Soooo, I accidentally killed my

[Quinten]

fish. It seems that within a week, they all went belly up. I had noticed my heater on a couple of times in the last week or so, but it had been cool here so I thought nothing of it. After the last one died, I was walking past the tank and put my hand on the glass. I was alarmed at how warm it felt. I put my meat thermometer in and it showed 97 gedrees. Heater still set at 77 degrees. So I guess I murdered them. The moral of the story is beware of Wal-Mart heaters I suppose, even thought this one seemed to be fine for two years. How would you ever know that was coming. Are you supposed to replace them now and again?

[Capt.Insane-o]

Dunno. I stopped and looked at one at wal mart while I was buying outboard oil. Went to the local pet store owned buy a local white american and they had the same one cheaper withthe *set it and forget it* thermostat. So I bought it to replace the one I've had for a few years. I also bought a stick on thermometer for the side of the tank too. Anything can **** up I suppose.

[gotboostedvr6]

use the marineland heaters trust me

[Forkin' Crazy]

I got a huge green terror chiclid... and would be PISSED if I lost her. My heater from wally world started clicking, so I replaced it.

I'll have to check on the Marineland, but I got 5 tanks. :eek: chafokkinching!!! ;)

[Quinten]

I think after recent events, I'm going to clean everything up and put it away, with the exception of the heater which will go tothe trash can.

[76baja18ft]

fish. It seems that within a week, they all went belly up. I had noticed my heater on a couple of times in the last week or so, but it had been cool here so I thought nothing of it. After the last one died, I was walking past the tank and put my hand on the glass. I was alarmed at how warm it felt. I put my meat thermometer in and it showed 97 gedrees. Heater still set at 77 degrees. So I guess I murdered them. The moral of the story is beware of Wal-Mart heaters I suppose, even thought this one seemed to be fine for two years. How would you ever know that was coming. Are you supposed to replace them now and again?

Been there done that.....:mad:

[flabum1017]

That's what the floating thermometer is for :D


I don't trust anything electronic.

[Hot Shot Merc]

I feel for you.I have a custom salt water 29 gallon reef tank with about $1,000 in rocks,live corals and fish.I use the glass thermometer and an adjustable heater.Its a gamble basicly but you have to keep a close eye on the temps.Most cases the heater is not needed unless you live in the northern states during the winter.Buy a smaller heater then recomended.That way it cant get too hot if this happens again.I wish I had a camera I would love to share pics of my SPS dominated reef.

[76baja18ft]

That's what the floating thermometer is for :D


I don't trust anything electronic.

my little floating thermometer was reading right in the green,, even after i pulled it out and laid it on the counter... bought another and put it in the tank and it was 98 degrees in there.. heater had hung on...:( and a defective thermometer on top of that...:( .. disassembled the tank.. tossed the heater and thermometer.. and got rid of the fish tank...:)

[Slider]

Man, that sucks. I feel for you. I lost a few during my learning curve to ich. I use a ReefKeeper 2 (http://www.digitalaquatics.com/) to control my temp, PH, pumps, and lights. It is the best thing since sliced bread.

[Quinten]

That's what the floating thermometer is for :D


I don't trust anything electronic.

I could believe that, but in reality, if a heater stuck on some time in the early evening then you slept through the night, it may still be too late. If I get any more fish, I think I will skip the heater all together. The ambient temp in my house will never be below 65 any way.

[Superbender]

at wal mart while I was buying outboard oil

I guess thats for your wal mart outboard

[Action Dave]

Sorry about the fish dude. I didn't think you would need a heater in florida anyways.

Hotshot and anyone else who's got a nice saltwater tank, please put some pics up if you can. I'd love to have one but from what I've heard they are really expensive to maintain.

[Hydrophobic guy]

After finding all my fish floating and the temp at 95 I asked my 5 year old if he possibly had touched the heater.
He said yes.
I asked why did you do that?
He said the fish looked cold so I turned the heat up for them.


