Heater exploded???

[ADCISCO]

On my qtank I had one of those little heaters you get at walmart for about $10. It didnt have a temp control on it that you could read what the temp was but I had a thermometer in the tank but you could adjust it. Things have been fine. My kissing fish died this morning and after she died I changed the water to get ready to get some new fish. About an hr later I went back in there to notice that the light on the heater was blinking and then it was bubbling on the inside and then it just exploded. The whole end just blew off. Has anyone ever had this to happen to them? I know I will not buy another one of these because this thing was red hot when I tried to take it out of the tank so I just unplugged it and I'm waiting for it to cool. It looked like it had like green stuff bubbling in it.....Should I just totally dump the contents of the tank and rinse everything before getting new fish? This was just so weird. The whole bottom end of the glass tube just blew off.

 

[Terry]

I once had a 300w heater blow on me and it cracked my tank with the force, i was'nt happy it was a 150gal tank.

Water everywhere, that's one of the joys of fish keeping.

 

[ferret]

Out curiousity, was the heater exposed to open air for any extended time while still plugged in?

 

[Terry]

Yes it was, it was totally my thought. I was doing a water change and got carried away and the next thing i knew was that the heater was just out of the water. I had move it higher in the tank for some reason, can't remember why. Never mind these things happen.
I repaired the tank and it lasted for 6 more years before i sold it on.

 

[ADCISCO]

Mine was still in the water......hadnt been exposted.......Just very strange. The bad part of it was that I had left right after it happened and I didnt unplug it before I left. ( I dont know what I was thinking)I was lucky that it didnt catch the house on fire. I mean it was red hot. It burnt my fingers when I started to take it out of the water. My husband told me to take it back to the lfs but I am not even going to bother with it. I am going to get a different kind that you can see what the temp is set on. I did empty the tank and clean the gravel but I was also wondering if I should change the filter too. I dont know what that gunk was that was in it....I dont know if it would hurt the fish or not so I thought better safe than sorry but I didnt put that filter back in. I was afraid too.Thoughts?

 

[ferret]

I refuse to buy 'adjust as you go' heaters that don't just show a set temperature. Too much hassle and too hard to adjust if you ever need to change it for whatever reason.

 

[Capt.Gorilla]

Yeah I used to own turtles when I was young and my father never caught on the the hot heater cold water reaction, he shattered at least 10-15 heaters changing water.

 

[ADCISCO]

Well I am getting another one this evening and it wont be like the one that I had that is for sure! Right now I just have the filter going without the filter and I have the lights on to try and keep the water at least half way warm until I can get the heater tonight. Flurecent lights dont throw off much heat do they???? I have irridecent lights that seem to be very warm. Thinking of getting some screw in flurecent ones to replace them. They just seem way to warm but maybe they will keep the water warm until I can at least get the heater.

 

[ferret]

Is this a 10 gallon? My 10gallon is one of those petsmart topfin things, and originally came with an irridescent light. It kept the water at 85-87 by itself, with 25 watt bulbs. 15 watt bulbs dropped the range to 82-84. If thats about what you have, you won't have to worry about heating as long as the lights are on. In such a high temperature tank you'd only want a heater for at night if fish are in the tank, to avoid the temperature varying too much.

 

[ADCISCO]

I have a 10 gallon that I got at petland and a hood that I got at walmart because my paradise fish likes to jump out of the tank without it. I was thinking of taking one of the bulbs out and seeing how that goes. I wonder how much the water temp would vary if I left both bulbs in and turned it on in the morning and off at night??? I usually turn them on abut 10am and off at 11pm. I'm gonna go check the water now. No heater and lights are on. Do you think it is safe to put that filter back in there after that heater exploded in there or should I get another filter to be on the safe side?

 

[ferret]

It would depend on the air temperature. I had my heater off during a short period while my 10 gallon was empty (Except for snails from pet store).. The morning temperature of the tank would generally be whatever the temperature of the apartment was. So the tank would vary from 86-88 in the day to 76-78 at night. Not good for fishies, to my knowledge.

The filter itself should be fine, but you might want to change out the media, if the heater had mercury and such. Anyone else?