Aquarium heater problem PLEASE HELP!!

[af2018]

Ok so it’s been a while since I’ve been on here so hello again everyone!!
My last few aquarium heaters for my 55 gallon have been defective in one way or another. Currently I’ve got a marineland visi-therm. This thing has been going strong for about a year up until this morning. I got home from a quick errand and hear this high pitched noise almost like a power tool… I stepped outside because I truly questioned if one of my neighbors was outside working on something or if the noise was coming from within the house. Spoiler alert I didn’t hear it outside. So at that point I came back in and I’m walking around trying to figure out where this noise is coming from. I get to my fish tank and I hear it bad. I assume it’s one of the lines for my air pump, maybe a small hole, so I unplug it and still hear the noise. I’m going through unplugging stuff one by one, it truly sounded like 1 of my older filters (I have 2) so I unplugged that and still heard it. I was then questioning if it was somehow the power strip it’s all plugged into and I turned it off and the noise stopped. I texted my husband told him he was gonna help me troubleshoot to it tonight, and I laid down and took a nap. When I woke up, it was a bit chilly in here (michigan) so I thought I better plug just the heater in until we troubleshoot and replace whatever’s making that noise. As soon as I plugged it in the noise started back up I honestly did not test the heater on its own because I did not think that noise was coming from that heater. As I’m starting to discover these things are pretty faulty and I’m honestly a little afraid I’m gonna electrocute myself.

Can anyone please make recommendations? I do not want to buy another one of these types like I already have. I appreciate it! Thank you!

 

[Andy Sager]

It's a bit surprising to hear a noise from a heater but that is definitely a sign there's something wrong with it. The better brands ( according to "bestreviews") are Fluval and Eheim-Jager. They are going to cost a little more than the " bargain" heaters but you get what you pay for. Unfortunately, I don't have first hand knowledge from using these, ( I heat the room, not the tank) but Eheim and Jager produced top notch products for a long time before merging so they are names I would trust. Fluval, also makes good products that get very good reviews so unless you hear from others about better quality European brands, I'd stick with these 2.
Hope this helps.

 

[af2018]

In a pinch at petsmart I went with a titanium fluval one. My tank was about 73 degrees when we left the house so I knew I had to get something tonight. I will definitely look into those other ones you mentioned though! I was hoping to have more of a selection but petsmart carries pretty standard stuff. Thank you so much Andy!

 

[Aiken Drum]

I really like the fluval M series heaters, but i cant seem to get the bigger ones in the UK anymore. That may be the one you went for. The 200w or 300w for your 55g would be good.

I've tried JBL heaters, still using one on a small tank, that are OK but the bigger ones didn't last very long, maybe 12 to 18 months. Had a 200w watt one fail in the "on" position and nearly boiled everything. Spotted it, which was a stroke of luck. If I'd been out for the day, who knows.

Im currently using Hygger. Again OK, no problems so far. The thermostat could work a bit better, I need to adjust it every couple of months as you go through the seasons and the room temperature goes up and down. Had them for a couple of years, so I'll see how long they last.

I'd go back to Fluval M series heaters if I could get 200w plus ones here. The thermostat was bang on, never needed adjusting throughout the year. Got a couple of years out of them, which seems to be par for the course.

Every heater will fail eventually, and typically it's either the heating element or the thermostat that goes. If you go with an undersized heater it will need to run for longer and the element will fail quicker. If you go oversized it will switch on/off more frequently and the thermostat will fail quicker. So get the right size heater for your water volume, about 1w/litre (4w/gallon). If you are really concerned about your heaters failing, get a controller like an inkbird and never put your hands in the water while the heater is on.

 

[af2018]

I really like the fluval M series heaters, but i cant seem to get the bigger ones in the UK anymore. That may be the one you went for. The 200w or 300w for your 55g would be good.

I've tried JBL heaters, still using one on a small tank, that are OK but the bigger ones didn't last very long, maybe 12 to 18 months. Had a 200w watt one fail in the "on" position and nearly boiled everything. Spotted it, which was a stroke of luck. If I'd been out for the day, who knows.

