heater killed everything in my tank tonight PLEASE HELP

I have a very sad story to tell. I hate to say it, but my 24 gallon has just gone down the drain. I came home from vacation to find my tank completely still and silent (circuit breaker shut off). Turned things on and noticed that something was sparking. It was the heater's electrical cord!!! The heater had completely shattered in the tank.

 

RIP 9/20/05

 

Shattered Tetra Accura 200 watt heater (likely culprit of tank crash)

 

wire was arching here

 

I'm really not sure when this happened as I was gone 7 days. But, there has been some thunder and lighting lately. Would/could this be a cause for the heater to shatter?

 

questions:

1. how do I move on?

2. could lightning/thunder storms cause my heater to shatter? Maybe a grounding issue? I've been using this heater for several months and have had NO problems.

3. if I want to rebuild, would the "live" rock be salvageable? What can or cannot be salvaged in my tank?

4. If anyone nanoreefers in socal want to help or just make me feel better, please email me at wumang42@gmail.com

 

I'm a very sad man at the moment....

 

this is what my tank looks like right now:

Oh man. I'm really sorry. I have no experience with this. Just wanna offer a word of encouragement any way I can. I hope you'll be able to rebuild this. I think I've got the same xenia specie that you have and whenever you're ready, i'll get you a frag.

I've never heard stories of heater's malfunctioning and breaking. Have you guys? Is this something I should tell Tetra? Would they even compensate me for this disaster? My tank has been running strong for about 2 years now....I'd hate to blame all this on Tetra. They have never done me wrong in the past...but now, I'm going to avoid tetra at ALL costs.

thanks PochiePooh! I really appreciate your kind gesture. It just sucks to lose such a nice colony of pulsing xenia, near indestructible bubble anemone, a true percula clown that has been with me for years, ....

Well, if there was a lighting strike close enough, there is a chance that the heater could have taken a hit. You'd probably notice other equipment showing issues as well though.

your tank looks like the water level was low while you were away. how low below the min water level on the heater did your water get?

if too much of your heater is exposed to air, they break.

really sorry to hear about the tank. that totally sucks! goodluck with the rebuild.

water level was correct (heater was completely submerged). In the picture, water level is low b/c I drained the tank a bit thinking a water change would fix things.

real sorry to here about your loss.let me know if theres anything i can do. your lr should come around in time. is there any life left at all?

Hey, I know this might seem wierd, but since this such a close knit group, how about we setup a fund to help this guy out !

 

When someone gets burned, not do their interaction or careless acts it really is a shame. Even if a $1, thru Paypal !

Thats so sad, you must feel heartbroken . I dont think tetra will do anything about it, but it might pay to call them and see if they want to have a look at the heater to try to determine the fault?

 

On the bright side, at least your house didnt burn down...

Sorry to hear about your loss! I've had heaters stick on, but I've never had one shatter. Is it possible that a rock fell and hit the heater?

 

After my Visi-Therm stuck on and almost killed my tank, I bought an Ebo-Jager. It has been much more reliable. The extra thick glass on the Ebo gives a bit of added comfort too, as I know it is very strong.

yea that SUCKS...I've actualy had a heater do that on me in one of my FW tanks. I actualy seen it happen there was a loud "POP" then some ARCING I ran over to the tank (across the living room) and when I pulled out the heater it was shattered it freekin blew up...luckly I did'nt have any losses would have sucked to see 18 nice cichlids floating arround...I've used nothing but titanium heaters since...oh yea just so you know it was a tronic heater not a tetra one.....

man that SUCKS! somethings may still be alive, I would get to work ASAP. Goodluck!

I had the same thing happen recently. The heater company will do nothing, unfortunately. Sorry man.

had the same thing happen about 2 months ago. it is a terrible feeling to come home to your pride and joy and see this. anyway i changed about 90% of the water and the cycle was only about 2.5 weeks. hope things get better.....

 

dan

Originally posted by dhoffroad

yea that SUCKS...

 

Indeed that does suck. Sorry to hear a heater exploded and hosed your tank. Glad that your place didn't burn down though. Thanks for pics and telling what type of heater it was. I'll be the storms had something to do with it. Crazy weather for oc.

 

Are you a SCMAS member or watch their forum? If not you may want to introduce yourself and tell your story there too. I am not a member myself, but that hasn't stopped me from posting from time to time over there. I have met many of the local reef club members over the years. All good people (except super evil genius toecutter who will cut off your toes and feed them to an anenome....but don't worry he's maslac not scmas). The type of folks that are offended if you don't take a frag of something when you leave their home.

