kamikaze_fish Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 maybe i need to get a jager... If nothing else, go with the liquid version and dose yourself with it a few times. You will no longer care or worry about your heater problems. Link to comment
fewskillz Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 I will never own another glass heater. I have had 2 of those explode on me. The second one killed 3 fish, including my first SW fish ever. Like I said, I've had at least 10 stealth heaters and the only one thats ever given me trouble was the new Stealth Pro. Link to comment
markandstaci Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Well I'll add my Stealth heater experience... had it set for 78 degrees and came home one day to find the tank at 94 and the SOB was still running (i.e., it was still way hot to the touch). Fortunately the tank was cycling and all I had in there was rock and sand. GARBAGE Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted October 6, 2010 Author Share Posted October 6, 2010 You're probably luck then. When the new ones explode they leak into the tank and kill everything. The older ones were 'bulletproof' but anything especially a heater can fail. The heater guys will say it is environmental because they both did the same. Maybe something to look at like did they go through an quick temperature change/shock. I could see the environmental cop out coming into play but the heaters where used in two very different manners. The first grenade blew up 20 - 30 minutes after being plugged into the tank. That heater was used in larvae tanks and ran for a few weeks to months at a time. Only to be put back in service when the next hatch needed it. The second grenade was in a 20g H with a mating pair and never moved. It was set and forget. The first one made me wonder if going in and out of the water - drying and getting wet again did something to the seals. But the second one had none of that. The fish still apeared fine this morng. I did however notice a red temp adjust dial in with my GSM's (two tanks over) this morning. Link to comment
timdanger Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 i've been fortunate to have run 3 different stealth heaters with no issues (2x 250w in a freshwater tank, probably about 4 years old, 1x 150w in my reef, about 1 year old). they've actually been very dependable for me. having said that, i don't know if i'd buy another one, based on seeing too many threads like this and threads about stray voltage they can cause. Link to comment
Miami797 Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 I've heard of horror stories with just about every heater. This is why I a controller will be my next purchase. I know it won't do anything for a heater explosion, but at least I won't have an overheating issue. Link to comment
jestep Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Just to chock another stealth story. I had a 200w in my FW tank. I was shoulder deep planting a new plant in the tank . My shoulder touched my metal TEK light fixture which is grounded, and pow. Got the crap shocked out of me in a FW discus tank with very little TDS and obviously no salt. Tested the water with my multimeter, and full 120 in the tank. Marineland replaced the heater, but they tried to pass it off as a minor voltage leak. There was absolutely no damage to the heater, cord, or anything. Having been an electrician in the Navy I can tell you that this was not a voltage leak. I check tank voltage before sticking my hand in now. Don't want to repeat. 120v can kill a person very easily. I would suggest testing the water monthly if you have anything electronic in there. Also, the Hydor inline heater is my current favorite. I haven't heard of many problems if your system has somewhere you can attach it. Link to comment
MrIcky Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 I'm asking for a controller for Christmas- yous guys scared me. I'm running an azoo titanium in all my tanks though with no failures to date. Link to comment
Bill Nye Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 I have read alot of posts about this especially on RC where there was a huge thread about it. Apparently this happened to a bunch of people, some having it explode in their sump destroying it. They contacted Marineland and from what ive read they reimbursed them for the heater AND the tank. Supposedly theres a certain model number they ask for when you contact them...it seems theres a bad batch that went out. Either way from what I read this happens when the heater is run fully submersed as water gets into the plastic tube and heats the water up causing pressure on the inside which eventually causes it to explode. I have a 50 w Stealth that I dont run fully submerged...so far so good. Link to comment
Pickle010 Posted October 8, 2010 Author Share Posted October 8, 2010 I got an email back from marineland today. They want me to ship them the heaters the blew up and offered to replace them. Luckily I kept the second one and have pictures of the first. Link to comment
ajmckay Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Yeah heaters suck... I have the best luck with the crappy ones... I bought a crappy ceramic heater 150w for a 29gFW and it's been working fine for probably 15 years. I also have a $5 wal mart submersible that goes on/off all the time (switching between QT and water change bucket). My current heater is a 2yr old Hydor submersible. Seems to work good, except the thermostat on it isn't accurate at all, but the tank temp remains relatively stable. I think for my newer system I'll be using 2 smaller heaters adding up to the wattage I need. This way if one gets stuck on the other one won't have enough wattage to boil my tank, and if one stops heating then the other one will prevent it from getting too cold. Does that make sense? Yet as long as they're high quality and properly calibrated they should come on/off at the same time. Link to comment
Bill Nye Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Yeah heaters suck... I have the best luck with the crappy ones... I bought a crappy ceramic heater 150w for a 29gFW and it's been working fine for probably 15 years. I also have a $5 wal mart submersible that goes on/off all the time (switching between QT and water change bucket). My current heater is a 2yr old Hydor submersible. Seems to work good, except the thermostat on it isn't accurate at all, but the tank temp remains relatively stable. I think for my newer system I'll be using 2 smaller heaters adding up to the wattage I need. This way if one gets stuck on the other one won't have enough wattage to boil my tank, and if one stops heating then the other one will prevent it from getting too cold. Does that make sense? Yet as long as they're high quality and properly calibrated they should come on/off at the same time. Alot of people do this and IMO its a really cheap and easy way to protect your investment if you have the room. I believe what people typically do is set one heater to the temp they want their tank at and one a little lower so that both arent going on and off all the time, but you still have that security in case the main one gets stuck off. Link to comment
SophieBee Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 This is disappointing because I used to really like stealths (I have them in most of my tanks) but I've also had some bad experiences with them lately. I just noticed the other day that the 250watt in my freshwater tank has a lot of large bumps on it, like the plastic got all warped...hasn't exploded yet though. I've had two 50watt ones crap out on me too in the past couple months. One just completely stopped working, and the other doesn't seem to be heating it up enough (it's one of the pros too, so I can see the light change when it's heating...which it never does..) Link to comment
p-daddy Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 This just ruined my day, all I run are these things. I now need to test for stray voltage... Link to comment
myjohnson Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Every heater should have a temp controller on it. Link to comment
p-daddy Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 All of mine are controlled by RKLs, but I still don't trust it. What's the best way to test for a voltage leak? Link to comment
p-daddy Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Just stick 'er in the water? Link to comment
Markushka Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 thats what I did. well the probes not the whole thing. I tested for DC, I think my tank read 13 mV or something like that. Link to comment
p-daddy Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 thats what I did. well the probes not the whole thing. I tested for DC, I think my tank read 13 mV or something like that. Is that good or bad Shouldn't it be 0? Link to comment
Markushka Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 I don't know. its like a very small voltage. Link to comment
under the sea Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 i'd call marineland and try to get replacements before you do have a problem. the jager heaters are very high quality Link to comment
Trolldoll Posted October 8, 2010 Share Posted October 8, 2010 Here is my two month old Stealth pro during cycle. Notice the bubbles in the middle of the pic. Im glad I caught it before it did this. I also had one have stray voltage. I couldnt figure out what was wrong with my tank for two months until I got shocked. I lost a few fish due to stress and some verts. Link to comment
p-daddy Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 So what was the stray voltage doing to the tank? What were the observable symptoms? Link to comment
under the sea Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 shatterproof,sure, but they do explode!!! Link to comment
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