Jakesaw Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Freshwater tank I had my first aquarium heater die on me today ( heater was probably 8 years old ). I noticed when onf of my fish was swimming funny at the bottom of my tank - doing loopie circles. He was half dead - and I flushed him down the toilet - so he wouldn't get the rest of my tank ill. I had treated him for ick a couple times - and he's been a challenge to keep healthy for some time now. I went to do a 20 % water change - and noticed how cold the water was. It turned out my heater was dead - and a cool night got the water down to 72 degrees ( I wonder how long the heater has been out now ). I had a spare heater and have fixed teh situation - and hopefully the rest of the fish will be fine in a few days - but if it were a saltwater tank - and I lost 100's of dollars worth of livestock - I'd be pissed as heck. ( Only lost a few dollars in a fish today ) How do people protect against this happening in their saltwater tanks. Link to comment
bubbles3660 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Freshwater tank How do people protect against this happening in their saltwater tanks. Monitoring and redundancy. I use two heaters in my 70 gallon. One is set to kick in if the other one fails. --bubbles Link to comment
fiction101 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Not using a 8yr old heater helps. Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 You could go out right now and buy a controller with a temp probe that will sound an alarm when your temp drops below a certain level. OR you can just be vigalent in monitoring your tank, replace older gear and have a back up. I use the second option. Link to comment
volk23 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 best way to prevent this is to have two heaters running. Link to comment
gotboost15psi Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 get a tom aquarium temp alert. Alarms you when the tank temp is to high or to low. Link to comment
Kellie in CA Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Don't you have a thermometer in the tank? That would have alerted you to a problem. I check my temp several times a day. Link to comment
PodRod Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Don't you have a thermometer in the tank? That would have alerted you to a problem. I check my temp several times a day. +1 and I always keep a spare heater and pump on hand... Link to comment
StevieT Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 The nice thing about saltwater is that we use such strong lights that create heat. So my heater only kicks in at night, very late. The heat retains itself. My heater died in my tank and it only got down to 71°, so not too big of a deal. That same heat can be a pain, ie chillers also, as stated check it. I check mine constantly with a wireless display by my desk. Link to comment
gotboost15psi Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 just get a Tom alert meter...about 13 bucks on ebay after shipping. Keeps a reading of the tank temp 24/7 and alerts you if the temp gets to high or to low. It also has built in memory that will show the highest and the lowest temp the tank reached. Here is the ebay link to one tom aquarium alert temp. meter Link to comment
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