morning. Unfortunately I lost 2 dwarf angles that I've had for several years and 90% of my corals. All torches, hammers, most frogspawn, toadspool died. My anemone's shrunk to about half the size of a dime and washed out but look to be rebounding. The Majority of my zoas died except my hulks and a few BamBAm and nuclear greens. After removing the dead and many water changes the tanks levels are all good and steady now and I'm ready to start again.

I'll post some pics soon.

 

[Brew12]

A few weeks ago... I came home from work and went to feed the tank, the water was very hot to the touch. Looked at my heater and it showed it was at 77 and on, I keep it at 78. Threw in another thermometer and the tank was at 98. I removed the heater and the temp got back to 78 by the morning. Unfortunately I lost 2 dwarf angles that I've had for several years and 90% of my corals. All torches, hammers, most frogspawn, toadspool died. My anemone's shrunk to about half the size of a dime and washed out but look to be rebounding. The Majority of my zoas died except my hulks and a few BamBAm and nuclear greens. After removing the dead and many water changes the tanks levels are all good and steady now and I'm ready to start again.

I'll post some pics soon.

Oh man, I'm sorry you are going through that! This hobby is hard enough without having equipment malfunction. I guess this shows just why a heater controller is so very important.

 

[Webslinger]

It was a titanium heater that had it's own digital controller and temp Gage. I think the thermostat froze or broke at 77 and the heater never shut off.

 

[stevo01]

It was a titanium heater that had it's own digital controller and temp Gage. I think the thermostat froze or broke at 77 and the heater never shut off.

Sorry for your losses

Adding the external temp controller will prevent this from happening. The failure was because the controller was built into the heater, and obviously did not work as a failsafe. Very sad indeed!

What heater was this?

 

[AlabamaClownfish]

Sorry for your loss! I recommend getting a Finnex controller with alarm and use an Eheim Jager heater.

 

[Brew12]

It was a titanium heater that had it's own digital controller and temp Gage. I think the thermostat froze or broke at 77 and the heater never shut off.

As you rebuild, I would strongly recommend using something like this.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01486LZ50?psc=1

Cheap insurance for your heater since all heaters fail, its only a matter of when and if they fail on or off. You can use the heater controller as a backup to this unit or use this unit as a backup to your heater controller. Just set one a little higher than the other.

 

[AlabamaClownfish]

Also, I would buy a couple of heaters and just go ahead and replace them every year.

 

[Breadman03]

Also, you might want to use a pair or three smaller heaters so that a single failure won't be able to kill your tank.

I really need to grab a pair of Ranco controllers so my Apex isn't a single point of failure.

 

[Webslinger]

I don't see how any of these controllers would of helped. Not fail safe. I think I would needed two thermostats. If the controller gets a wrong temp. its still going to turn the heater on. Am I missing something?

This is what it was: JBJ True Temp Digital Controller w/ Heater

 

[AlabamaClownfish]

That is why you get a reliable one, like Finnex with an alarm.

 

[Webslinger]

That is why you get a reliable one, like Finnex with an alarm.

That wouldn't of helped me. The alarm wouldn't have gone off with the controller getting a temp signal of 77. Everything is reliable until it fails, maybe I should swap out the whole unit every 4 years.

 

[ngoodermuth]

My apex will cut the power to my lights and both heaters if the tank goes over 82. It has its own temp probe, it has nothing to do with the heater thermostats.

 

[Brew12]

I don't see how any of these controllers would of helped. Not fail safe. I think I would needed two thermostats. If the controller gets a wrong temp. its still going to turn the heater on. Am I missing something?

This is what it was: JBJ True Temp Digital Controller w/ Heater

If you get a heater with one thermostat and then a controller with another thermostat you get redundancy. For instance, I use an Apex instead of a heater controller. I have my heaters set to turn off at 80F and my Apex turns them off at 78. If my external thermometer ever gets above 78 and I show a heater on then I know I have a problem.

 

[AlabamaClownfish]

If you get a heater with one thermostat and then a controller with another thermostat you get redundancy. For instance, I use an Apex instead of a heater controller. I have my heaters set to turn off at 80F and my Apex turns them off at 78. If my external thermometer ever gets above 78 and I show a heater on then I know I have a problem.

Exactly, finnex is separate from the heater with a probe. You can set the alarm temp and the temp at what point you want the heater to cut on.....I believe that's right. I know it's one of the other, I can't remember if it is both. I have three of their controllers, two without the alarm and one with the alarm. I can't remember which is which though.

 

[AlabamaClownfish]

And finnex is accurate to a .5 degree.

 

[Webslinger]

But the finnex also fail. I just read on another site that their finnex also overheated their tank with a faulty thermostat. I guess you would need 2 controllers, 2 themostats and 2 heaters tied in together to shut each other off in case of a failure. Finnex isn't the answer.

 

[AlabamaClownfish]

https://www.reef2reef.com/index.php?threads/102715/

Most of the breeders I know use Finnex with Eheim, best combo hands down. Here's a link you should read up on. Ditch the crappy titanium heater at least.