Heater malfunction......

[keeryn]

So I got home from work this morning to find 5 of my young discus and all my tetras DOA. ( I work 12 hour shifts overnight.) Did my partial water change as usually yesturday before leaving and everything was fine. When I got home this morning and opened the lid of the tank all I felf was HEAT. My tank had reached 105* F. I immediately checked the heaters and they were still set at 82*F but one was still on and heating. I strarted pumping water while at the same time adding new, cooler water trying to bring the temp down without sending my remaining discus into shock. The remaining discus/pleco and clown loache were all stressed and breathing hard. I have never had a heater "fail" on me like this, usually they just stop working. The heater that failed was a 300w fluval, less that 9 months old, My 300w generic seems to be working. Any recomendations for new heater? Are there any with some type of cut off switch?, So upset this happened and paradoid to leave for work tonight becuase I haven't got the heat stable yet,

[kris2341]

I am sorry for your loss, I do hope your remaining fish pull through.

As far as heater recommendations, I never stray from the Eheim Jagers, On top of that, once the tank gets to the point where failure is not an option, I stick a supplementary temperature controller onto it.

Is the heater you were using a Fluval E series heater? If so, water or heat most likely fried the onboard controller, which is why I always try to sway people away from them and to go towards a thermostat heater and external temperature controller.

This is my recommendation:

Eheim Jager 300w heater
http://www.amazon.com/EHEIM-Jager-Aq...ds=Eheim+Jager

With a ETCI-1R temperature controller from Jehmco
http://www.jehmco.com/html/temperature_controller.html

for the controller, you gotta call or email them for payment instructions but they are great people at Jehmco.

Then set it up as follows:

Calibrate and setup the Eheim Jager to 84F or 2 degrees above your usual temperature (we at Simply recommend 82F for everything discus related)

To calibrate, basically install the heater in the aquarium where it will be used or in an empty tank with water and set it to 84F and wait for the heater to stabilize at a temperature, usually overnight. Once the temperature stabilizes, check it with a good thermometer, compare the reading to what is set on the top of the heater, and move the arrow to the temperature of the thermometer if it is off. This is how you calibrate an Eheim Jager.

Then you plug in the temperature controller, set it up to 82F, and plug in the calibrated Jager to it and you are set.

This is an example of a redundant thermostat system, the Jager thermostat serves as a fail safe for the digital controller in the rare chance it fails. I hope it will serve you well.

[aovifo]

very sad to read this.

I'm now searching for good heating and from reading many sources came to cunclusion rhat what kris recommended is the best soulution.
I'm tring now to find what the max temp. it can get. Because some medical treatments I do by raising temp for 10 days to 95 degrees

[treylcham]

I have the cobalt neo thermal heater and it works great also has a safty that will turn it off if it has any malfunctions.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk 2

[jim LI]

i use this heater,, temp is right on... no problems at all......http://www.hydor.com/eng/prodotti-te...er-filters.php

[Emowillcox]

kris
Thanks for your info in the heaters.
I read your post a few months ago. Now it's colder and I have not been happy with my heaters so I ordered 2 of the eheims u recommended for my 180 gal tank
I also sent an email to order the ETCI-1R
(wired)contoler

I am sorry for your loss, I do hope your remaining fish pull through.

As far as heater recommendations, I never stray from the Eheim Jagers, On top of that, once the tank gets to the point where failure is not an option, I stick a supplementary temperature controller onto it.

Is the heater you were using a Fluval E series heater? If so, water or heat most likely fried the onboard controller, which is why I always try to sway people away from them and to go towards a thermostat heater and external temperature controller.

This is my recommendation:

Eheim Jager 300w heater
http://www.amazon.com/EHEIM-Jager-Aq...ds=Eheim+Jager

With a ETCI-1R temperature controller from Jehmco
http://www.jehmco.com/html/temperature_controller.html

for the controller, you gotta call or email them for payment instructions but they are great people at Jehmco.

Then set it up as follows:

Calibrate and setup the Eheim Jager to 84F or 2 degrees above your usual temperature (we at Simply recommend 82F for everything discus related)

To calibrate, basically install the heater in the aquarium where it will be used or in an empty tank with water and set it to 84F and wait for the heater to stabilize at a temperature, usually overnight. Once the temperature stabilizes, check it with a good thermometer, compare the reading to what is set on the top of the heater, and move the arrow to the temperature of the thermometer if it is off. This is how you calibrate an Eheim Jager.

Then you plug in the temperature controller, set it up to 82F, and plug in the calibrated Jager to it and you are set.

This is an example of a redundant thermostat system, the Jager thermostat serves as a fail safe for the digital controller in the rare chance it fails. I hope it will serve you well.

[Skip]

Been there done that.. its sucks!

