We had a lighting storm last night, and i dont know if thast a factor, but i came down and my circuit breaker was off, no power >::: , i checked temp asap, and both tanks only went down a degree or 2, like 78-79 they were at, i thought oh ok it just happened, but i flick on my breaker and smoke everywhere!!! The 24AQ im cycling, the heater a visi-stealth 200w was smoking, i unlugged it looked and it had broke open and melted a good inch!!! There was a little bit of oilly residue at the top of tank i did a WC, but you guys think any long term reprocautions? The tank with fish and corals seem fine about the drop in temp, brought back up with in 25 min to 81. but is my other tank ruined? or a few more WC and itll be good. It till needs to cycle at least another 6 weeks anyway… thoughts please, im ripping my hair out this morning. ???
it coulda been worse, much worse. save your hair for a horrible problem, like a crack and gallons on the floor. dunno for sure, but seems to me that more wc and time should clear up the oilly problem.
lol, dont even wanna think about that, a crack omg!!
it seems clear, it wasnt horrible, i must of caught it really early, for some reason i woke up at 630, i guess intuition lol. but yea the tank is almost 100% clear, i just mean as for the burning plastic, no harm?
what heater do you guys use? This is the second time a heater failed on me!! it was a 200w in a 24 g, thats not overloading at all, is it? the fuge light was directed on it last night… but it doesnt even run hot, any suggestions on a good heater?
before i had my auto top off i didnt think about it and threw my heater in the sump, it was on the side that the evaporation shows and it overheated and blew up, i didnt know this untill i felt current run through my hand when i touched the tank and the metal stand (another future mess up when the welds rust and the 75 collapses but lets not think that far ahead LOL) …
so there i was elbow deep in a tank with 6 metal coils plugged directly into the wall… good thing i wasnt grounded on something.
anyway i use a marineland visitherm, not the one that popped that was a marineland dual temp and it was user error.
thats the same heater im talking about. do you guy think bc it was in chamber 1 it overheated? should i put it in main part of tank?
i also the first heater that went, i found out by sticking my hand in the tank lol not a good feeling at all. the funny part was, i felt it i didnt really know it was the heater so i said to my gf , hey fell the water, and held her hand in the tank not knowing it was electricution, omg shell never stick her hand in my tank again…
so again heater placement, chamber 1? main part? was it my error you think?
Not sure how or why it happened… What happens in chamber 1 when the power goes out? Does the water level change?(Wouldn’t think much, but I am not familiar with these tanks and it’s possible some modification made on it could cause this)
As far as the melted plastic I also think it probably wouldn’t harm the tank too much long term, but hard to say for sure. I would think if it was a problem at all dilution would be the solution.
In all of my 13-14 tanks or whatever I have down there I use Stealth visitherms, the kind made by Marineland. Might try contacting the manufacturer and ask them what might have gone wrong or if the melted plastic could be a serious problem.
Now the biggest and most important question. Do you have your tank on a GFCI outlet? If you are not sure what I am talking about hit google for a couple minutes then go to a hardware store TODAY. (actually little disclaimer if you are not sure what you are doing installing a GFCI outlet or are not a trained professional higher an electrician)
chamber 1, its where the fuge is, only thing in it was cheato and the light pointing at it. heres a pic of what it looks like… also i am going ot contact marineland and install two of them outlets today!! I did get shocked before, i never want that again.
I’d throw some carbon in that tank to absorb up w/e might be in there (oily, ect.), which you might not get by a few more water changes.
+1 of the GFCI, they even make extension cord type ones you can just plug into the outlet and then plug your tank into, they aren’t as optimal, but in a pinch they work great. I’d at least put the tank on one of those ASAP.
Sounds like not much damage was done, replace a heater, add some carbon and your good. Just make sure you take the time and figure out why the heater blew and make sure it doesn’t happen again (chamber ran dry?)
this is not the first time i have heard this story AT ALL unfortunately… this is prolly the 4th time someone told me about the top of these stealth heaters melting or the cord separating from the top and frying a hand. i have just tended to stay away from them now. i am sure any heater has a few mishaps from time to time, just funny these stealths seem to be “melting” at the top and exposing the insides to water or losing the cord (which still sits in the water…) i have swayed myself toward the glass ones again. and marineland is still my favorite.
those stealths were designed because people with larger fish tend to have trouble with the fish cracking the heaters against the back of the tank. this shouldnt be a problem for most of us. esp if the heater is in a separate chamber (ie. back of an aquapod, or in a sump, etc.)
just my :TWOCENTS
^^^^^any good… what could happen to titanium lol. i really wanna figure out y it broke
know of few people with titanium heaters like that. havent heard of any problems YET. then again, no where near the amount of them being used compared to the stealths. so less experience with them would, of course, yield fewer problems…
The only thing that the stealth heaters are really good for is if you are keeping a mantis shrimp that is a “Smasher”. That way no little red lite for it to get PO’d at and smash the glass heater to pieces.
so i have a visi therm stealth in use and one for a backup. no issues so far. what should i do or be on thew lookout for??
just to clarify. the stealth and visi-therm are two different heaters. the pic looks like a stealth and there are IME the best heaters you can buy. also, they kick off if they run dry so the dont smoke if you run them out of water. i think one of two things happened. the heater malfunctioned, drew too much current and kicked the breaker OR it was powerelated and that outlet surged and fried the heater before the breaker kicked.
+1 of the GFCI, they even make extension cord type ones you can just plug into the outlet and then plug your tank into, they aren't as optimal, but in a pinch they work great
Ians right, get the plug in type. NO ONE should be wiring an outlet type unless you know what you are doing. they are not meant to be wired mid-run so you cant simply swap a regular outlet out for one. well, you can, but your asking for trouble. They only thing i would disagree with Ian about is the quality of the plug-ins. A wired GFI is in no way inheritantly better than a plug in. There are quality wired GFCIs and quality plug-ins. You get what you pay for.
Unless your an electrician, or REALLY good with wiring, no one should be swapping out outlets for GFCIs. The ideal configuration for your average hobbyist would be two powerstrips. one on a plugin GFCI and one on the regular outlet. put your rtn pumps or powerheads on the regular and everything else on the GFCI. make some drip loops on all of your wiring and mount the powerstrips away from water.
as someone mentioned, you were VERY lucky!
lowes has a 5 point GFCI that takes up both outlets with the center reset on it. somewhere around 25 dollars, thats the one i have now.
http://www.smarthome.com/4277/Shock-Buster-5-Outlet-GFCI-30339015/p.aspx
shockbuster is one of the better brands as well.
I have a back-up heater, a cheapy glass one. i put it on the main side for now i guess until i get a new stealth.
I had hitchhikers such as feather dusters that were really getting populated… Think i lost em all? nothing is out iin the tank at all. did a 20% WC already . its clearing up. am i starting all over at this point again?
did you check the temperature after it cracked? you may have cooked your tank.
it was 80 degrees, both tanks were only like 2 degrees off…
The only time i have had heaters crack and short is if i forget to unplug it when doing a water change or something and it gets left high and dry in the air. then when i refill with cold water, the HOT heater cracks. only takes a second. Your sump placement might also leave it out of the water if theres a power outage or pump stops, or while doing water changes.
Heaters should never be plugged in unless fully submerged. They do sometimes leak eventually as the cord seal gets old and cracks. but i can see that coming for a long time. moisture starts to build up inside the glass tube.