Two failed Stealth Pro Heaters

[Dudley Eirich]

I bought two 300 W Stealth Pro heaters for two 75 gal aquariums less than three months ago to replace some old glass heaters. The first one quit heating after two months and the temp in the tank got down to about 76 before I noticed. I have returned it but haven't yet received a replacement. Fortunately I had an old 300 W backup heater (still works great and is a couple of years old). The second one just quit heating (I was watching it like a hawk) and I will have to return it as well. I had a spare 150 W heater but had to borrow a second heater from my son. Fortunately I caught that failed heater before the temperature dropped below 79 degrees. Based on some recommendations from others on this forum, I have just purchased two 300 W Sera heaters. Hopefully these will be more reliable. Once I get the Stealth Pro heaters back, I will save them as backup heaters, since I really can't trust them to last for any significant length of time.

[snowflake311]

Its the kind with the little light up switch? I had 2 blow up (big boom water splash like a mini bomb) on me after only being in the water for 8hr. So its not you these heaters should have a recall on them if they don't already.

[mkv]

I have had good luck with mine..... have them in reef tank, community fresh and Discus for many years.... Some like them some swear by them.....

[roundfishross]

the new exploding models have only been around for a year or so. they are not the originals that were pretty reliable , the new ones with the indicator light are JUNK!!!

[hedut]

I never have any problem with stealth pro heater as long as they inside the water when you do WC but if you forgot and the water less than the heater stealth pro will broken easy for me stealth pro is much better than jager :)

[roundfishross]

Hendri ,
last year I bought 40 of these heaters when they hit the market close to a dozen went bad within the first month three of wich literally cracked open and exploded! the ones that cracked and exploded were in tanks completly submerged they just blew up! a few of the others simply wouldnt get hot any longer although the indicator light was working. after those went I sent them all back to foster and smith for a full refund. my 32 gal brute trash can for aging water also has a melted spoy in the bottom were one of the heaters stuck on and started to severly overheat this one did get exposed to air but its the only one. when the ones exploded bubbles and very foul smoke came out of the aquarium but it did not hurt the fish.

[hedut]

Wow that's hurt Leo, so what brand do you use now?

[roundfishross]

been using el cheapo via aqua from ken's. knock on wood havnt had one die yet, I have busted one or two doing water changes though.

[roundfishross]

if you are using a sump these are rock solid and cannot be killed
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz326/roundfishross/cd945b5f.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz326/roundfishross/350f0096.jpg

[alpine]

Been using the Stealth Marineland for a while . The new and the old ones been happy with them . Have had hard times with very expensive heaters with very expensive conrollers !!! Marineland =First Class with warranties !!! All brand heaters will have problems.

Roberto

[roundfishross]

Been using the Stealth Marineland for a while . The new and the old ones been happy with them . Have had hard times with very expensive heaters with very expensive conrollers !!! Marineland =First Class with warranties !!! All brand heaters will have problems.

Roberto

hey Roberto, keep an eye on those old stealths as they are notorious for leaking voltage into your tank!! they were however pretty reliable. the new ones are a whole other story. it will fail prematurely and as far as warrantys go thats all great as long as you have a back up and dont mind waiting on the new one to come.... the checks in tha mail comes to mind here:(

just my .02 cents

this thread also comes to mind
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?77930-BEWARE!!-Marineland-Stealth-Pro-Heater

[alpine]

The Old Stealths ...the new Stealths ..All heaters ...fail prematurely at times .they all do , period. You will find that most of Simply members have the experience and do have one or two heaters stashed aside for emergencies. The warranty for the Stealths is Excellent , courteous and very prompt !
That is my story and I am sticking to it :) .
Roundfishross, thanks for your two cents .

Roberto.

[Dudley Eirich]

Until my latest experience, I too had the opinion that all heater brands can have failures. So when the first one failed, I wasn't too worried and I did have a back-up. I only have two tanks with two new heaters, so I figured that one backup heater would have been sufficient. Unfortunately the second Stealth Pro quit working before I was able to get the first shipped in on warranty to Marineland and have them return a replacement. My original backup heater was an old Visi-therm (300W). It was so old that all the white scribbling on the glass had worn away. I don't know what that was for anyway. The one that I borrowed from my son to replace the second Stealth Pro that failed was also a Visi-therm. They aren't fancy, but at least they keep the fish warm.

[roundfishross]

my father is a mechanic and once I asked him why didnt he use craftsman tools... since the warranty is so good? his reply was, what good is the warranty if every time you reach for the tool it is broken and you have to return it to sears for the replacement!! the old visitherms (glass) were very reliable.

[LizStreithorst]

They were good heaters but the glass was too thin. They'd crack or blow up on you if you looked at them wrong (an exaggeration I know, but the glass was way too thin)

[roundfishross]

They were good heaters but the glass was too thin. They'd crack or blow up on you if you looked at them wrong (an exaggeration I know, but the glass was way too thin)

I agree with this totally. they were very easy to break!!

[Willie]

My comments are limited to the Pro Stealth version. I had one explode after a week of use in the tank, with no water change involved. After checking around, there are several examples of Pros doing the same thing on the Net. The tank had no discus, but the explosion took out a dozen sterbais. I removed not only this heater, but all the others from my 40 breeders, and replaced them. This heater explodes into 3 pieces - not a malfunction, but a design flaw.

Since then, I've had 2 other aquarists locally report the same thing on our club website. I strongly suggest that you remove and replace these. It's a lot cheaper than replacing high quality fish.

