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BEWARE!! Marineland Stealth Pro Heater

94K views 277 replies 150 participants last post by  Hoppy 
#1 ·
Sitting on my couch today and BOOM! The side of my 75g tank blows out all over the place. The heater exploded like a bomb. If you are using one I would stop. It has been fine for 6 months and all the sudden it does this. No deaths be cause the only fish in the tank was a 8" Red Devil. It is a tough fish I had to throw him in a bucket of water. I have contacted Marineland. Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up. Sorry for the crap pictures but it was the only camera I had at the time.
 

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#31 ·
Yikes, 75 gallons of water ended up on the floor? The explosion happened spontaneously? I hope Marineland takes care of things.

I have a Visitherm Stealth that has been working flawlessly. I also have the newer Stealth Pros as well. Reading about the problems some people are having with the Stealth Pros makes me nervous about using them.
 
#34 ·
This was no rock. It sounded like a shotgun went off in my den. Here is whats left of the heater. Took a picture of the tank and one of the glass shards found about 30ft away. Last one shows how the heater was sitting in the tank. If you are using one of these you need to stop. I understand products can fail but when they do the maker better stand behind the product. I will let everyone know how Marineland fixes this problem.
 

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#52 ·
Why would more glass have blown out? It is not like a stick of dynamite needs to explode next to glass for it to fail. The glass is already under pressure from the tank water. Having a heater "pop" would be enough of a kick for the glass to fail- probably similar to tapping it with a hammer.

I really doubt a GFI outlet would have prevented that.

And the fish lived? You would think the shock or the explosion would have killed it. To send glass fragments (4" pieces of 1/2" glass) across the room it had to be pretty powerful.
The heater failing/popping open did not send the glass shard across the room, the heater simply broke the glass. When 1/2" or so glass breaks with a good amount of force behind it(water), it is going to break outwards, not fall directly onto the ground.
 
#50 ·
And the fish lived? You would think the shock or the explosion would have killed it. To send glass fragments (4" pieces of 1/2" glass) across the room it had to be pretty powerful.

Not if the plastic started to split.
So what would have caused this which is what has me puzzled. Im sure if your looking to have the tank and the floor fixed they will indeed do test on it and inspect it before they just pay out any money. I just cant put two and two together for some reason.
 
#53 ·
that is one of the craziest thing i have seen. i can see stilllearning's point about the pictures not "looking" quite right, however, those are just pictures and sometimes we dont see the whole thing or the right angle in pictures. i am glad to hear that no one was hurt. too bad about your losses, cause i doubt you will get much from the manufacturer.

CL, thanks for posting the exploding bottle.

keep us posted as to what happens.
 
#54 ·
Still learning... Have you ever been Bass fishing??? I dont go tht much but after seeng fish with hooks in their eyes, faces and other parts of the body I find it completely believable that this fish lived a red devil is a large chiclid...like a bass pretty much. This dudes heater EXPLODED IN HIS TANK. So could you please leave it be, or start your own thread about how you think its a hoax.
 
#56 ·
Stilllearning:

It's great the fish survived but not amazing. think about all the shorted out heaters sending current thru tanks; the fish aren't grounded so they don't get electrocuted. And the action being similar to a depth charge does not mean that it has equivalent power to harm the fish. If the fish had been right next to it he might well have been shocked- like when people fish with dynamite; the fish aren't killed by the charge just stunned. So if the fish was on the opposite side of the tank and it was a less intense sort of depth charge it's perfectly possible for it to live.

Also i work at an LFS. We use lots of stealth heaters in our MANY tanks and i've seen at least 8 in the last 10 months that have cracked or developed heat melting sort of holes in the same part of the heater that the OP's heater gave way. I've never seen one where the top popped off. You're simply incorrect in thinking that a more likely scenario.

tnsser: once again, i hope Marineland does the right thing and you don't have any trouble getting them to help you out.

cheers-K
 
#68 ·
One thing I feel that needs to be clarified is that the incident in this thread was caused by a Marineland Stealth Pro heater. I have yet to hear of anything anywhere near this serious happen with the Stealth (not the Pro, the black plastic one with the red dial). I wonder if there is something with the design or construction of the Pro that lead to such a catastrophic failure. I have heard of the plastic splitting and cracking on the Stealth, but nothing like this.

I think it would be a good idea for people to post up if they've had any issues with Marineland Stealth and Stealth Pro heaters (be sure to make it clear which one you're talking about). When I bought my Stealth, I heard nothing but good things about them and it has worked fine from day one (not like that Aquatic Gardens piece of junk heater that almost cooked my fish the first night). My hypothesis is that the Pro is the one with the potential issue, not the regular Stealth.

I also want to make the point that not unplugging a heater prior to a water change is probably not a good idea, even if it says it has an auto shut off. These things are not meant to be used out of the water. I would also like to use the feature as a safety valve in the event of an emergency, not as a routine practice. I think that's the manufacturer's intention as well.

To the OP, please keep us updated as to how Marineland responds. A good company should stand behind its product and make things right by covering the damages caused by the failure of it. It will be interesting to see how they respond, and I would definitely push for at least a new aquarium to replace the one the heater broke.
 
