heater problems

[fish keeper 7]

ive gotten 3 heaters, 2 different makes, will post make and wattage in a short bit dont feel like getting my hands wet right now but after a few months they seem to leak electricity, doesnt seem to effect my fish at all, but it sure is a shitty thing when u go to feed ur fish some flake food or go to move something and u get a nice little buzz on the way down, its happened 3 times to me and ive never read about anyone really experienceing this problem commonly.

anyone have any recommendations on heaters? or ways to prevent this from happening in the future?

i have a 46g bow 10g wet/dry.

 

[masterswimmer]

Your heaters should NOT leak any stray voltage. Use a GFCI outlet so that it trips if there is a drop in voltage.

There aren't ANY, that means ZERO, foolproof hobbyist grade aquarium heaters on the market. They are the #1 piece of equipment to fail in reefing. Wish I had better info for you.

Russ

 

[fish keeper 7]

Thanks Master (bet you love it when people say that lol), When the heater is plugged in i get shocked, i unplug the heater... no shock.. so its definitely the heater (idsk if stray voltage is the word) but the heater still works, a constant temp at all times. guess i need to get another heater =/

 

[motortrendz]

uh actually i made a lot of comments abt crappy heaters... one fried my whole 120g system while i was away on vacation..lost abt 4grand worth of livesstock!!!!

 

[fish keeper 7]

ahhhhhhhh!

 

[KathyC]

You really should get that out of there asap, you are asking for a larger issue than just getting zapped when you feed as it is obviously broken.

What kind of heater is it?

I would suggest either a Marineland heater, a Stealth heater or an Ebo Jager if you are on a budget.
Whichever one you get, you should get a controller for it

 

[Aquatic Life Direct]

try the marineland stealth heaters... i never had any problems with those...

 

[fish keeper 7]

alright sounds good ill look into those, yeah i need to get it out of there ASAP just the only other heaters just had the same problem lol. i have an external heater put i dont have the right size tubing for it. i think i might just use that. just i feel id have complications with that for some reason.

anyone ever use an external heater? i never heard them being recommended or being used at all.

 

[jaa1456]

also try using a grounding probe.

 

[SCOLYBOY]

fluval vuetech hands down.... or marineland stealth :tank:

 

[OGGISPORTS]

Marineland


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[masterswimmer]

I've had problems with every one of the heaters mentioned. So none of them are bulletproof. The only way to increase your odds of success is hooking the heater up to a controller, like Kathy said.

We carry the Marineland Stealth, ViaAqua Titanium, Eheim Jager (formerly Ebo Jager), and every one of these heaters should be run through a controller. They have ALL been known to fail in one way or another.

fishkeeper, if you have voltage that zaps you (even a little bit) when you put your hand in the tank, it is stray voltage. The path of electricity is supposed to remain inside the appliance. If you feel a shock from it, then it is straying from its intended path. Hence the term stray voltage.

And as far as being called master, nahhhhh, I'd rather be known as swimmer, honestly. Unless of course you look like Brooke Burke or Laetitia Casta :biggrin:

swimmer

 

[Awibrandy]

I've had problems with; Won Brothers Titanium w/external thermostat, and 2 Stealth heaters.
The titanium heater problem could have been prevent by using a controller. Wish I'd known about this 9 years ago, before my fish got boiled.;(
The 2 stealth heaters failure would not have been prevented by a controller. They were plugged into a Ranco.
One ended up with a pin hole that spewed something in the water that killed 90% of my fish last year.
The other just failed on my this past Monday night. That one came apart completely.arggggg Lost a bunch of brittle stars, serpent star, 2 chocolate chip stars, Majestic angelfish, possibly Eibli angelfish. And almost me while fishing in the sump for the wire to the darn thing.

Would having them plugged into GFCI outlets have prevented these last 2 episodes? Maybe.