this is not good!!!

[melsmom]

I just got home from a graveyard shift, to find my 14 gallon nano dying! the heater has flipped and everything in there boiled for the most part!!! I dont know how, but my clown fish has survived along with a turbo snail (so far) and a hermit crab.. uuhhg! I cant believe this! I just did a clean on this tank Saturday and checked everything. I thought I had a great heater.:evil: dang it. all my xenia, my BUBBLE TIP , all my polyps, I had blue mushrooms that now look like....I dont even know WHAT to say about those!!! I feel sick. Can anyone recommend a TRUSTWORTHY heater???? I just lost too much to risk doing that again! I had to dip water out of my 90 just to get what looks like it's going to live, into it! DANG IT!!! please help me figure out what to do for a heater, I am thinking I may have to put these guys in my sump under my 90 until this afternoon when I wake up...should be okay?

 

[mfinn]

They should be fine in your sump.
I'd look into one of the heaters that has a controller.
I'm not sure about how dependable Finnex heaters are, but I've been using one for about a year on my zoanthid tank.

 

[mcoomer]

I suppose that anything that's still alive can be placed in the sump temporarily but watch closely and be prepared to remove it if it dies. How hot did the water get in the nano? It may be that if you can get it back to normal some things that look toasted will recover.

As for a heater recommendation, I can only recommend getting one that has an external controller. I use submersible titanium heaters with an external controller and have had no issues. Before that I used glass heaters and it seemed that they would conk out every 6 months or so. My current heaters have been running for a couple years now.

Good luck,
Mike

 

[melsmom]

I dont know what a finnex heater is...it's not that. it's a stealth. those are supposed to be good! now I question the one heating my 90 gallon! it was over 100 degrees!!! as for right this minute, I'd like to call that company and give them a peice of my mind! although, I know that wouldnt help me any. just breaks my heart. My nano was my PET! I honestly enjoyed it more so than the 90 just because everything was doing so good in there. Growing better than the large tank...which is weird. anyway. I pulled out all the water, and put in brand new water, then when the sand storm stops, I'm going to drain most of that out and fill from the 90. then change 1/2 of it tomorrow. anything that was fried, no it's gone. I would explain how bad the things looked but I might over do it with the lack of sleep I'm going on.
very frustrated.

 

[mfinn]

look for heaters with a controller. Finnex is just one brand.

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Nanos are hard. Much more difficult than a tank with a larger mass and volume.

 

[mfinn]

Nanos are hard. Much more difficult than a tank with a larger mass and volume.

Yeah, not much room for errors, even small ones. Then something like a heater malfunction.

I have used the stealth heaters and they can go bad.

 

[thatguy559]

sorry for your loss my heaters are controlled.

 

[roblou]

Sorry to hear about this! I am going to shop for ranco temperature controllers asap myself as it seems it's only a matter of time before all heaters crash & burn

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Sorry to hear about this! I am going to shop for ranco temperature controllers asap myself as it seems it's only a matter of time before all heaters crash & burn

I have been pretty lucky but seem many many fellow hobbiests cook their tanks. Rarely kill anything from lack of heat, but easy with too much. I recently added a controller again.

As for tube heaters, have had excellent luck with Ebo Jagers

 

[loohunter]

Sorry to hear about this! I am going to shop for ranco temperature controllers asap myself as it seems it's only a matter of time before all heaters crash & burn

i've lost a couple tanks to this, a ranco controller is the only way to go. you can find them for around 50 bucks for a single stage. take it from me, any heater will eventually fail

 

[Herefishyfishy]

... take it from me, any heater will eventually fail

Words of wisdom. Failure is not a matter of IF, but WHEN

 

[marlinmero]

sorry to hear bout your loss. what a way to come home. im sure once you get it going again people will help get you re-stocked. im with roblou i think im going to go look for a controller. i to had a stealth heater tweak out and ove heat my tank. i looked in and my clam was face down in the sand i reached in to pick him up and it felt like bath water. it was up to 94. but thankfully didnt loose anything. i got lucky once "shocking" probally wont again. and my mom had a stealth heater straight explode. luckily she was useing it to mix water when it did

 

[jgalvin]

sorry to hear about the tank. worrisome because i use a stealth myself. i just got a reefkeeper lite, and use that to control the heater (at 78), i have heater itself set at 82, and an alarm at 74. So, if the reefkeeper spazes I have the heater turning off at 82, if the heater quits, or won't turn off, the reefkeeper protects it by turning off the power to the heater. Let us know what pulls through.

I dont know what a finnex heater is...it's not that. it's a stealth. those are supposed to be good! now I question the one heating my 90 gallon! it was over 100 degrees!!! as for right this minute, I'd like to call that company and give them a peice of my mind! although, I know that wouldnt help me any. just breaks my heart. My nano was my PET! I honestly enjoyed it more so than the 90 just because everything was doing so good in there. Growing better than the large tank...which is weird. anyway. I pulled out all the water, and put in brand new water, then when the sand storm stops, I'm going to drain most of that out and fill from the 90. then change 1/2 of it tomorrow. anything that was fried, no it's gone. I would explain how bad the things looked but I might over do it with the lack of sleep I'm going on.
very frustrated.

 

[melsmom]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll have to check in with lfs tomorrow as he's closed today. well, survivors are: 1 percula clown, and 1 turbo snail. uuuhg. well I guess I can look at it this way. Lesson learned, and I can redo the nano. :0(

 

[lvsuckerfish]

i recommend 2 (if you need 100watt get 2 50 watt heaters) heaters to amount for the needed for the system safer that way if one stops working or stays on in this case only one will stay on an under rated heater will not heat the system as fast and possibly could of been caught in time thats just my 2 cents sorry for the loss. i have always done my tanks this way and only issue I had the heater stayed on and my temp got to 84 before I noticed and that could of been 2 days of contant heat from the heater....

 

[jezzeaepi]

Everyone should invest in at least a Ranco temperature controller(or a controller that does your whole system). All heaters WILL fail eventually, its just a matter of time. Does anyone know of a good place to get the Ranco's these days? Diyreef is gone apparently..

 

[IWishIWasAFish]

Wow. Sorry to hear you lost so much.
Back when I was a kid my heater cooked my freshwater tank. Didn't realize it was so common. I'm only heating one of my tanks right now, and I'll be looking into a controller for it after this because I don't think I can take the heater out of my larger reef - the 15g nano I have is unheated, but it doesn't have any delicate corals in it. It's in a building that is heated to 65 at night, 72 during the day.