Willie

[saltydog]

Well crap. i just purchased two of these for my 180 after having issues with the titanium finnex digital control heaters. one new out of the box and one about a year old. the new one leaked stray current and the old one just went bad and stopped heating completely! Now i am worried abotu my new purchases and beleive me i spent far more than i should have becuase i did nto have time to order new ones and had to go to a local store to get them. thinking i should order a couple of other heaters and try returning these. i have used them about two weeks and have been working great so far!

[moik]

I just sent 8 back last week for warranty replacement..as of today I have 2 more that died..its a never ending cycle with stealths..only thing stealth about is your water gets cold or too hot wihtout knowing it...they have to realize at some point in time how much money they are loosing with warranty replacements and lost future sales..

[JEB]

I returned 5 so far because of letting temperature fall to about 79 degrees. One brand new 300 watt one was holding temperature but hissing in tank. Marineland sends replacements no problem but I keep paying postage to return them plus they can not be trusted. Had one blow up in the tank. Woke up to burning electrical wire smell. Searched the whole house and saw fragments of the heater on the tank floor. I was I big visitherm stealth fan but I am done now. The Marineland phone rep said they are not aware of any other heaters exploding. Funny since this forum seems to have plenty of posts regarding this problem

[moik]

one more stealth just died on me right now...water cold..scared to turn it up have cooked fish...unreal with these heaters anymore...maybe god is tellling me to change,,now..

[Jhhnn]

one more stealth just died on me right now...water cold..scared to turn it up have cooked fish...unreal with these heaters anymore...maybe god is tellling me to change,,now..

At least that's the best way for a heater to die, to just quit working, rather than exploding, electrifying the tank, or cooking your fish... At least there are some good choices out there. Jagers have served me well, and we're hearing good things about the Sera's and the Via Aqua titaniums, maybe the fluval E series, too. I'll let other people find out if the New! stuff is any good or not, because sometimes they find out the hard way that it's not, like the New! stealths... It's very difficult for hobbyists to really get a handle on heater quality because we all have just a small sample. It's one of the great things about the internet and this forum- we get the experience of a lot of people, rather than just our own narrow window on the world.

I've been using Jagers plugged into Finnex HC-0800 controllers from Ken, and neither have given me any trouble... I figure it's hard to get cooked fish with that setup, anyway...

I saw the pic of your Blue Scorp in the Discus University section- Very nice, very well cared for, obviously from the same Forrest batch as my own... Good luck with it all.

John

[moik]

Thanks John,they seem to be the same batch of blue scorps..can't remember that far back for sure..Really appreciate the positive compliaments,,Thanks, Vince
At least that's the best way for a heater to die, to just quit working, rather than exploding, electrifying the tank, or cooking your fish... At least there are some good choices out there. Jagers have served me well, and we're hearing good things about the Sera's and the Via Aqua titaniums, maybe the fluval E series, too. I'll let other people find out if the New! stuff is any good or not, because sometimes they find out the hard way that it's not, like the New! stealths... It's very difficult for hobbyists to really get a handle on heater quality because we all have just a small sample. It's one of the great things about the internet and this forum- we get the experience of a lot of people, rather than just our own narrow window on the world.

I've been using Jagers plugged into Finnex HC-0800 controllers from Ken, and neither have given me any trouble... I figure it's hard to get cooked fish with that setup, anyway...

I saw the pic of your Blue Scorp in the Discus University section- Very nice, very well cared for, obviously from the same Forrest batch as my own... Good luck with it all.

John

[2075turner]

Hey guys,

I just got this info. sent from a supplier I deal with. Not sure if the #'s work for my american friends but Marineland US distributors should be able to help you out if they don't. So here it is.....

"We have just received a notice from Marineland halting the sale of their Stealth and Stealth PRO line of heaters due to potential quality issues. This stop sale applies to all 100 watt or greater Stealth or Stealth PRO heaters.

Whether you purchased these heaters from us or some other retailer in the past, we wanted to let you know about the potential problem with those heaters. Some of the reports that we have seen have been very serious so we would encourage you to contact Marineland at 1-800-526-0650 (Option 2) or 1-800-432-6986 to obtain further information regarding a replacement. Your safety and satisfaction is of great concern to us so please call Marineland as soon as possible."

HTH

[BOBT00LS]

I wouldnt even bother calling Marineland nor would I want a replacement. Bring them to Petsmart and they will give you store credit for them without any receipt. I just got back and they gave me $40 for the 200W's and $30 for the $150W's on the spot. Use the credit to purchase another brand heater or any other supplies you may need.


Bob

[Dudley Eirich]

As an update to my original post, I sent one Stealth-Pro heater back to Marineland and received a replacement. I returned a second one about a week later and didn't receive a replacement so called them. They had no record that they received the second one. Fortunately I had mailed the package with delivery notification. They told me that the Stealth-Pro heaters were on backorder and offered a VisiTherm heater, which I accepted. It is interesting that they never mentioned the fact that they were recalling them, just that they were backordered.

[Foxfire]

The cost of Ti heaters is just a little more (compared to first rate glass heaters - anyone but a amateur buys better grade heaters and not wally-mart junk to save a few dollars), and since this is THE most critical piece of equipment for any Discus keeper (way above filters), why waste time, energy and money? No metal heater has ever exploded (yes, they too fail but explode? never. An exploded heater not only kills fish but can break a tank sending huge volumes of water into your home - sorry but glass heaters are not safe just due to that single issue. Add to the fact that they can be dropped and still function, do better when run dry and never crack if hot when they are suddenly covered with water (yes, they quickly burn out if run dry) makes this class of heater far better and far cheaper in the long run.) Glass has only draw backs and no advantages as I discovered in my heater thread - that is, except for the illusion of lower cost (after factoring the risks from the failure modes.)
My ramble.