# How often do you replace your heaters?



## Timms2011 (18 May 2012)

Hiya all,
5 years ago I came home from the gym to find my aquarium misted up and condensation running down the front glass panel, I saw 7 of my Malawi Ciclid's on their backs being blown around by the flow of the outlet pipes, they were pure white at this stage. The other two were gasping on the surface of the tank! Immediately i turned off the power, ran to the freezer and emptied all the ice i had into the top of the aquarium, immediately followed by a 70% water change to bring the temperature down! By this stage I'm sure you've guessed it was a faulty heater that had caused this. The heater  was just over a year old. I was furious and sick to my stomach that this happened to my fish whilst in my care   

So my question is, how often do you change your heater or other equipment for that matter?

thanks,


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## Aqua sobriquet (18 May 2012)

Get one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/All-purpose-D ... 4955wt_840

Set it to one degree higher than the heater and if the heater stays on the Digital Controller will turn it off.


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## Timms2011 (18 May 2012)

Good idea, more equipment to Plug in, but I'll take a look at this tomorrow


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## Aqua sobriquet (18 May 2012)

Wiring diagram on this page:

http://www.simplyaquaria.co.uk/STC_1000 ... 33661.aspx

Manual:

http://www.rise.com.hk/ebayproducts/man ... r_mini.pdf


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## Aqua sobriquet (18 May 2012)

Simplified wiring shown on this page:

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/show ... p?t=541061


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## zer0 (19 May 2012)

You can get a thermometer alarm, of course you will have to be around to hear it







http://www.thermometerspecialist.co.uk/ ... hermometer


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## Timms2011 (19 May 2012)

Good idears, but what I was actually hinting at was do you wait before your equipment packs-up or something goes wrong before you replace it, or do you exercise extra caution and for example replace say a heater annually to reduce the likelihood of overheating your Tank?


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## sr20det (19 May 2012)

Timms2011 said:
			
		

> Good idears, but what I was actually hinting at was do you wait before your equipment packs-up or something goes wrong before you replace it, or do you exercise extra caution and for example replace say a heater annually to reduce the likelihood of overheating your Tank?



Get one that maxes out on the desired temp.. I.e my nano one only goes up to 26'c. If it failed it wouldnt be so bad really.


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## Timms2011 (19 May 2012)

sr20det said:
			
		

> Timms2011 said:
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I've got a 350l, I'm using the Juwel heater that came with it and it really does struggle to keep the temp up. I put it on 30c and it gets to a max of 25c so I suppose it works lol


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## Aqua sobriquet (19 May 2012)

Years ago combined heater stats had a bi-metallic strip which turned the heater on and off. There was often a small spark between the contacts when this happened and over a period of time the contacts could get quite damaged resulting in them getting "welded" together in extreme cases. A good case for replacement now and then. These days though they have electronic circuits to control the heater so I would expect them to be more reliable. Given the cost of a heater though perhaps it would be a good idea to replace them every three years or so?


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## Mark Evans (19 May 2012)

II dont use heaters on any tanks. With no effect on fish.

My tanks maintain 23ºc, rising in summer.

Sometimes, they'll go down to 19ºc,  but the plants do like that.


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## awtong (20 May 2012)

In my Juwel 450 Vision I run 2 Juwel heaters in an attempt to keep a more even temperature.  If one fails I then have a back up.  As they are Juwel ones I can run them vertically in the tank and hide them next to my Fx5 inlet and outlet so they don't stand out too much.

Andy


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## Timms2011 (20 May 2012)

Mark Evans said:
			
		

> II dont use heaters on any tanks. With no effect on fish.
> 
> My tanks maintain 23ºc, rising in summer.
> 
> Sometimes, they'll go down to 19ºc,  but the plants do like that.


Good call Mark, i tried the heater-free approach last night and the temperature of the tank stayed almost the same all through the night,however as my house feels more like a freezer in the colder periods of the year, I'm going to keep a hold of my heaters.


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## Timms2011 (20 May 2012)

awtong said:
			
		

> In my Juwel 450 Vision I run 2 Juwel heaters in an attempt to keep a more even temperature.  If one fails I then have a back up.  As they are Juwel ones I can run them vertically in the tank and hide them next to my Fx5 inlet and outlet so they don't stand out too much.
> 
> Andy


My issue with the heaters was more the malfunction leading to over heating and killing my fish more than not bringing the aquarium up to temperature, but the two heater approach for a more even temperature sounds interesting... Awesome Vision 450 you have there by the way


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## sparkyweasel (20 May 2012)

Having two heaters also help guard against overheating, - if one sticks on it will only raise the temperature very slowly as it is only half of your heating. You use (eg) two 50W instead of one 100W. It will take much longer to reach a dangerous level (if it ever does) so you have time to spot the problem and sort it out.


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## Timms2011 (20 May 2012)

sparkyweasel said:
			
		

> Having two heaters also help guard against overheating, - if one sticks on it will only raise the temperature very slowly as it is only half of your heating. You use (eg) two 50W instead of one 100W. It will take much longer to reach a dangerous level (if it ever does) so you have time to spot the problem and sort it out.


Now that is something i never thought of and an excellent idea... I like it


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## awtong (21 May 2012)

Timms2011 said:
			
		

> awtong said:
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Sorry I wasn't completely clear as I was also meaning that the heaters wouldn't have to work as hard to maintain the temp as well.  There is still the risk of over heating but with my volume of water it wont change as quick as a smaller tank.

Thanks for the compliment.

Andy


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## dw1305 (21 May 2012)

Hi all,


> Having two heaters also help guard against overheating, - if one sticks on it will only raise the temperature very slowly as it is only half of your heating. You use (eg) two 50W instead of one 100W. It will take much longer to reach a dangerous level (if it ever does) so you have time to spot the problem and sort it out.


I do this as well, although it doesn't work well for small tanks, as you can't get heater small enough. 

I have a hood and polystyrene insulation on the rear and one side panel of the tanks, then I get 2 heaters, set one to the water temperature I want, usually 26oC and the other one to 20oC, and calibrate them with an accurate thermometer (lowest first). I usually have Eheim Jaeger heaters and if you insulate you can use quite a low powered heater, I usually have 2 x 75W or 2 x 100W,  even for quite large volume tanks. 

When the tank is running normally the temperature will remain around 26oC, I check this every morning and evening by putting the back of my hand on the tank, it is actually quite a sensitive technique and you can pick up differences of 1 or 2 degrees, I also have a thermometer as a visual aid. I haven't had a Jaeger heater stick on, but even then the temperature should rise fairly slowly. If a heater fails the temperature will cycle up and down with it being cooler in the morning if the "cool" heater has failed, and cooler all around if the "high" heater has failed. I put an insulation  tape marker on the heater cable, red for hot, blue for cool, so I can check the fuse without having to remove the heater. 

cheers Darrel


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## Mark Evans (22 May 2012)

If i see my temp go above 24ºc, espeially in summer, i'll water change everyday. to bring it back down.

My plants grow so much nicer at lower temps. `room temp is just erfect for me....in any size tank for that matter.


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## zer0 (22 May 2012)

and if you dump the changed water onto the garden it's a great way to circumvent the impending hosepipe ban


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