Tetra heater fried my fish!

[HD Blazingwolf]

Most companies do stand by their product,
Keep in mind u get more bees with honey.. be nice and patient it makes them want to help u, vs some guy who demands everything with no patience. I work customer service and believe me, i follow that ideal. Its hard to want to help someone with a bad attitude, it makes u feel important when u help someone who is understanding and patient with u

[GraphicGr8s]

Originally Posted by Leaky Filter

This is a good point. Frankly, for the price of heaters, it's probably wise to replace them every two years or so whether they need it or not, especially if you have the luxury of buying them on sale.

Next, heaters aren't something that I like to overkill. Putting too many watts in the water means that the heater is clicking on and off more. They're designed to turn on for an ideal amount of time and turn off for an ideal amount of time. Vary too much in either way and you run the risk of shortening the life of the heater.

Finally, I like an in the tank heater or heaters rather than inline ones. The indicator light will let you know if it's coming on and turning off. Additionally, in my experience, failing heaters often lose the light before anything else due to moisture invasion. A flickering light is a sign that it's time to ditch the heater and buy a new one.

I'm running a Supreme heater in tank right now. Heater is 32 years old.
Marineland heater I bought a few months after I started my dirt tank on the back porch. Less than 2 years I think. You never know. I noticed the Marineland's light on all the time when I was out in the fish house one evening. It could only raise the temp to about 85 but it really didn't matter. No fish or plants in tank. I was prepping it. Most of my tanks have 2 heaters. And no, I don't replace every 2 years. It fails it gets replaced. My last name ain't Rockefeller after all.

By the same token I'm also running an old dynaflo in a 10 gallon.

[FlyingHellFish]

32 years old? That heater is older than I am. If I had something that was working for that long, hell, I would go out buy another just because it so good.

[GraphicGr8s]

Originally Posted by FlyingHellFish

32 years old? That heater is older than I am. If I had something that was working for that long, hell, I would go out buy another just because it so good.

Yep. First one I ever bought. Not made anymore.

On longevity. I had a Vernado AC window shaker when I first got married. It was in my father's room before I got it. He got it from my grandparents. Only thing I ever changed was a start relay. Lasted until my father in law tossed it. Company is now owned by AO Smith. Stuff isn't as good today that's for sure.

[creekbottom]

That sucks that you lost your fish. I figure the heater is the one thing we put in out tanks that has the greatest chance of malfunctioning and killing things. Lets face it, no one makes a great, foolproof heater.

Use a temp controller! They are cheap, especially considering how much you might have to spend to replace cooked fish. It's an extra piece of security for equipment that has a high chance of killing.

My thoughts

[AVN]

I feel your pain, I had a 75w Eheim that made shrimp jumbo (so hot my thermometer was maxed) out of my OEBT tank a couple months ago. All of them died.

I was so pissed off I threw the heater at the wall, then subsequently had to sweep up the glass.

[Leaky Filter]

Originally Posted by GraphicGr8s

Yep. First one I ever bought. Not made anymore.

On longevity. I had a Vernado AC window shaker when I first got married. It was in my father's room before I got it. He got it from my grandparents. Only thing I ever changed was a start relay. Lasted until my father in law tossed it. Company is now owned by AO Smith. Stuff isn't as good today that's for sure.

I'm in my mid 30's and I still use the clock radio that I received when I was seven.

Two things seem to kill fish more than anything else, CO2 aside-

1- Heaters
2- Chlorine/Chloramine

I have $40 for new heaters every couple of years.

When I worked in retail, experienced customers would lose fish from either. A heater would click on and stay on or fail and freeze the fish out. Granted, this was in the dark ages when dechlorinator removed chlorine only and the buyer had to make sure that he bought the good stuff that neutralized chloramine as well, but it wasn't too uncommon to hear of an experienced hobbyist doing his monthly 25% water change and inexplicably losing everything in the tank. Additionally, municipalities would change mixes without notifying anyone and people would lose fish like crazy, even if they did use Jungle De Chlor as directed.

[GraphicGr8s]

Originally Posted by Leaky Filter

I'm in my mid 30's and I still use the clock radio that I received when I was seven.

Two things seem to kill fish more than anything else, CO2 aside-

1- Heaters
2- Chlorine/Chloramine

I have $40 for new heaters every couple of years.

When I worked in retail, experienced customers would lose fish from either. A heater would click on and stay on or fail and freeze the fish out. Granted, this was in the dark ages when dechlorinator removed chlorine only and the buyer had to make sure that he bought the good stuff that neutralized chloramine as well, but it wasn't too uncommon to hear of an experienced hobbyist doing his monthly 25% water change and inexplicably losing everything in the tank. Additionally, municipalities would change mixes without notifying anyone and people would lose fish like crazy, even if they did use Jungle De Chlor as directed.

And both are very simple to avoid. First is 2 heaters. Second is always assume chloramine is in play.

When I kept fish in NY it was only chlorine. When I came to Tampa they originally used chlorine only. When they switched all the fish stores put out flyers to their regulars. Plus there were notices sent out in water bills. Glad to say I haven't had to worry about county/city water since 1986. I had a chlorinator on my well at the first house. Just ran an airstone for 24 hours.

[talontsiawd]

Those Tetra heaters should be pulled off the market. I had two, one luckily failed by just shutting off, not turning back on. The other, did the exact same, heated my tank to around 97 degrees. Luckily I had just moved my fish but all my plants died. I was out of town too, so it may have been up to 7 days.

The worst part is, I have heard so many people on this board say the same thing. Many like me, tried more than once and had it happen 2-3x.

It's like having a dog bone filled with poison. It's super cruel but I guess since it's just fish, nobody cares. We all buy them for the same reason, they are super compact for wattage and then they fail.

[FlyingHellFish]

Originally Posted by GraphicGr8s

Yep. First one I ever bought. Not made anymore.

On longevity. I had a Vernado AC window shaker when I first got married. It was in my father's room before I got it. He got it from my grandparents. Only thing I ever changed was a start relay. Lasted until my father in law tossed it. Company is now owned by AO Smith. Stuff isn't as good today that's for sure.

Yeah, I notice on the older stuff they don't really say anything about 1 year warranty. And what is a AC Window shaker? For burglars, stalkers? EDIT: Ooh it's an AC machine.

[GraphicGr8s]

Window Shaker. An air conditioning unit designed to be installed in a window. Nicknamed "window shaker"

[FlyingHellFish]

Originally Posted by creekbottom

Use a temp controller!

My thoughts

Oh like one those adjustable heaters? I wonder if Tetra makes a model?

[Bandit1200]

Maybe this isn't the ideal situation for everyone, but here's how I do it. NO HEATERS! My house is always 72-74 degrees, so consequently all my tanks (probably way too many, but I'm working to get rid of the "probably" part) stay at 72-74 degrees.

[creekbottom]

Originally Posted by FlyingHellFish

Oh like one those adjustable heaters? I wonder if Tetra makes a model?

No, it's a seperate piece of equipment that you plug your heater into. It has a seperate temp probe that you put in the tank. If your heater sticks on, the controller senses the rising temp past whatever you set it at and it cuts the power to the heater.

http://www.finnex.net/index.php?opti...hk=1&Itemid=61

[AirstoND]

I had the same one that came with the tank kit. Same thing happened to me and I noticed a small crack. (remove the rubber and examine it carefully).

I think that brown stuff could be a crack with algea/diatom growing out of it.