#66 ·
Scary indeed. The photos are quite conclusive, IMO.

A bit OT, but I get the impression that heater quality has gone down quite a bit industry-wide in the last few years. The old Visitherm heaters I had were some of the best ever. But more recently, all three of my Rena smart heaters have failed, all less than six months old. One just quit completely. The other two have such poor temperature control as to be unusable. And my room temp is within a few degrees of my desired tank temps, so these heaters had a pretty low duty cycle...
 
#70 ·
I think this only effects the Stealth pro heaters, because I've had the old one before and they would turn off "quicker" when doing water changes vs. these. For the Stealth pro, I would notice the hot plastic smell, and steam hitting the heater as the water descend.
 
#71 ·
Stealth Pro

New to the forum and honestly only found it because this exact same heater explosion happened to me. I have had the stealth pro for 2 weeks, and left town for a couple days. I returned to find my reef tank all cloudy and the corals all closed up. Looked closer, and my shrimp, snails, and even copepods were all dead. My anemones and several fish also dead. All said and done the heater exploded in my sump, didn't break any glass, but after running tests on the water the inside of the heater must contain copper as well. The copper killed all my corals. I now have 2 clown fish, 2 chromis, a few snails, and my firefish. None are acting right. I lost $1,000 in corals and fish. Not happy. I emailed marineland and haven't heard anything. I am calling tonight. It is really devastating and to be honest the people questioning this thread or that his tank broke because of this are kind of insulting. I feel sorry for anyone this happens to. WE all put a lot of time, money, and heart into our tanks. Be compassionate people. My heater looked almost identical to his photos and it split right down the side. I am still trying to decide if I want to quit the hobby. Marinelands response will go a long way to determining that.

Thanks and take care all.
 
#73 ·
New to the forum and honestly only found it because this exact same heater explosion happened to me. I have had the stealth pro for 2 weeks, and left town for a couple days. I returned to find my reef tank all cloudy and the corals all closed up. Looked closer, and my shrimp, snails, and even copepods were all dead. My anemones and several fish also dead. All said and done the heater exploded in my sump, didn't break any glass, but after running tests on the water the inside of the heater must contain copper as well. The copper killed all my corals. I now have 2 clown fish, 2 chromis, a few snails, and my firefish. None are acting right. I lost $1,000 in corals and fish. Not happy. I emailed marineland and haven't heard anything. I am calling tonight. It is really devastating and to be honest the people questioning this thread or that his tank broke because of this are kind of insulting. I feel sorry for anyone this happens to. WE all put a lot of time, money, and heart into our tanks. Be compassionate people. My heater looked almost identical to his photos and it split right down the side. I am still trying to decide if I want to quit the hobby. Marinelands response will go a long way to determining that.

Thanks and take care all.
Sorry to hear.

It has caused $3000 worth of damage to my floors. I turned it in to my Homeowners ins. and they are going to cover the damage after I pay my $500 deductible. They are going to contact Marineland for me and see about recovering the damages. I have not heard from Marineland either. I will also call them tomorrow. Please take pictures of the heater and all the damage. You can also contact me via PM and maybe with can trade info. I think it would go a long way with helping get this resolved.
 
#74 ·
tnsser,

Not to stick my nose in your business, but I contacted Marineland yesterday via email and directed them to this thread hoping it might help you resolve your issue quicker, help protect other owners who may have faulty equipment, and even help Marineland avoid additional embarrassment or even worse, lawsuits.

I've heard Marineland is a good company. I'm hopeful they'll do the right thing and help you and barnesat out, and, if this problem is widespread enough, issue a recall for the safety of other aquarist.

Good luck,
Kelly
 
#75 ·
Thank you. I want people to be concerned.

I love Marineland products. Thats why I bought the heater. I think the design of the heater is flawed, not the company.I am just waiting on their reply. I am not posting this to bash the company but to warn people about this problem.
 
#77 ·
Stealth Explosion

I called Marineland last night and they said their heaters have a lifetime warranty. They didn't care where I bought it or anything, but they did ask how long I had it. They want me to take inventory of what I had in the tank, get the LFS to assign value to everything, and then mail them the estimate on the livestock, the heater, and the pictures I took and he said they will take care of me. The guy I spoke with was really nice and helpful. He said they are a fair company and they will make things right. So I imagine they are going to cut me a check for the corals and fish I lost and send me a new heater. Thats really all I could ever ask for. He said they don't cover sand or rock because it can be rinsed and will be ok. I also asked him about the inside of the heater because I put a filter that pulled copper out of my water and he said they absolutely have copper in them. So if anybody does have one break like we did then please be mindful of this. Corals and copper don't mix. He said they would take about 4 weeks and try and figure out what caused the heater to malfunction. So it sounds like they are being proactive about it and trying to figure out what is going wrong with these. I never did get a response from the email I sent last Friday, but like I said they seemed very nice and very helpful. So don't hesitate to call them. I am glad your homeowners insurance is going to cover everything. Be careful everybody and thanks for the support.
 
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