Heaters

[Buffy]

I've been keeping fish for a long time,29 yrs in fact,
in all that time I've not had any heaters stick on, until
last week, when I got up in the moring I found all my fish
dead due to the heater sticking on, what an awful way to go,
I had two Clown Loaches that were 10 yrs old, one jumped out
to get out of the boiling water, however, saying that all my fish
perished is not true, I found my Bristle Nosed Plec alive and
kicking, cannot believe he survived, if anyone can explain how,
would be very interested, I am glad that he did make it, anyway,
just want to know how common is this occurence?.
When my other heaters went wrong they just did not come on.
I really hope this does not happen again, but how can you prevent
it?.

 

[Juggler75]

Sorry to hear your story.

Not a lot you can do to prevent it in a lot of cases I'm afraid, many heaters use bimetallic strips as far as I'm aware to control the thermostats and when these go then its hit and miss whether or not they fail whilst in the on or off position (though many seem to fail in the on position)
Some newer heaters have electrically switched thermostats which are a lot more likely to fail in the off position so are thought of as a safer if slighly more expensive option (might be worth considering as a replacement)

 

[fluttermoth]

It's a pretty rare occurence, Buffy; I'm sorry for your losses

Just adding to what Juggler's suggested, you could think about using two, lower rated haters, rather than one. That way, if one of them does 'stick on', it would take much longer to overheat the tank, hopefully giving you enough time to notice the problem before anything major happens.

 

[Buffy]

Thank you, having two is good idea, will definitely do that, I
cannot go through that again, I was so so upset.

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Fluttermoth makes a fantastic point. It could mean life or death for your fish in future. I'm really sorry to hear about this, it's never nice when something like this happens.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I am not so sure re the two smaller heater idea. Had a 40 gallon breeder tank with two larger discus, a school of rummy nose tetras and 7 or 8 L450 (a hypancistrus). I ran two heaters one a less than 2 year old Hagen Elite 150w and the other an old Ebo Jaeger (10 years or so) 150w.

The Hagen got stuck on full. When I discovered the tank both discus were dead and nasty looking, the rummy nose were mush in the plants but the 450s were alive. The tank temp was about 105F (40.5C) when I discovered it.

Last week I discovered my third spawn from the 450s.

Some plecos, especially Hypans, can take it warm. I have had zebras in over 90F (32.2C) and treated discus in the same temps.

Ancistrus are not known for being warmer water for the most part, but there are some that do live in places where the water can get pretty warm. I have seen that some folks keep Ancistrus with discus. So you never know. Clowns wont take temps that warm.

The only thing I might suggest could have helped both our plecos to survive it the fact that they live on the bottom and heat rises. So the temps on the bottom may have been a few degrees cooler than higher up and those few degrees made the difference for them.

 

[FishBlast]

This is why I am afraid of heaters. Having had fish without heater for many years, when I've added a heater this year, I've been watching it like a hawk. It also doesn't stick to the tank wall properly (and I don't like the way it looks, as it occupies space for nothing now that it's summer time and I cannot add any plants there either if it would ever need to be on).

The fish I have don't seem to be sensitive to a bit lower temp than 20 C (it rarely if ever drops below that, as my room is heated as if it's summer during winter). The only reason I've added the heater was because my male swordie was acting like a mindless zombie when he was all alone in the new tank and I thought he was cold, but when I checked the water, it was 20-21C anyway and the heater rarely came on due to that (I thought it was malfunctioning, but it was working correctly). Turned out he was just missing his lady (more like female dog).

 

[Buffy]

That does make sense as to why my plec survived, luckily
I had another tank to put him in, have now stripped that
tank down to sell hopefully, I now only want one tank instead
of 3.

 

[simonas]

that sucks

how come you type in short sentences like that must be harder to keep it that neat?

 

[KISSfn]

Sorry for your losses... A Seneye may have prevented this by a warning light on the device, your computer screen, email and text message warnings.

 

[Dazzler666]

Likewise, sorry for your loss & sorry to hear you are reducing your tanks .
I also was considering using two smaller heaters as does make sense if one should fail in both on or off positions although if the thermos trip is not working right and the heater does not shut off when it reaches the required temp then I suppose not much we can do unfortunately.
Kissfn, from what I read about seneye was not that impressive which was s shame as the idea is great but at present with the software issues I get the impression it's more novelty than necessary!!! #40## shame though

 

[Night61]

The same thing happened to me a few years ago, my only survivors were two green tetras.
I know your pain
Could you perhaps list the name of the company the heater cam from
It its a newer one maybe you can contact the company?

 

[tomtomtom1230]

Sorry for your losses... A Seneye may have prevented this by a warning light on the device, your computer screen, email and text message warnings.

True, but if the heater over-heated it's circuits and let out electrical discharge into the water then it may have shorted out that device as well? I agree that if you're serious about fish keeping then it's a must-have. Especially if you spend a lot of time out the house, unable to test the water at any given time.

Either way, it's still a shame when something like this happens.

 

[zain611]

Its difficult to tell but i think those fish that died dont thrive at the tempurature you put them at so i think it is important to get species of fish that thrive at the same tempurature. Sorry for your loss, it reminds me of giving my 7 year old goldfish away

 

[KISSfn]

Likewise, sorry for your loss & sorry to hear you are reducing your tanks .
I also was considering using two smaller heaters as does make sense if one should fail in both on or off positions although if the thermos trip is not working right and the heater does not shut off when it reaches the required temp then I suppose not much we can do unfortunately.
Kissfn, from what I read about seneye was not that impressive which was s shame as the idea is great but at present with the software issues I get the impression it's more novelty than necessary!!! #40## shame though

The software issue with Seneye is pretty minor. If the software freezes a simple restart will correct it and the device still keeps track of data so no readings are lost. It may not be a necessity but it is definitely a cool gadget!