Top Heater Fails Cheat Sheet: 00:00 Top 20 Heater Mistakes 0:16 Not Realizing Your Heater Will Fail 01:09 Installing a Heater Where It Can Be Exposed 02:23 Not Having Realistic Expectations 03:16 Not Replacing Your Heater Until It’s Broken 04:30 Assuming Adding Technology is Cheaper Than Buying a New Heater 06:20 Not Using All Method of Heater Protection 07:15 Assuming Heaters are Accurate Right out of the Box 08:37 Plugging Your Heating Element Directly Into Your Controller 09:51 Using Your Aquarium Controller to Regulate the Temperature 11:02 Not Making an Informed Decision on Temperature Swings 12:18 Not Considering Two Temperature Probes 13:08 Not Considering the Power Draw 14:19 Colder Rooms Require Higher Power Heaters 15:14 Tanks With Higher Evaporation Require Higher Power 15:44 Not Understanding if You Need Two Full Power Heaters or Two Half Power 16:49 Warmer Climates Use Heaters Differently Than Colder Climates 17:39 Not Using Two Heaters That Cover 70% of the Total Need Each 18:12 Not Monitoring the Ambient Room Temperature 19:24 Not Considering the Length of the Heating Element 20:23 Not Having Some Sort of Visual Alarm
Been listening to you guys preach this for years while having a 5 year old heater in my tank. Bought $300 of new additions last weekend to discover my water was cold. Thanks for all you do!
Since my first heater crashed I m only using 2 undersized Heaters, So if one fails it does not overheat my Tank and only one of those is still able to hold an acceptable temperature level.
Hi another great video, but I’m a little confused, so I have two heaters controlled by a INKBIRD controller. Should I plug the INKBIRD directly into the apex or run one heater off the INKBIRD and one off the apex at a slightly cooler temp just in case the INKBIRD heater fails?
Multiple temperature probes are an invaluable suggestion that I learned the hard way. I have a JBJ titanium 1000w heater with the separate temp control, using my Apex as a backup. While doing extended maintenance on my tank one day that stretched many hours, I eventually stuck my hand in the sump which felt like a hot tub - no warning from Apex. Problem was, I had both the Apex and heater temp probes in the DT. At some point the heater's temp probe got yanked out and went unnoticed. It was reading room temp by a window on a breezy day and kept the heater on for hours. It was a miracle nothing melted, burned or shattered...
Great Video. Absolutely a matter of when it will fail, Not If.... and usually it's at the most inopportune time. Always have a plan b ready to go or design your setup in a way that a single piece of equipment failure doesn't wipe out your tank.
Battery backups are great options for keeping circulation going. If you wish to use a heater during a power outage, a generator is going to be the best choice. Unfortunately, heaters will use up batteries very very quickly.
My heater is 6 years old. I check the temperature every day when I feed the fish. When I go on vacation, I have the person do the same. If it goes out, I'll replace it. Never going to be freezing fish or frying them 👍
On my 90 Gallon with two ac pumps and 4 kessil a360s I find that my chiller runs year round and the heater rarely turns on. My room temp sits about 73-75°f. Having a chiller and a heater makes a huge difference on stability. The chiller cycles at 1°f and after nearly 3 years the 1°f swing hasn't had any issues on the display (chiller is close looped to the sump which has worked better than inline on the return)
I run a pair of 600w German made DD titanium heaters, also each heater has its own DD heater controller and each controller runs a bank of fans. I do run mine at the bottom of the return chamber but the return pump would cut off due to low water before the heater becomes exposed :)
I have 2 smaller (undersized) heaters at each side of the fishtank. If one fails (and keeps on heating) the other will shut down because the setpoint is reached. The chance to overheat the tank is much smaller.
Hi Guys, i've got a Inkbird ITC-306A. If I set my heaters thermostat between the T1 and T2 times, I get a continuous heating alarm after the set time (6 hours by default). The only way around this is to set the heaters temp higher thank T1 and T2. Inkbird comfirmed this is a part of there design. Does this happen on all models, or do you have a work around?