[Mrs. J]

Well we can join the club. Got up this morning to a tank temp of 77 degrees....heater broke during the night, open circuit in the heating element. I have been thinking of opting for two instead of one, and a controller. Tank is 56 gallon growing out discus from Hans. Freaked out when I came into the room this morning. I will be moving them to a 90 gallon in the next few months. Most are 4.5 inches +/- now. Ran to petsmart to get two 150s for now until I can order the Eheim and controller...should I get two separate heaters with two controllers to ensure a backup? The ones I got today have a safety shut off for high temps, but I am very paranoid about this now....On top of that just learned that we are under a boil water notice....guess what, used that water to bring up temps in tank this morning...used Prime as usual....anything else anyone can suggest? Fearful of ick (?) Poor water quality

[Tankster]

Well we can join the club. Got up this morning to a tank temp of 77 degrees....heater broke during the night, open circuit in the heating element. I have been thinking of opting for two instead of one, and a controller. Tank is 56 gallon growing out discus from Hans. Freaked out when I came into the room this morning. I will be moving them to a 90 gallon in the next few months. Most are 4.5 inches +/- now. Ran to petsmart to get two 150s for now until I can order the Eheim and controller...should I get two separate heaters with two controllers to ensure a backup? The ones I got today have a safety shut off for high temps, but I am very paranoid about this now....On top of that just learned that we are under a boil water notice....guess what, used that water to bring up temps in tank this morning...used Prime as usual....anything else anyone can suggest? Fearful of ick (?) Poor water quality

You can get the with a single ETCI with 2 outlets and control 2 heaters from that single controller. Give them a call and tell them what you are trying to accomplish. They might ask about amperage on the outlet you will bu plugging into. Most are 15 amp however if you can verify you have 20 amp, be sure to let them know. If you tell them about your set up - tank size, sump/no sump, they will recommend the appropriate wattage for you.

On the boil water notice - you could call the water company and ask what indicated the need for a notice. Most likely, a water main break with the cold temps. If that is the case, probably organic solids (dirt) and they want you to boil to prevent any chance of bacterial badness in your tummy. I would just give them a call to make sure.

[Mrs. J]

Thank you for your reply. I did call our water company....They are doing construction on the water lines along our road...won't lift the notice until Saturday at the earliest....not much information regarding what effect it has on the water. Noticed that it smells heavily of chlorine and is somewhat cloudy even with Purigen. Have to change it out, so using carbon temporarily along with purigen and prime. So far they are still eating and appear to be ok. Will call them and order what they think will work best. Appreciate your input.

[boonseong]

I was just in the same boat as you guys. I have invested in a DIY controller. If you can follow directions, you can make one for $20.

[Ken]

I work 12 hr also, I would do this project, On my large tank I run a reefkeeper lite for piece of mind, cheaper than purchasing a stand alone heater controller, once you start adding switches , timers , controllers, the RK lite is cheaper.
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...ght=controller

[jim LI]

I use 2 hydor 300 watt in-line heaters with the Jehmco ECTI-1R controller with 2 outlets. works very well.

[n0kjf]

Forgive me if this is a ignorant question, but given the value of the fish, wouldn't it be better to have multiple heaters of smaller wattage? If you need 600 watts of heating, maybe 6 - 100 watt heaters. I get the drawback of the expense and getting them set. The heaters could be set in pairs at a small temperature difference and the 2 at the higher set point will stay on longer per heat cycle. Fewer cycles means less wear on the parts. A failure of one thermostat would lock one smaller heater full on but that small heater likely would not be enough to drive the temperature over the desired level, you may not even notice it has failed. You could still connect the heaters to the external digital control, maybe have 2 of those running 3 each, again a little bit more redundancy. 4 more heaters @ $30 each, one more controller at $20, $150 dollars more. Are the 5 Discus the OP lost worth around $30 each? x 5 = $150, plus the stress on the survivors. If the digital control failed in the on position, the heater's thermostats would be a backup control. Maybe the primary pair bypass the digital control and rely on their thermostats, if one failed on, not enough heat to cook the tank.

Lew Heifner

[Tankster]

Forgive me if this is a ignorant question, but given the value of the fish, wouldn't it be better to have multiple heaters of smaller wattage? If you need 600 watts of heating, maybe 6 - 100 watt heaters. I get the drawback of the expense and getting them set. The heaters could be set in pairs at a small temperature difference and the 2 at the higher set point will stay on longer per heat cycle. Fewer cycles means less wear on the parts. A failure of one thermostat would lock one smaller heater full on but that small heater likely would not be enough to drive the temperature over the desired level, you may not even notice it has failed. You could still connect the heaters to the external digital control, maybe have 2 of those running 3 each, again a little bit more redundancy. 4 more heaters @ $30 each, one more controller at $20, $150 dollars more. Are the 5 Discus the OP lost worth around $30 each? x 5 = $150, plus the stress on the survivors. If the digital control failed in the on position, the heater's thermostats would be a backup control. Maybe the primary pair bypass the digital control and rely on their thermostats, if one failed on, not enough heat to cook the tank.

Lew Heifner

I have never heard of an ETCI failing and cooking the tank. This is a commercial quality piece of equipment, as are the titanium heaters (with no internal thermostat). The reason I am setting mine up with the ETCI + 2 800 watt titanium heaters is to insure if one of the heaters fail, my temp does not drop too much. One, operating 800 watt heater will be able to maintain the temp long enough for me to get my back-up heater into the sump. I am not really worried about cooking my tank.
Invest in the best when it comes to something as critical as your tank heating system.