Dodged a bullet. Need heater recommendation!

[azvictoria]

Hi All,
Last night I did my weekly water change, very basic gravel siphon and 50% clean water plus chemistry test. It's routine. Very vibrant fish and plants, well maintained. Mostly South American - angels, tetras, corys, pleco, etc and nothing new added recently. I run it as a river system, high current canister, lots of bubblers. I didn't change any filter media, clean deco. This morning everyone was perfect, hungry and got fed, normal. Came home at lunch to let a young dog out and all were gasping at the top - some tetras were vertical. Even nerites and assassin snails were at the top. I went to test the water and noticed it was HOT. Too hot, and likely compromised oxygen. The heater / thermostat failed. Yes, it was off when I did the water change last night - the filter, heater and light are on a strip and I switch it off before a siphon goes in. Fortunately I was able to save most. I was draining and filling at the same time to bring in cool water / O2 and all living fish snapped back very quickly. Any advice on a heater that will shut itself off before this happens, or before it's starts zapping things like the one I had last year? Or do I just get a new every year? I'm in Colorado, USA - it does get cold in the winters and I'd like one that doesn't have to work too hard to keep up. My tank is a 60 gallon. Thank heaven for puppies - if it wasn't for that dog, I would have come home to a disastrous loss. I'm sad for the four little tetra lives lost

 

[Bdoggy]

That's a scary story... I know some heaters have a separate thermometer that goes in... Not sure of there are features that could cut power to the heater if temps are too high, but I will look into that.

 

[Bdoggy]

Hi All,
Last night I did my weekly water change, very basic gravel siphon and 50% clean water plus chemistry test. It's routine. Very vibrant fish and plants, well maintained. Mostly South American - angels, tetras, corys, pleco, etc and nothing new added recently. I run it as a river system, high current canister, lots of bubblers. I didn't change any filter media, clean deco. This morning everyone was perfect, hungry and got fed, normal. Came home at lunch to let a young dog out and all were gasping at the top - some tetras were vertical. Even nerites and assassin snails were at the top. I went to test the water and noticed it was HOT. Too hot, and likely compromised oxygen. The heater / thermostat failed. Yes, it was off when I did the water change last night - the filter, heater and light are on a strip and I switch it off before a siphon goes in. Fortunately I was able to save most. I was draining and filling at the same time to bring in cool water / O2 and all living fish snapped back very quickly. Any advice on a heater that will shut itself off before this happens, or before it's starts zapping things like the one I had last year? Or do I just get a new every year? I'm in Colorado, USA - it does get cold in the winters and I'd like one that doesn't have to work too hard to keep up. My tank is a 60 gallon. Thank heaven for puppies - if it wasn't for that dog, I would have come home to a disastrous loss. I'm sad for the four little tetra lives lost

Ok, there are heaters with "over heat protection" the temp sensor is supposed to shut the power to the heating element off if needed and Will show an error code... However I'm pretty new to this. So I would look into different reviews etc. Or hopefully someone can provide experienced information...

 

[azvictoria]

Ok

Ok, there are heaters with "over heat protection" the temp sensor is supposed to shut the power to the heating element off if needed and Will show an error code... However I'm pretty new to this. So I would look into different reviews etc. Or hopefully someone can provide experienced information...

Thank you so much! I've been online looking at reviews, and they're all over the board. I'm not finding a really solid heater. I've tried Marineland, Aqueon and the latest fail was Fluval.