He was very excited about picking out the replacements.

[Quinten]

After finding all my fish floating and the temp at 95 I asked my 5 year old if he possibly had touched the heater.
He said yes.
I asked why did you do that?
He said the fish looked cold so I turned the heat up for them.


He was very excited about picking out the replacements.

I had the same concern about the 9 year old, but with the thermostat still set right she was safe.

[Hot Shot Merc]

Sorry about the fish dude. I didn't think you would need a heater in florida anyways.

Hotshot and anyone else who's got a nice saltwater tank, please put some pics up if you can. I'd love to have one but from what I've heard they are really expensive to maintain.Basic begginer salt systems arent expensive to to maintain but the set up and purchase of fish are more expensive than fresh.You also need to do frequent water changes of 25% to keep the nitrates down.Salt water fish are more sensative to water quality than most fresh water fish.You need to know quite a bit about them before getting into a salt syatem.Its easy but there are basics that you need to know.Like adding fresh water for top off from evaporation.The salt stays in the water but the water evaporates so to maintain the proper salinity you must add fresh.Tap water has too many bad things in it like phosphates and chlorine and amonia and silicates etc.You should always use R/O DI water(reverse osmosis/De ionized) for filling,top offs and water changes.It cuts way down on algee growth on ornaments and thye glass.

If anyone here wants to know more I would love to help out.I've been doing salt syatems and reefs for years.

Go here for all you will ever need to know about them
www.reefcentral.com

[Action Dave]

Thanks for the help and the link dude.:)

[flabum1017]

I could believe that, but in reality, if a heater stuck on some time in the early evening then you slept through the night, it may still be too late. If I get any more fish, I think I will skip the heater all together. The ambient temp in my house will never be below 65 any way.


We have a large freshwater tank at work and no heater, The AC is on all day and shut off on the weekends. Nobody even looks at the temps summer or winter. (South Fla you know.....). The only time we had a real problem with the tank is when they teneted the building and we moved all the fish to another building. When they set the tank back up, the tank was not allowed to stabilize before they put the fish back in. The whole thing got cloudy as heck and we started losing fish. The only two fish to survive was an 8 year old Gerami and a 6 year old bottom feeder. Temps never bothered them, but the Ph and chlorine killed them off.

[10.5' Tunnel]

I gave up on fish a few years ago. Had a really nice one with chiclids, lots of time and money invested, and they all started dieing one by one. I did tons of water tests, and nothing had changed in the setup. Decided that fish are best left as food:p

[jmg944t]

I have a 46 gallon Reef tank. A good preventive measure on the temp is to have an alarm that goes off if the tank leaves a preset range of temps. They are around $15 at your local reef store. If too cold is your problem (not YOUR problem) use 2 heaters one set a couple of degrees lower than you want the tank. That way if your main blows you have another 2 degrees lower. You REALLY don't want to know how much a reef tank crash can cost. But in general the cost isn't too bad. The biggest cost I can see is the lights at around $40/month. They are not like freshwater lights.

[gotboostedvr6]

heres some of my tanks
http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/DSC00927.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/DSC00929.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/DSC00900.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/DSC00861.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/DSC00858.jpg

[gotboostedvr6]

here are some corals and a 5" mantisshrimp

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/DSC00961.jpg

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/DSC00975.jpg

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/mantis.jpg

http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c24/gotboostedvr6/Saltwater%20fish/DSC00014-1.jpg

[Capt.Insane-o]

at wal mart while I was buying outboard oil

I guess thats for your wal mart outboard


No actually it was penzoil synthetic for $15.99 a gallon. For my mercury, which who knows what parts of it are from china. And it's theonly thing I buy at sprawlmart. incedentally almost all of the fish there were dead.

[flabum1017]

No actually it was penzoil synthetic for $15.99 a gallon. For my mercury, which who knows what parts of it are from china. And it's theonly thing I buy at sprawlmart. incedentally almost all of the fish there were dead.


Wow.....an errant post!