 

There are alot of reefers in the irvine (oc) area. Getting new live rock and frags from local reefers shouldn't be a problem around here. Anyhow, I figured the local reef club was another option I would throw out there.

 

http://www.scmas.org/

Southern California Marine Aquarium Society

 

ps. live rock may still be alright to use.

I am sorry for your loss. Hope you can rebuild. Seems like you can get some help from the local clubs. My tank is just 2 months old and I do not have anything I can offer. I had that happen a long time ago fresh water and lost everything. It really S#(!$. I did not call the manufacturer but maybe they will do something. Good luck

questions:

1. how do I move on?

2. could lightning/thunder storms cause my heater to shatter? Maybe a grounding issue? I've been using this heater for several months and have had NO problems.

3. if I want to rebuild, would the "live" rock be salvageable? What can or cannot be salvaged in my tank?

4. If anyone nanoreefers in socal want to help or just make me feel better, please email me at wumang42@gmail.com

answers:

1. think of this as a chance to re-stock your tank, upgrade your equipment and get creative with new ideas.

2. this probably has nothing to do with why, but the pic that showed where ur wires arched looked very similar to a set of extension cords my roommate had... lucky i was home, burned a hole in the carpet.

3. there's almost always a trace amount of life in live rocks, even after an electrocution.

4. sorry brotha, NORCAL! (altho socal's hella cool)

Man that sucks! I'm very sorry to hear about your loss! Did you have a surge protector on the tank or just a power strip? Sometimes surge protecters have a guarentee of sorts on them that covers damage to equiptment pluged into them... just a thought. Whatever you do, don't give up! there's always hope, and I'm sure plenty of people will be willing to help you get started. I've got an ebo-jager 75w heater I'm not using. If you want it I can send it to ya! Just PM me your address and I'll ship it off! Best of luck!

I had that happen on my 75 gallon FW tank a few years back. I can't remember what brand the heater was, but I did find out what happened. Its called thermostat in the heater went bad and got so hot the glass on the heater broke. Bad news. I went with a Ebo at that time and have never had any problems.

Xytrix01,

All my aquarium appliances are plugged into a cheapo power strip (which is supposed to have some sorta surge protection). PM sent with my address. I really appreciate the donation of your heater.

 

and yes, luckily my apt did NOT burn down.

 

 

Anyone know the correct process on cleaning live rock? That is, how to get all the dead crap off my LR (xenia and polyps are still attached).

throw it in a bucket of salt water with a powerhead. do reg. water changes on the bucket. if you want you can remove dead crap with a toothbursh and a little salt water.

Originally posted by wumang42

Xytrix01,

All my aquarium appliances are plugged into a cheapo power strip (which is supposed to have some sorta surge protection).  

Not necessarily. I have many power strips that "look" like surge protectors but are marked "current tap" on the back. No surge protection what-so-ever. Even the presense of a breaker on your strip does not mean that it is a surge protector. Unless it actually says "surge supressor" or "surge protector" on the back or on the UL label, it offers no protection.

 

Sorry for your loss. I had a heater kill a tank too (boiled), so I know how you feel when you walk in and see cloudy water and smell the sewage. :x

To prevent this type of stuff from happening to my tank, I bought a plug-in GFCI outlet and a surge protector with battery back-up. The GFCI outlet is plugged into my regular (non-GFCI) household outlet and the surge-protector is plugged into that. Hopefully between the two I can thwart any electrical issues.

 

I'm sorry for your loss, Wumang. Nothing to do now except salvage what you can and start over...

HArd to say about the rock, but it csan be cleanedup and put in a bucket opf water and a power headused ......it can be used again but how much is aloinve is hard to say. I have had heaters break already (2 over many many years, but they were the el cheapo penn plax hob types). Check out Marinelands (Aquarium Systems) stealth model heater, non shatterable, and will shutitself off if water level drops and temps start to rise. I have 5 of them and so far they have been extremely reliable and fairly accurate in holding temps....Only thing I do not like is they do not have an indicator light to show when they are on, but according to Aquarium Systems, adding a light would run up the cost an additional amaount of money and its not needed as you can tell by a temperature gauge if its on or off.......AT first I messed the indicator light now its just as easy to look at a gauge instead of an idiot light.......

 

Sorry to hear about your tank....Its possible the heater stuck on and cooked everything and reached a point it caused the glass tube to shatter........I have had many lightning strikes near and on my property oveer the years and if it was a surge or such, I would think more sensitive items would also be affected........but a surge cold have caused the contact points in the heater to fuse together as well. Thats what my guess would be.....