Stealth Heater Catastrophe

A

AndoCleophus

New member
Unfortunately my stealth heater on my RSM 130 failed similar to what i've read throughout reefcentral and my dumbness decided it wouldn't happen to me. At any rate my temperatures went through the roof devastating my livestock. Fortunately their are two survivors who i've spent a lot of time with the past 3 years. I'm moving them into my Bio Cube 8 quarantine tank and I'm looking to move them for free to a good home.

Ando is an ORA Extreme Misbar Oscellaris, his misbar pattern is quite extreme indeed one of his sides is completely lacking a middle bar. He's the first fish i've had and has been kicking strong ever since i bought him from Elmer's 3 years ago.

Cleophus is a Yellow Clown Goby also purchased from Elmer's about 2 years ago. He's been eating on just about anything, loves cyclopeez and different frozen foods i give him...not a temperamental eater like some YCGs.

At any rate i live in Sewickley area and was planning on giving these guys up to a good home so i can start my new tank anyways, however it happened way sooner than i'd like.

Please have a suitable tank for these guys if you reply back, They were happy in the Red Sea Max together, but I think it'd be nice to give them a lot more room in a bigger tank :).

It'd be nice to give them both to the same person if possible since they are quite familiar with each other and might ease them into their new surroundings.

Again free to a good home, PM me with your phone number and we can get this done today. I'm staying home from work today to tend to everyone and monitor them.

Thanks

Matt
 
A home has been found...Thanks Tom. If something falls through i will make sure to post on here again ASAP, also Tom if not able to do it for whatever reason please let me know soon as I'll need to find them another home.

On another note, what are folks recommendations for heater configurations? I really want to avoid this in the future. I guess after 3 years in the hobby I was due for something bad to happen.
 
Ando, if you use a Ranco heat controller, it will cut power to the heater if the temperature rises above a certain point. I don't run my heater on one, but it doesn't heat much right now, and I run a 1/3HP chiller, so it can overpower my heater, even if it were to fail on. I also recommend running a heater that is somewhat undersized, since using the recommended size by the manufacturer gives your heater the potential to run your temps up to 90+ degrees. Using an undersized heater restricts the worst case scenario. I'm not sure if it's harder on the heater to be on more, which would be the only negative, but I've never had problems with this system personally.

Still, whatever way you go, a Ranco heater controller would be the way to go for sure.
 
Matt, I will notify you if something comes up. Pm sent. Thank you.

I use a JBJ True Temp on both of my tanks. Daves Aquastock is where I purchased my last one.
 
I've heard about the ranco heaters...how exactly do they work...is it essentially a controller? Could I accomplish the same thing with like an RKL or Apex controller? I was planning on buying one of those at some point and I don't like having a ton of equipment, so keeping things as neat as possible is key for me. Definitely going to be looking into a much better heater though. Thank you for the advice on going with a smaller heater as well...i'm likely going to upgrade to LED at somepoint, so I'll likely have to play around with the heater configuration a little bit since i wont have as much heat generated from my light fixture.
 
AndoCleophus said:
I've heard about the ranco heaters...how exactly do they work...is it essentially a controller? Could I accomplish the same thing with like an RKL or Apex controller? I was planning on buying one of those at some point and I don't like having a ton of equipment, so keeping things as neat as possible is key for me. Definitely going to be looking into a much better heater though. Thank you for the advice on going with a smaller heater as well...i'm likely going to upgrade to LED at somepoint, so I'll likely have to play around with the heater configuration a little bit since i wont have as much heat generated from my light fixture.
Click to expand...

I know that the most basic version of the RKL (and I'm pretty certain the Apex as well) can do this. I have my heater set to 81 degrees and the controller set to turn the switch to the heater on when the tank is ~79 degrees (and then off at ~80) - both would have to fail to boil my tank. My tank stays 79.4 degrees (+/- .2 degrees) all the time now (have yet to see the performance in the summer though - I'd suspect only slightly higher...)

Another thing to consider -- many people recommend running two undersized heaters as opposed to one properly sized heater. This way if one fails to turn off then it will not be strong enough on it's own to overheat your tank. If one fails to turn on, then the other will at least raise the temperature somewhat. Might not be the most efficient way to do things, but it is one of the safer ways.
 
The controller will work. I've found that often times we don't pay attention to what heaters are actually capable of. I just try to make sure that my heater, even if it ran 100% of the time, would keep the tank at 85 degrees or less. I don't worry as much about them failing off, since most of my heat comes from my equipment and light.
 
Thanks for the different ideas...i think i will try out the small heaters idea and hook it up to a controller...hoping my fish are going to be ok...they dont look themselves...obviously stressed right now...breaks our hearts, but it's better letting someone with a bigger setup and likely more experience to give them a chance...I'm just not equipped right now to do much for them unfortunately.
 
I use to use these heaters and only these. I had 15, and now down to my last two that actually work. I do not use them for anything important, and after my last one just popping in half in water i am getting ready to toss these.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

JBJ makes a good controller, and offers great customer service. Also a decent controller is good to gave. But in my 210 i run 2 small heaters and it works well
 
The basic RKL controller comes with a temperature probe and a power strip with four outlets. It will operate a primary and secondary heater and also a fan pointed toward the sump in the event you get upward temperature swings in the summer. And you'll have an extra outlet for another use. You will wonder how you ever kept an aquarium without one.
 
Yeah. Im thinking of ordering two Aqua JR. Comes with Serial Port/ DC8 / Temp Probe for about 220$
I dont need the other stuff that constitutes 500$ controller.
 
i just know the stealth heaters have found a permanent spot on the S*&@ list. Definitely going to find best possible alternatives for the next tank.
 
Awaiting to purchase a AC Jr. - when they come back in stock. I will have a Ranco available to sell afterwards for cheap.
 
cloakerpoked said:
Ando, if you use a Ranco heat controller, it will cut power to the heater if the temperature rises above a certain point.

Still, whatever way you go, a Ranco heater controller would be the way to go for sure.
Click to expand...

Ando - having a loss of my own recently, sorry to hear about yours.

I second or third the recommendation on a Ranco Controller and dual heaters. This is what I used on my now defunct 72 gallon and it held the temp dead steady.

Given my tank's demise due to the leak - I do have my Ranco Controller for sale - already wired to a dual outlet - for $80. If interested PM me. I also have two 150W Jager heaters (these have been the most reliable heaters I have found) - one is used $10 and one new in the box $20 (sells in store for $28) also available for sale (see my major equipment sale thread) if you are interested and PM me.

I work in Sewickley so if you are interested, we could easily meet up on a weekday

Thanks
 
Sorry for your loss. I use two undersized heaters set at 82 degrees and they are connected to an apex lite set at 80. So far it works as planned.
 
thanks for all the responses on this...i'm going to do me a good bit of research to see what will be the best way for me to go on this. The fish are packed and on their way to a new home now, they will be missed.
 
+1 for the Ranco from Superstein61- picked up stuff from him and everything was in great shape.
 
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