Help!!! heater blew up in the sump

[Skynite]

My Finnex 300 watt titanium heater blew up in the sump. About a week ago the heater stopped working and today I go to replace the heater only to see it separated from the main body. I'm worried that chemicals may have leached into the tank. Do I need to worry about it. Right now I'm just cycling my tank, I don't have any livestock. Help, I don't know what to do.

[mcgyvr]

Dont worry...You can run a polyfilter if you want to detect /alert to copper,etc...
I probably wouldnt even worry

[Skynite]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

Dont worry...You can run a polyfilter if you want to detect /alert to copper,etc...
I probably wouldnt even worry

thx for the quick reply.

[Tastee]

+1 for Poly Filter


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MarkW64]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

Dont worry...You can run a polyfilter if you want to detect /alert to copper,etc...
I probably wouldnt even worry

I almost always agree with mcgyver (like 99+% of the time) but I’m going to disagree this time. Based on my experience I WOULD worry, and would definitely run a polyfilter. Same thing happened to me — I had a “submersible” heater come apart in my sump about 1.5 years ago. Lost MANY of my inverts: all of my snails, limpets, sea cucumbers, and many of my urchins, gorgonians, bivalves, etc. Presumably from metal poisoning.

[cjpitt80]

How does a titanium heater "blow up"? Aren't those supposed to be indestructible? I'm worried now because I have a Cobalt NeoTherm. BRS rated it high, but I've read some people have them blow up, so I was going to switch to a titanium one before it was time to put it in use. What's the best heater to get?

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by cjpitt80

How does a titanium heater "blow up"? Aren't those supposed to be indestructible? I'm worried now because I have a Cobalt NeoTherm. BRS rated it high, but I've read some people have them blow up, so I was going to switch to a titanium one before it was time to put it in use. What's the best heater to get?

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2376715

ALL heaters fail in some way or another....
None have proven to be 100% reliable/safe/perfect..

Many will recommend Ehein Jagers though..

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by MarkW64

Presumably from metal poisoning.

Assumptions..

[cjpitt80]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2376715

ALL heaters fail in some way or another....
None have proven to be 100% reliable/safe/perfect..

Many will recommend Ehein Jagers though..

Yep that's the thread I saw. Of course, this was AFTER I got the dang Cobalt heater and it was rated so high. Luckily I haven't had to use it yet.

ALL heaters fail...I swear this must be another marine quirk. I have a cheap 100w Petco submersible heater that lasted about 10yrs in my freshwater setup. The thing STILL works! I moved it out my QT because it was too big..

[mcgyvr]

Originally Posted by cjpitt80

I have a cheap 100w Petco submersible heater that lasted about 10yrs in my freshwater setup. The thing STILL works! I moved it out my QT because it was too big..

There are certainly times you get "lucky" in this hobby..
I've had great luck with the Aqueon Pro heaters in the past..

Petco heaters are probably made by Eheim anyways..


One thing I recommend with all glass heaters is that you NEVER put the joint between the glass tube and the top dial/controls underwater even if it is a "fully" submersible heater..
Those joints are the biggest opportunity for failure (glass to dial case and dial shaft seal,etc...).. Seals never last

[MarkW64]

Originally Posted by mcgyvr

Assumptions..

Yes, my first assumption was that my problems were related to electrical current, but concluded that was not the case. Unfortunately I didn’t have a poly filter on hand so couldn’t observe it’s color change. Also couldn’t readily test for copper. Spent my time doing daily large water changes for probably a week. Just curious — do you have another likely explanation?

[tkeracer619]

Heaters are inherently junk.

Never trust them. Use them on a temperature controller.

Run polypad. The treated kind you get at the LFS that changes colors.

I wouldn't worry too much if the pad doesn't change colors.

[Skynite]

Yes Titanium heaters fail though I didn't know mine was going to blow up or become separated exposing the wiring. I was lucky I didn't fry.

Here is what happened....
Oct 2nd, I started my cycle in my tank. 2 heaters were running. Apex was programmed to turn on at 77 and off at 78.
Oct 6th, I noticed the temp spike to 79.6. Why didn't the APEX turn it off? Apex should've turned it off at 78, any ideas as to why?
Oct 7th, noticed that only one heater was working. Tried to turn on the other heater but it was dead. I turned of the outlet in Apex which probably saved my life. I ordered a replacement heater. I've owned this heater for almost a year but never used it until now.
Oct 17th, went to replace broken heater in sump with the new one. Reached in only to notice that the heater blew up or something but it separated into two parts. Counting my blessing that I didn't fry.

This weekend, I'm installing a GFCI outlet for the Aquarium. Currently where the Aquarium sits there isn't a GFCI outlet nearby.

thanks for the advise I just ordered a poly filter too and will install that as well once it arrives just in case.

Today my fish is also going in the tank, I have 2 clowns and a couple chromis that survived the Tank Transfer Method and its time for them to enter the main display tank.

On a side note, Dr Tims One and Only did not work after 2 weeks. One day with Bio-Spira my Ammonia was at 0 and Nitrite was close to 0 also. Dr Tims from Amazon might have a bad batch, I bought 2 bottles and both didn't work.