Im currently using Hygger. Again OK, no problems so far. The thermostat could work a bit better, I need to adjust it every couple of months as you go through the seasons and the room temperature goes up and down. Had them for a couple of years, so I'll see how long they last.

I'd go back to Fluval M series heaters if I could get 200w plus ones here. The thermostat was bang on, never needed adjusting throughout the year. Got a couple of years out of them, which seems to be par for the course.

Every heater will fail eventually, and typically it's either the heating element or the thermostat that goes. If you go with an undersized heater it will need to run for longer and the element will fail quicker. If you go oversized it will switch on/off more frequently and the thermostat will fail quicker. So get the right size heater for your water volume, about 1w/litre (4w/gallon). If you are really concerned about your heaters failing, get a controller like an inkbird and never put your hands in the water while the heater is on.

Thank you Aiken! I got what I could in a pinch last night but still want something different. I guess I never realized these heaters only last short term. As much as they charge for these things I had hope they’d last a little longer.

 

[af2018]

I’m up early this morning and checked my tank, I set this fluval to 80 before bed and my tank is only 69 degrees now the light comes on like it’s heating, but I’m not convinced. I just turned it all the way up and will keep an eye on it but definitely ordering something else today!

 

[Aiken Drum]

You cant trust the numbers on the heater, they arent that accurate. If you want 80 and it only gets to 70 with it set to 80, gradually turn it up until the water temperature is 80.

There are so many factors to account for, the setting on the heater is hardly ever going to be accurate. Actual water volume, ambient room temperature, water flow in the tank etc, will all effect how accurate the heater setting is going to be. It wouldn't surprise me if different countries different power supplies effect things. Kettles work better (quicker) in the UK with 240v supply than they do in the US with 120v.

Get a temperature controller like an inkbird. Set the heater on max and let the controller do all the work if you are concerned.

If you are risk averse then replacing heaters every year would normally ensure you replace them before they fail. If you get 2 to 3 use years, thats decent. But the longer you leave it, the more chance you wake up to a tank full of boiled fish. A heater where its the thermostat thats failed is as likely to fail switched on, than off. When mine failed in the on position it was raising the temperature by about 5c (9f) in an hour. So potentially 2 or 3 hours without me noticing would have killed all my fish. Water temperature doesn't tend to drop as quick as it can rise if the heater fails "off".

 

[af2018]

Guys I’m at my wits end. My poor angelfish looks so stressed so this is a fluval m series. I turned it all the way up now and it’s not even staying on. We’re just above 70 in the tank. I did order a hygger but it won’t be here until Tuesday. I turned the heat up in the house but I am freaking out a bit. I assume this is another faulty one but I really don’t understand how this keeps happening to me. Even that marineland one the first one I bought did this so I exchanged it and the exchange worked for about 10 ish months until it gave out yesterday. I have a super busy day today, I was hoping to be able to set it and forget it and figured since I put it in last night I’d have it at least close to where I want it by the time I need to leave today
I let it sit in the tank for 30 minutes last night before I plugged it in. I’m telling you I always end up with a faulty one somehow

 

[Aiken Drum]

Possibly a bad batch of heaters.

What's your room temperature?

In a 55 gallon aquarium a 200 watt heater should be able raise the temperature by 15f. So if your room temperature is below 65f you would need a bigger heater.

You also need to make sure your heater is located in a good area of water flow to distribute the warm water. It doesn't look like it is. What might be happening is that the area of water immediately around the heater is at temperature but isn't being circulated enough, so the thermostat cuts off. I try and locate heaters next to the filter intake so that warm water is taken into the filter and then distributed around the aquarium. Cooler water is always circulating over the heater and being warmed up, until the the whole of the water volume is at temperature at which point the thermostat will kick in and control the temperature at the required level.

 

[af2018]

Possibly a bad batch of heaters.

What's your room temperature?

In a 55 gallon aquarium a 200 watt heater should be able raise the temperature by 15f. So if your room temperature is below 65f you would need a bigger heater.

