Heater Too Good?

[fishlette]

hiya

i got myself my new 4ftx18x18 last night yay got it all set up with the heater etc and once the heater had been in there for a while i turned it on and set it to 26C (78F). i sat and watched for about 30 minutes and everything seemed good so i went to bed.

i have an aqua one stainless steel 300W heater. normally with the heaters they switch off at the desired temperature but when i got up this morning the temp in there was 32.9C and the light was still on on the heater to indicate that it was actually still heating. ive turned it down to 22C on the heater to get it to cool down but why didnt it stop when the desired temp was reached? its a brand new heater...maybe its dodgy? its like a warm bath in that tank hehe

im most concerned about the effects this may have on the fish in there. there are corys, bn plecs, tetras of many kinds, blue rams, bolivian butterflies, bumble bee gobies, kuhli loaches, a clown loach, gouramis and a black shark (not mine and not staying so anyone who was going to say something neednt worry ) im quite worried that this temp will effect them in some way.

thanks in advance for any help

p.s. no light on new tank yet but will post pics tonight

 

[fishlette]

five casualties so far

ive turned the heater off and added a small amount of cool water to one end to try and cool the water down but no good. tis weird but the temp is still going up and down even though ive taken the heater out now

 

[Socks]

wow,sorry to hear about your fishys

Well,it could be that your heaters thermostat is bad.Also make sure you read over the directions again,good heaters have a thermostat ajustment,to bring your actual temp in sync with your heaters thermostat.Two out of three of my heaters needed to be ajusted,but non of them was that far off.

 

[fishlette]

wow,sorry to hear about your fishys

Well,it could be that your heaters thermostat is bad.Also make sure you read over the directions again,good heaters have a thermostat ajustment,to bring your actual temp in sync with your heaters thermostat.Two out of three of my heaters needed to be ajusted,but non of them was that far off.

oh ok have these in my other tanks and never had any probs. im leaning towards the thermostat prob as you are the second person to say that so far

 

[Gatorbait]

wow,sorry to hear about your fishys

Well,it could be that your heaters thermostat is bad.Also make sure you read over the directions again,good heaters have a thermostat ajustment,to bring your actual temp in sync with your heaters thermostat.Two out of three of my heaters needed to be ajusted,but non of them was that far off.

oh ok have these in my other tanks and never had any probs. im leaning towards the thermostat prob as you are the second person to say that so far

Exactly why I hate heaters and tried telling people in a thread last week not to rely on them "but they have a thermostat" I was told over and over... I've heard too many people losing fish over bad thermostats.

Best case scenario is to get 2 heaters, both rated for HALF of your tank size. That way when (not if) your thermostat goes out it isn't big enough to overheat your tank in a day or two, plenty enough time to catch it. If it gets stuck off the other heater will be able to heat your tank at least enough to keep your fish alive until you find that out also.

 

[fishlette]

wow,sorry to hear about your fishys

Well,it could be that your heaters thermostat is bad.Also make sure you read over the directions again,good heaters have a thermostat ajustment,to bring your actual temp in sync with your heaters thermostat.Two out of three of my heaters needed to be ajusted,but non of them was that far off.

oh ok have these in my other tanks and never had any probs. im leaning towards the thermostat prob as you are the second person to say that so far

Exactly why I hate heaters and tried telling people in a thread last week not to rely on them "but they have a thermostat" I was told over and over... I've heard too many people losing fish over bad thermostats.

Best case scenario is to get 2 heaters, both rated for HALF of your tank size. That way when (not if) your thermostat goes out it isn't big enough to overheat your tank in a day or two, plenty enough time to catch it. If it gets stuck off the other heater will be able to heat your tank at least enough to keep your fish alive until you find that out also.

ive gotta say i have 4 other heaters running (same company different type eg not stainless steel) and those ones have been cruising along for ages. this is the second of this kind i have had and both have screwed up in some way. fortunately last time i didnt lose any but my fatalities count for today is up to 17

we dont have anymore of those at work anyways so i was thinking about getting two just before.

the temp has dropped now to 29.7C so im getting there. everyone who is still alive is starting to perk up a bit now which is a relief. i had to take the morning off work to deal with this stuff grrr but when you work at a fish shop they understand

thanks for everyones input

 

[Dorkhedeos]

Exactly why I hate heaters and tried telling people in a thread last week not to rely on them "but they have a thermostat" I was told over and over... I've heard too many people losing fish over bad thermostats.

Best case scenario is to get 2 heaters, both rated for HALF of your tank size. That way when (not if) your thermostat goes out it isn't big enough to overheat your tank in a day or two, plenty enough time to catch it. If it gets stuck off the other heater will be able to heat your tank at least enough to keep your fish alive until you find that out also.

umm, if you dont rely on heaters, what are you going to use to heat your tank to support tropical fish? i know you are angry because your heater failed, but you cant just go around telling people not to buy them because somebody new to the hobby might just take your word for it and have deaths because he/she had no heater. not all heaters are bad. just do some research before you go to buy one and you should be fine. visatherm stealths are one of the best heaters i think. i own one and its awesome, its pretty much failproof. if you take it out of the water, it shuts off, its made of plastic so you cant shatter it, and its very accurate. even though im really cheap, i dont buy cheap heaters because thats the recipe for disaster.

