[99RedSi]

I have a Hydor Eth 200W inline heater (5/8" hose version for my XP1) and I came home from work today to find my new 20g tank water temperature to be about 95F! .

Luckily I'm doing a fishless cycle - no plants, no fish.

I unplugged the heater to allow the tank to stabilize.

Are these heaters known for malfunctions like this? What's been your experience?

I may plug it in again to test it in a few days but I'm frustrated that this expensive heater may be fried. :angryfire

 

[OverStocked]

if it is new, contact the seller or manufacturer. Any heater can fail. It is just a bi-metal strip in there that heats and cools and eventually they fail. Whether they fail open or closed is the issue..

 

[Tony F]

I have a 300W in a 120 gallon, same thing, one night it jumped to 88 degrees (luckily it's a Discuss Tank). I unplugged it and got the tank back down to 82 by slowly pouring cool water over the circulation pump. Couple days later I lowered the setting, plugged the Hydor back in and slowly brought back up, knock on wood it has not happened again.

Tony

 

[99RedSi]

I have a 300W in a 120 gallon, same thing, one night it jumped to 88 degrees (luckily it's a Discuss Tank). I unplugged it and got the tank back down to 82 by slowly pouring cool water over the circulation pump. Couple days later I lowered the setting, plugged the Hydor back in and slowly brought back up, knock on wood it has not happened again.

Tony

Ok, will try this..thanks

 

[mach_six]

I don't have an inline but I have a few of their heaters and I noticed you don't set it at the temp you want.

I have a new 200W on a 29G and I set it to 78 and it went as high as 82 on my reef.

I have another 3 yr old Hydor 50W in a Eclipse 12 and does the same thing, set it a few degrees lower than what you want it to be.

 

[Tony F]

I always start them several (4-6) degrees less than desired, then work my way up slowly one or two degrees a day until I reach desired temp. I don't ever trust the setting on the heater to be accurate, and usually use two digital thermometers at opposite sides to set my temps.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

[99RedSi]

mach and Tony - good call, I will try that as well tonight. Crazy that you can't set a heater and forget it!!

 

[Geminiluna]

mach and Tony - good call, I will try that as well tonight. Crazy that you can't set a heater and forget it!!

No kidding, right? I keep an old fashioned thermometer in each of my tanks and check it daily just to be sure. My Hydor ETH inlines all ran fine until one failed (after several years of use) and pretty much cooked all the fish in the tank. I was taking it for granted that it would function as it always had and got lazy and no longer checked the thermometer. My mistake. I still use the Hydor ETHs, by the way. Love 'em!

Anyway - chances are your heater is functioning fine but may be toward the high-powered side for a 20-gallon tank so like others have said, try setting it lower and measuring the result with your thermometer until you get it where you want it (and then check it every day still!).

 

[wendyjo]

Yeah I was gonna say the above. Just turn it down a bit and get it to the temp you want it and then see if it stays steady. Having said that - I have the same heater and it's pretty accurate.

Also what time of thermometer are you using? Sometimes the ones that stick to the tank aren't very accurate.

 

[99RedSi]

Yeah I was gonna say the above. Just turn it down a bit and get it to the temp you want it and then see if it stays steady. Having said that - I have the same heater and it's pretty accurate.

Also what time of thermometer are you using? Sometimes the ones that stick to the tank aren't very accurate.

That's exactly what I use - a "stick to the tank" type from Wally World.

Recommendations on a different/better one?

 

[deeda]

The glass aquarium thermometers are pretty accurate.

 

[wendyjo]

Yeah the glass ones are cheap and accurate. If you don't like the look of it simply use it to see how much your sticky is off by, then keep that in consideration when setting the temp on the heater.