You also need to make sure your heater is located in a good area of water flow to distribute the warm water. It doesn't look like it is. What might be happening is that the area of water immediately around the heater is at temperature but isn't being circulated enough, so the thermostat cuts off. I try and locate heaters next to the filter intake so that warm water is taken into the filter and then distributed around the aquarium. Cooler water is always circulating over the heater and being warmed up, until the the whole of the water volume is at temperature at which point the thermostat will kick in and control the temperature at the required level.

My last heaters were in the same spot as this one. I put it smack dab in the middle of both filters. Maybe I should try to move it closer to one of them?

Room temp is 70 but we like it cooler, at night especially. We run our central air in the dead of winter at night. I turned on the heat this morning and we’ll be sweating to death over the next couple days while we wait on the new one from Amazon to arrive

 

[Aiken Drum]

My last heaters were in the same spot as this one.

And all your heaters have failed quite quicker than they should. There may be a dead spot between the 2 filters. What would happen here is the water around the heater will warm up quite quickly, but not be well circulated. This will lead to a poor temperature gradient across different parts of the tank. The thermostat will turn the on and off heater more frequently than it needs to as the localised water around the heater warms up and cools, this will mean the thermostat will wear out quicker than it should. You want the heater right next to either the filter intake or output, or a powerhead, to better distribute the warmer water. I prefer the filter intake.

If you prefer the room in the 60s, I'd get a 300w heater, or a couple of 150w heaters.

 

[af2018]

I ordered a 300 watt!! Won’t be here til Tuesday. The marineland never had this issue. Granted the first one was faulty, the 2nd one evenly distributed the heat. I have / had thermometers on each side of the tank, they need new suctions for them now and won’t stay on but that marineland one was heating it properly. I’m just so bummed over this. It seems like they don’t make stuff like they used to.

 

[Andy Sager]

...... I’m just so bummed over this. It seems like they don’t make stuff like they used to.

They certainly don't. And we have to take that into consideration when buying machinery. In an old hatchery, I had 400 tanks with 400 heaters, all Supreme brand heaters because at that time, they were the best on the market. Even those had a "fault" which was that occasionally you needed to clean the contact points or at some point, they would stick in the on position and cook the fish. So you went through all the steps to get that perfect setting and temperature and then you needed to break the heater down to clean it and had to go through the whole process again. I still have some of those heater BTW but I hesitate using them except in the winter for my outside tanks ( winters in Florida are not like winters in Michigan so don't compare. ) This is why I now heat the room vs the tank.
In proper placement for a heater, it should be in the area of best water flow. It's probably not in that area if it is between the 2 filters as those filters should be flowing in the opposite direction of each other. If they are just plain overflow HOBs with no outflow direction but downward, I would definitely place the heater closer to one so that the heated water is in the flow column.

 

[af2018]

And all your heaters have failed quite quicker than they should. There may be a dead spot between the 2 filters. What would happen here is the water around the heater will warm up quite quickly, but not be well circulated. This will lead to a poor temperature gradient across different parts of the tank. The thermostat will turn the on and off heater more frequently than it needs to as the localised water around the heater warms up and cools, this will mean the thermostat will wear out quicker than it should. You want the heater right next to either the filter intake or output, or a powerhead, to better distribute the warmer water. I prefer the filter intake.

If you prefer the room in the 60s, I'd get a 300w heater, or a couple of 150w heaters.

Ok so I absolutely love this new heater. The other one was turned all the way up and the warmest it got it was 73. I just installed this one last night and we’re back in business. Thank you so much for this suggestion!

 

[Aiken Drum]

This shows that people will have different experiences from products, because I'd change from Hygger back to Fluval M Series heaters in a heartbeat if they where still available in the UK.

 

[af2018]

This shows that people will have different experiences from products, because I'd change from Hygger back to Fluval M Series heaters in a heartbeat if they where still available in the UK.

They must’ve made them differently in the past. I was less than impressed with mine. Looking forward to getting my $50 back from petsmart