Sad day :/

[jacoreefs]

y heater killed all my fish :/ including 2 cleaner shrimp , 2 mocha storms and some chromis .
Luckily the few corals i had are still alive. Really devastating. What can i use to prevent heater nukes?

 

[EricR]

Did it stick ON and overheat the tank?
Most people go for redundancy, like controller to manage temp and heater set higher just in case of the unlikely event that the controller sticks ON.

Sorry, by the way...

 

[kevgib67]

So sorry, I feel your pain. I’m not an equipment guy but I change out my titanium heater every year as a precaution.

 

[Biokabe]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I had a similar thing happen to me when I was new to reefkeeping - heater broke when I was on vacation (of course!), the tank was 98 degrees by the time we got home. Lost everything except for one fish.

Since then I've changed how I run my heaters. First, I don't use a single heater. I have two heaters, neither of which is powerful enough on its own to fully heat the tank. So if my tank needs 300w of heating, instead of a 300w heater I'll have two 175w heaters. If one of them breaks, the other one will turn off once the tank starts heating up.

Second, I have the heaters on a dedicated heater controller (Inkbird and BRS both make a reliable model). So if the tank starts getting hot, then the controller will turn them off before the tank gets too hot.

Finally the heater controller is itself plugged into my Apex, so if the heater controller fails my aquarium controller will turn it off.

Three levels of redundancy, and on top of that I regularly replace my heaters every couple of years.

 

[ReeferFive-0]

Sorry to hear that. What kind of heater was this? I know a lot of people here use the titanium heaters with controllers. I'm not that fancy, but just replaced my old heater with a Sicce Scuba that has a 5 year warranty, but it will likely get replaced sooner due to me being cautious. So far it is keeping temps really stable.

 

[jacoreefs]

Did it stick ON and overheat the tank?
Most people go for redundancy, like controller to manage temp and heater set higher just in case of the unlikely event that the controller sticks ON.

Sorry, by the way...

Thanks for the reply. And unfortunately yes i think thats what happened. The heater is still all in one piece no break or anything.

 

[jacoreefs]

So sorry, I feel your pain. I’m not an equipment guy but I change out my titanium heater every year as a precaution.

Thanks . Im definitely trying a titanium next with an inkbird.

 

[jacoreefs]

Sorry to hear about your loss. I had a similar thing happen to me when I was new to reefkeeping - heater broke when I was on vacation (of course!), the tank was 98 degrees by the time we got home. Lost everything except for one fish.

Since then I've changed how I run my heaters. First, I don't use a single heater. I have two heaters, neither of which is powerful enough on its own to fully heat the tank. So if my tank needs 300w of heating, instead of a 300w heater I'll have two 175w heaters. If one of them breaks, the other one will turn off once the tank starts heating up.

Second, I have the heaters on a dedicated heater controller (Inkbird and BRS both make a reliable model). So if the tank starts getting hot, then the controller will turn them off before the tank gets too hot.

Finally the heater controller is itself plugged into my Apex, so if the heater controller fails my aquarium controller will turn it off.

Three levels of redundancy, and on top of that I regularly replace my heaters every couple of years.

That’s definitely the way to go. I will definitely have to start saving up for some new fish and the inkbird

 

[jacoreefs]

Sorry to hear that. What kind of heater was this? I know a lot of people here use the titanium heaters with controllers. I'm not that fancy, but just replaced my old heater with a Sicce Scuba that has a 5 year warranty, but it will likely get replaced sooner due to me being cautious. So far it is keeping temps really stable.

I was using the heater that the aquarium came with when i bought it. I belive its an eheim or something like that

 

[Cell]

Employ two half sized heaters (watts) instead of a single full sized such that if one fails, it can't nuke your tank. Both would have to fail at the same time, which is very unlikely.

 

[jacoreefs]

Employ two half sized heaters (watts) instead of a single full sized such that if one fails, it can't nuke your tank. Both would have to fail at the same time, which is very unlikely.

Will definitely do that . Thank you

 

[BeanAnimal]

So sorry, I feel your pain. I’m not an equipment guy but I change out my titanium heater every year as a precaution.

that's just silly... use a quality controller and NOT the thermostat in the heater and then it can't stick on. The thermostat in the heater is set a few degrees above the controller setpoint as the fail-safe.

 

[ReeferFive-0]

I was using the heater that the aquarium came with when i bought it. I belive its an eheim or something like that

Most people avoid those cheap heaters for this reason or at the very least change them out annually. I'm sorry you lost fish due to this, but we all learn from our mistakes.

 

[BeanAnimal]

Most people avoid those cheap heaters for this reason or at the very least change them out annually. I'm sorry you lost fish due to this, but we all learn from our mistakes.

This "change them out annually" trend is bothersome... Using a controller would provide infinitely more safety.

 

[Uncle99]

Inkbird 306, dual probe, WiFi.
Shuts down when required.
Measures both probes at once and checking difference to eliminate faulty probe.
Sends a push notification to your phone
Controlled by phone app.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Malcontent]

This is why you shouldn't replace heaters annually:

Bathtub curve - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ColorMeGone]

You can get the standard InkBird 306T for $24 which I use and have 2, 50w heaters in my 10 gal tank. Works great and cheap insurance for me.

 

[BeanAnimal]

This is why you shouldn't replace heaters annually:

Bathtub curve - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

In a nutshell - NO

First of all, where did you get your time t to be (1 year)???

Secondly, you do realize that the first 1/4 of the time t is HIGHER than average failures right? I don't want to get into the math other than to simply state that you spend 1/4 of the year in a higher than average failure rate for no reason.

Aquarium heaters fail primarily for THREE reasons.

1 - internal thermostat failure. This is the most common mode. There are cheap bi-metal strips that act as both the thermostat AND the contactor. Failure rate is due to arcing AND metal fatigue.

2 - water leaking into the envelope and causing a short or steam that pops the envelope.

3 - thermal stress from expansion and contraction where the envelope touches the tank or is partially out of the water.

#1 is the most common and #2 and #3 are 100% avoidable.

So how do we ELIMINATE #1 ??

We use a reliable external controller and bypass control by the internal thermostat. That internal thermostat simply acts as a failsafe, but is otherwise ALWAYS in closed state. There is no thermal cycling, arcing or metal fatigue.

Thing like the "bathtub curve" have to be applied correctly to be valid and/or fail-safes incorporated to abate them when possible. Replacing a heater every year is not adding much to the chances of avoiding failure, especially given there are several other options that are exponentially more effective.

 

[JGT]

Inkbird 306, dual probe, WiFi.
Shuts down when required.
Measures both probes at once and checking difference to eliminate faulty probe.
Sends a push notification to your phone
Controlled by phone app.

Sorry for your loss.

This^^^. It’s not the Eheim. I’ve used them for years with no issues. Same can happen with more expensive heaters. The weak link is the thermostat. Put the heaters on a controller and they’ll run for years.

 

[BigMonkeyBrain]

Bimetalic what ?

"And today the EHEIM adjustable heater is an ultra-modern electronic thermal device with the best available technology."