 

[Gatorbait]

Exactly why I hate heaters and tried telling people in a thread last week not to rely on them "but they have a thermostat" I was told over and over... I've heard too many people losing fish over bad thermostats.

Best case scenario is to get 2 heaters, both rated for HALF of your tank size. That way when (not if) your thermostat goes out it isn't big enough to overheat your tank in a day or two, plenty enough time to catch it. If it gets stuck off the other heater will be able to heat your tank at least enough to keep your fish alive until you find that out also.

umm, if you dont rely on heaters, what are you going to use to heat your tank to support tropical fish? i know you are angry because your heater failed, but you cant just go around telling people not to buy them because somebody new to the hobby might just take your word for it and have deaths because he/she had no heater. not all heaters are bad. just do some research before you go to buy one and you should be fine. visatherm stealths are one of the best heaters i think. i own one and its awesome, its pretty much failproof. if you take it out of the water, it shuts off, its made of plastic so you cant shatter it, and its very accurate. even though im really cheap, i dont buy cheap heaters because thats the recipe for disaster.

umm, I've never once said not to buy a heater or not to use one. Where did I say that? I said not to rely on them..meaning check them often and just because they have a thermostat that they DO fail, unlike people here that thikn it can't happen and tell people that, which could also cause deaths to their fish to newcomers. I actually suggested above to buy 2 of them. As i've stated before they are a necessary evil, imo.

I do research them and know all about them, I use Ebo Jager which is much better than any other out there, including Visatherm. I was just giving my opinion on the subject and what I feel is the best way to safeguard against this happening again to the person that lost some fish from it.

 

[fishlette]

Exactly why I hate heaters and tried telling people in a thread last week not to rely on them "but they have a thermostat" I was told over and over... I've heard too many people losing fish over bad thermostats.

Best case scenario is to get 2 heaters, both rated for HALF of your tank size. That way when (not if) your thermostat goes out it isn't big enough to overheat your tank in a day or two, plenty enough time to catch it. If it gets stuck off the other heater will be able to heat your tank at least enough to keep your fish alive until you find that out also.

umm, if you dont rely on heaters, what are you going to use to heat your tank to support tropical fish? i know you are angry because your heater failed, but you cant just go around telling people not to buy them because somebody new to the hobby might just take your word for it and have deaths because he/she had no heater. not all heaters are bad. just do some research before you go to buy one and you should be fine. visatherm stealths are one of the best heaters i think. i own one and its awesome, its pretty much failproof. if you take it out of the water, it shuts off, its made of plastic so you cant shatter it, and its very accurate. even though im really cheap, i dont buy cheap heaters because thats the recipe for disaster.

umm, I've never once said not to buy a heater or not to use one. Where did I say that? I said not to rely on them..meaning check them often and just because they have a thermostat that they DO fail, unlike people here that thikn it can't happen and tell people that, which could also cause deaths to their fish to newcomers. I actually suggested above to buy 2 of them. As i've stated before they are a necessary evil, imo.

I do research them and know all about them, I use Ebo Jager which is much better than any other out there, including Visatherm. I was just giving my opinion on the subject and what I feel is the best way to safeguard against this happening again to the person that lost some fish from it.

thank you, i know what you meant. things are getting better. all up i have lost 39 fish.UPDATE: There were more survivors than i thought i have a large sunken ship ornament in one corner that is quite covered with plants etc and there were a bunch hanging out in there yay also happened to be in the furthest place from the heater the temp is at 25.5C and those left seem well. ended up taking the whole day off so i might go get me some new fishies.

i took my heater back to work though and rang the company that makes them. they have a quality guarantee on them so you would think the damn thing wouldnt kill all your fish. they said it wasnt their responsibility and i said it was as they made an inferior product that cost me somewhere in the vacinity of $300.00 not to mention the $45.00 to buy the heater. i made a few other threats and the best i got out of them was a 'ill talk to my supervisor and call you back'. i think its safe to say we wont hear from them again. my boss is now talking though about changing the brand we stock. the others are more expensive but not as expensive as losing all my fishies

 

[Robbylikestofreestyle]

wow,sorry to hear about your fishys

Well,it could be that your heaters thermostat is bad.Also make sure you read over the directions again,good heaters have a thermostat ajustment,to bring your actual temp in sync with your heaters thermostat.Two out of three of my heaters needed to be ajusted,but non of them was that far off.

I had a heater just like that! I lost my favorit cichlid the stress that it causes your fish is bad and they can get sick. I would recomend getting a refund.

My heater had a little switch that turned off and on depending on what the water temperature was, if your water temp is all over the place the switch is probably jammed or sticky. At least that’s what happened to my heater.

 

[craigybaby37]

i had the same problem with one of my heaters....brand new got it in the tank and it heated the water to over 34c as the thermometer couldnt read it but v v v strangley i had no deaths had the heater changed over and all is good now .......touch wood lol but found out that the knob/stick you turn to adjust the heater doesnt have a stop point to stop it spinning 360 degrees on its self so if you get what ime saying it would go above its max temp try spinning the adjuster 360 degrees anti clockwise if it can be done.

 

[mark7616]

None of my heaters are acurate all mine are set to 22 which keeps the water at 25-26.