Shocking discovery

[cbrennan4]

Getting ready for my trip to Hawaii, I decided to check all my equipment to be safe. While I was cleaning out my sump I found that my heater had been damaged. I'm really glad that it was hot out and wasn't working at the time I had my hands in the sump. Makes no sense how it happened though.

 

[1kwksvt]

Wow that's a good find right before your vacation. Good thing you did not get shocked

 

[woodnaquanut]

Wow! How did you NOT get shocked? Looks like exposed wires. Is there a controller turning off the whole thing?

Where you going in Hawaii? Vacation, I hope.

 

[cbrennan4]

I have a controller that regulates when to turn it on and I'm lucky that the heater was off bc it was so hot out.

I'm going to the big island for 9 days and we are staying in Kona. I can't wait go diving there and I'll try to take a lot of pictures with my underwater camera. I'm really looking forward to hopefully seeing zooanthids in the wild.

 

[northbay-reefer]

those stainless heaters are notorious for that. Glad you found it otherwise it would have been a disaster.

 

[cbrennan4]

I also had to change the impeller on my mag 9.5 because it was making a weird noise. I'm wondering if a piece of the heater went into it and caused problems.

I had another one of these heaters laying around and am using it for now(I think it's a finnex titanium). What kind of heater would you recommend?

 

[Dapg8gt]

Good catch and perfect timing.. I've been running eheim-jager heaters for a while now and haven't had any issues fwiw.. Solid construction just hecka long per watt.. They may make different length ones but the 300w I just bought is like 2'lol..

 

[SWBeginer]

Wow that's a good find right before your vacation. Good thing you did not get shocked

He would not get shocked or the fish had been toasted.

 

[zeroinverse]

This is why I use a grounding probe. Worst case my GFCI trips and my system fails safely.

Colin:if you need me to help house watch (or tank watch), ask.

 

[northbay-reefer]

I also had to change the impeller on my mag 9.5 because it was making a weird noise. I'm wondering if a piece of the heater went into it and caused problems.

I had another one of these heaters laying around and am using it for now(I think it's a finnex titanium). What kind of heater would you recommend?

The Finex is the worse one of all. I.ve been using Ebojager all these years with minimal problems

 

[woodnaquanut]

I'm a fan of the now Eheim-Jager.

Gotta be the longest heater (watt for watt) on the market! Wish they were shorter and not glass.

 

[Dragonvale]

I think the worst was the stealth marine heaters. I had two but got them replaced based on their warranty. I want to say Jake also got his replaced also for free. Ive been using actually the ViaAqua titanium for the last 4 years.

 

[NeonFish]

I think the worst was the stealth marine heaters. I had two but got them replaced based on their warranty. I want to say Jake also got his replaced also for free. Ive been using actually the ViaAqua titanium for the last 4 years.

I had those. 3 out of 4 no longer work. Quality of heaters has gone down hill.

 

[WalrusKisses]

CBrennan, what wattage do you need? Amazon sent me a case of 50 watt Eheim-Jager heaters when I ordered one. I have 5 still in their boxes

 

[WalrusKisses]

Four, rahter. I use one to heat my waterchanges :spin3:

 

[cbrennan4]

I need about a 250-300w for my 90. I have a backup but it's the same brand. I'll look into some of the heaters you guys have suggested.

 

[Reef Bass]

I've had issues recently with Jager heaters. Was a huge fan for decades. Had one go almost 20 years. The newer ones don't last anywhere near as long. Had the glass tube of one actually shatter in the sump and ended up poisoning the tank. No bueno. Had another exhibit considerable condensation inside like moisture was seeping in. Seems like when they transitioned away from Ebo quality went down. It appears they're now owned by Eheim, which usually has very good quality.

Colin diving in Kona is wonderful. I've gone there 3 times for that. Keep an eye out for the dark Hawaiian long nose butterfly. They exist only in that area to my knowledge. They're like the regular yellow ones, but can have large dark blotches on their sides, like when my foxface rabbitfish is getting all agro.

 

[northbay-reefer]

I think we tend to abuse heaters because we just drop them in the water and think nothing about them, we just expect them to work like they are suppose to. I think the best way to use them is not fully submerge them and always leave the top plastic part out of the water and always use a controller. Ebojager like any other brand, they are better than most but they do have a life time span like any other equipment so use them for what they are worth but you have to keep them on a replacement cycle. In the winter time I use my halide more so I can keep the water warm with more lights and my corals also grow faster so it's a win win with the heat from the lights my heater will work less so the energy consumption is about the same.

 

[Grant W]

yikes Colin nice catch