 

[Alice B]

Hi All,
Last night I did my weekly water change, very basic gravel siphon and 50% clean water plus chemistry test. It's routine. Very vibrant fish and plants, well maintained. Mostly South American - angels, tetras, corys, pleco, etc and nothing new added recently. I run it as a river system, high current canister, lots of bubblers. I didn't change any filter media, clean deco. This morning everyone was perfect, hungry and got fed, normal. Came home at lunch to let a young dog out and all were gasping at the top - some tetras were vertical. Even nerites and assassin snails were at the top. I went to test the water and noticed it was HOT. Too hot, and likely compromised oxygen. The heater / thermostat failed. Yes, it was off when I did the water change last night - the filter, heater and light are on a strip and I switch it off before a siphon goes in. Fortunately I was able to save most. I was draining and filling at the same time to bring in cool water / O2 and all living fish snapped back very quickly. Any advice on a heater that will shut itself off before this happens, or before it's starts zapping things like the one I had last year? Or do I just get a new every year? I'm in Colorado, USA - it does get cold in the winters and I'd like one that doesn't have to work too hard to keep up. My tank is a 60 gallon. Thank heaven for puppies - if it wasn't for that dog, I would have come home to a disastrous loss. I'm sad for the four little tetra lives lost

All heaters need supervision in my opinion and in summer - in Texas, I unplug all mine until I need to light the woodstove. If your tank is large enough you can use 2 small heaters, the odds on both failing on the same day are fairly low.

 

[Bdoggy]

Thank you so much! I've been online looking at reviews, and they're all over the board. I'm not finding a really solid heater. I've tried Marineland, Aqueon and the latest fail was Fluval.

Ok... So this is definitely something that I'm sure has been discussed on this forum... So I'm sure there is info here you can dig up. But after researching this subject. My own conclusion is that you should have a heater with overheat protection and also a temp controller as a redundant backup... I haven't found any of the big name brands with those features though. Which is strange... The hygger with digital display has it.. So there are a few products i see that make sense.. like i said though... I'm sure this is a topic that's been broached on many occasions here.. so maybe wait for one of the more experienced folks have a stab at this one.. After hearing your story though. I think i will be investing in a temperature controller.
As you can see it's just a separate thermometer that you plug your heater into. It will cut the power if the heater acts up...

 

[Bdoggy]

The temp controller here though is a dual stage for cooling as well.. so maybe there is a cheaper solution.

 

[itiwhetu]

Ok, there are heaters with "over heat protection" the temp sensor is supposed to shut the power to the heating element off if needed and Will show an error code... However I'm pretty new to this. So I would look into different reviews etc. Or hopefully someone can provide experienced information...

That is what the thermostat does, if the thermostat fails then you could be in trouble

 

[itiwhetu]

The only heater/thermostat I ever use are Ehiem

 

[Bdoggy]

That is what the thermostat does, if the thermostat fails then you could be in trouble

Right and that's exactly why I thought it would be wise to have a redundant system... Because obviously the protection doesn't work if the sensor is defective....

 

[Bdoggy]

The only heater/thermostat I ever use are Ehiem

I bought an eheim heater... It works fine but I'm not completely happy with it.. it's a "wifi" heater. I didn't realize it but the only way to set or check temp is by connecting my phone to it... Which is a complete pain.. half the time I can't stay connected for more than a few seconds... So I would buy eheim again but not this model..

 

[itiwhetu]

I bought an eheim heater... It works fine but I'm not completely happy with it.. it's a "wifi" heater. I didn't realize it but the only way to set or check temp is by connecting my phone to it... Which is a complete pain.. half the time I can't stay connected for more than a few seconds... So I would buy eheim again but not this model..

Sorry I don't get it either. I have simple ones with no tech attached. Just the plug it in and leave it alone type

 

[Oblio]

I like my Inkbird controller ITC-306A. It has dual temp probes for cross check and dual output relays for redundancy. There are cheaper models without Wifi. And you set without your phone.

 

[itiwhetu]

I like my Inkbird controller ITC-306A. It has dual temp probes for cross check and dual output relays for redundancy. There are cheaper models without Wifi. And you set without your phone.

That is some cool piece of kit

 

[azvictoria]

All heaters need supervision in my opinion and in summer - in Texas, I unplug all mine until I need to light the woodstove. If your tank is large enough you can use 2 small heaters, the odds on both failing on the same day are fairly low.

That's a great idea! I can hopefully trust one larger one or two mediums in the winter. Even here in the summer, they do need some heat, but you're right - smaller would do just fine.