Heater broken

Hi I use lifetech heaters, yes the cheaper one, and have had no problem what so ever.
The cheaper heaters in general seam to be 1'C hotter then the setting on the heater.

Heaters do not stay on until the water is the right temp and then switch off.
They will turn off for a little while and back on again to presume their job. This might
be a safety function.

I use 2x 300W heater to keep my temp at 29C. The water in winter will cool a little faster then
you heater can heat it. So at night with only one W per L you will get a temp drop
and if the temp is already low struggle to get it up.

Get another 300W and install it. Temp will be up there in no time and stay constant.
This also gives you a backup in the future.

Gerhard

 

I have a ViaAqua300 in my standard 4 foot (240L). Cheap heater, cost me about R130, got it for about 2 years now and it keeps my temp at 25deg constant (The temp I want in my tank) - I also have it near the intake of my canister filter and good circulation in my tank with a internal filter as well. I normally keep my heater on 1 end and my thermometer on the other end to make sure its doing what I want it to do...

As Vis mentioned and I mentioned in my previous post you have to give a heater some time to work as it does have a safety feature not to over heat itself. But after that if it is still a prob even with a heater replacement I would also try another thermometer as I have 2x glass thermometers and besides them being about 1deg apart in temp normally they don't work proportionally (ie. if 1 is 22deg the other is not always 23deg - the difference gets greater with temperature)

Just my 2cents

 

put the new heater in yesterday....went to work. by the time i got home at 10pm the temp was up at 27 again (and i have it set to 28), woke up this morning....temp still on 27, but light on the heater is on, so maybe it's pushing it to 28. I will keep an eye on it, but it is working much better than that previous 1 i had which only got me to 24 and no higher regardless of how high i set it.

Long story short....im back up and running normal again

little tip: keep a smaller backup heater on hand just incase you need to rule out the fault of your original heater.

 

Actually... it's better to run 2 heaters. And by 2 I mean if your tank requires 1 x 300W heater, put in 2. This way if one fails, the other will keep it going.

 

I condensation inside a submersible heater bad news?

 

Just a tongue in cheek question: If you have 2 heaters in your tank with 1 as a backup, how would you know your main heater has stoped working? You might still actually be running on only 1 heater without knowing it.

 

Tongue in cheek answer: Get know your equipment. When you do a WC, and fill up, BOTH heaters will obviously come on... if one doesn't, check it out. This way you are checking it out once a week.
If you don't have full heating capacity at all times, you will loose fish. This thread proved it.

Murphy's law... heater packs up at approx 15h00 on a SUNDAY avie in the dead of winter... you can only get to shops on Monday during your lunch break... that means take looses heat for over 24 hours! If the fish don't die from the cold, they will die from the Ich outbreak they usually happens afterwards

 

What I meant Zoom is not all heaters fail in the same way. Like Snail said in his instance the light was still on, it just did not heat the tank anymore. So if he had a second heater in his tank and the first one failed he would probably not have noticed it at first, since the heater light still came on and his water temperature was correct(due to the second heater). So how would he have realised the first heater is not working anymore?

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying having a second heater in your tank is not a good idea. Just don't get too comfortable thinking that you have a backup if you dont check both your original equipment and backup on a regular basis.

 

You absolutely right AquaS. I again stress, get to know your equipment. I know that a 50% WC on my tank takes approx 2 hours in winter to get back up to heat. If I notice that the heaters are not on for this long... check water temp. If the heaters are on constantly for a long time, check temp, then heater. You will need to know your equipment... that's all.

 

Does that mean you do your WC with cold water? I thought the new water had to be as close as possible to the tank temperature?

 

Sjoe... @Jenn you opening up a can of worms here....

Let me put it this way... IF I was keeping sensitive fish, (Discus, Dwarf Cichlids, Khuli Loaches, Rummy Nose tetra's etc), then yes, ideally you want the temp to be as close to the original as possible. Thus water needs to be stored in containers and preheated. (I don't like the idea of using geyser water). HOWEVER, the fish I am keeping, (Angel, X-ray tetra, Bronze Cory's, BN Ancistrus, female betta etc), whilst prefer their waters at 27 degrees, are TOLERABLE of colder water. Having said that, when I do my weekly water change, the heaters go off in the morning to allow the water to cool naturally by 2 degrees (down to 24/25 degrees). I then take out 50% of my water. I leave my filters running (Canister). With the spraybars being above the water line (during emptying the tank) the water cools further. By the time I am ready to fill my tank, I am sitting at approx 22deg.

As I am about to start refilling, I put in 2 spare heaters at full power. (Because the heaters in the tank are exposed from the water level having being dropped). I start filling. I fill through the hose-pipe method, extremely slowly.... meaning the tap is only on with a trickle. It takes my tank about 2 hours to refill because it is so slow. By the time I am fill, the water hasn't dropped below 20deg. Remove the temp heaters, and let the 2 normal heaters take over.

This is the way I do it, I would NOT recommend it for anyone unless they are happy to "risk" it.

 

Sjoe... @Jenn you opening up a can of worms here....

Let me put it this way... IF I was keeping sensitive fish, (Discus, Dwarf Cichlids, Khuli Loaches, Rummy Nose tetra's etc), then yes, ideally you want the temp to be as close to the original as possible. Thus water needs to be stored in containers and preheated. (I don't like the idea of using geyser water). HOWEVER, the fish I am keeping, (Angel, X-ray tetra, Bronze Cory's, BN Ancistrus, female betta etc), whilst prefer their waters at 27 degrees, are TOLERABLE of colder water. Having said that, when I do my weekly water change, the heaters go off in the morning to allow the water to cool naturally by 2 degrees (down to 24/25 degrees). I then take out 50% of my water. I leave my filters running (Canister). With the spraybars being above the water line (during emptying the tank) the water cools further. By the time I am ready to fill my tank, I am sitting at approx 22deg.

As I am about to start refilling, I put in 2 spare heaters at full power. (Because the heaters in the tank are exposed from the water level having being dropped). I start filling. I fill through the hose-pipe method, extremely slowly.... meaning the tap is only on with a trickle. It takes my tank about 2 hours to refill because it is so slow. By the time I am fill, the water hasn't dropped below 20deg. Remove the temp heaters, and let the 2 normal heaters take over.

This is the way I do it, I would NOT recommend it for anyone unless they are happy to "risk" it.

 

You know!? You're really doing my head in First you say, 'nobody quarantines', then you say, 'add the anti-chlor in the tank', now this :nuts: Being a noob, I'm just going to go by the book for now. When I have as much experience as you do I may know enough to break the rules.

 

@Jenn

Heehee.... as a Noob... I would recommend you to go by the book. 99% of aquarists who go "by the book" will have great success, and over time, will learn where they can take short cuts etc. You will learn as time goes what works for you. This is what is so challenging with fish keeping is that everyone has different fish, different tanks, and different set ups. You do what works for you. I do what I do because it works for me... BUT I will always advise people on the site the "book correct" method. (Which according to this thread would be have 2 heaters!)

 

Sorry to hear, it really sucks! "Jager" are really good heaters if you are considering something else!