That return chamber evaporation is exactly why I bought Thermocontrol-E for my aquariums and looking to replace my "old" one with this. Check Thermocontrol-E on RU-vid :P ( a VS video coming up. which I ask a question at the end, curious to know if you have the answer) I wanted to use a inkbird controller but I didn't want to be forced to leave a positive RU-vid video (I'm sticking being independent) for getting a free product so that turns me off and I'm just running my fans all the time (and the heater) for now =/ My ambient room temperature is high during summer so it's often over 25C, therefore the heater doesn't turn on, but around May/June and September/October both are active
Since you’re heater is right next to you’re intake of you’re flival. It would be better to put you’re output on the opposite side of you’re tank. It would take in the hot water and dump it on the other side. But you would get better water circulation from the return on you’re fluval on the othe side. I have a 125 African cichlids tank. I have 2 fluval fx5 and a fx6 fluval filters with 2 200 watt heaters. And it works great with my setup.
I remember buying my cheap heater. I set it to 76 and when I came to check the temp next day it was 82. I set it down to 72 and now it's 76in my tank lol
I let my apex control my temp but I have 2 heaters running opposite each other in 12 hour cycles on separate outlets with a 1° temp swing and each heater turns on twice per day so only two on/off cycles per day on each eb38 outlets
Hey guys, question about overflow systems with a sump on a Herbie overflow. When the water level of my sump drops in the return section, the water level in my overflow also drops and causes more noise. Is there anything I can do about that?
The only chamber that should fluctuate in water level is the return pump section in the sump. If you're seeing water level fluctuations elsewhere, you might have something plumbed incorrectly or unusually.
Hey so I have a aquatop fully submersible Heater. It states it is but it says to use fully under water and then it says leave top with knob exposed. What is best? It is a glass heater and my temp of tank stays at about 80 to 81 degrees F.
That isn't a brand that we've used before. Your best bet is likely going to be to reach out to the manufacturer to confirm how they want you to install the heater.
I just had one fail it put 240v in to tank so I got a replacement my old one was 5 months old there was condensation inside so I stripped old one down only a rubber bung in glass tube I have started filling the head with epoxy resin the adjustment screw is the weak spot for leakage into electrics and I use 3 controllers each one feeds each one and operate a contactor 150ma load on controller
Funny thing the infamous colbalt nearly fried my solo fish. Glad he was in there alone being I had just set up my tank and granted this was a used heater that came with a used tank so no telling how old it was. I will never ever put a used heater in my tank and I will always use two low wattage heaters instead of one high wattage one! I am going to look for some type of huge digital thermometer that maybe lights up red or something if its to hot. Hopefully there is something like that because I cant afford an apex although I am getting a seneye soon so maybe that has something like that,I am basically getting it for the par meter! lol
Ok.. gotta ask, I've seen Ryan with a wrist band on in many videos, and in this one I just saw a cut from a previous video and it was a different color. So... what's up with the wrist band?
Anyone entering the BRS office gets a temperature check right now with the whole Covid situation. The wrist band just means that you've had your temp check for the day and can come and go without having to do one every time you enter the building for the rest of that day. Different color band for every day of the week 🙂
My bulk reef supply heater goes off every night at 7:30 I can almost set my watch by it. I have it set at 76, it usually shows a actual temp of 78. something but when it hits 79 it goes off with the HL alarm. I hit the reset, wait till the next morning and then turn it off and on again and the display resets. It's getting kinda old. I was hoping I might find some info here.
Hey @JNeuel, the HL alarm is whenever the current temperature of the tank is 3 degrees or more above the set point. It's possible that the equipment in your tank is causing the temperature to rise and hit that 79 degree mark, even though the heater is off. Feel free to give our support team a call if you're still having issues and we'd be happy to troubleshoot with you.
@@BRStv That's the only thing I also can think of. It's an MAX E170 just like in the 5 minute guide. So all the equipment except the light is the same. I guess it just runs hot at a certain time of day is all I can figure out. Thanks so much for the reply I super appreciate it.
Each heater brand is a little different. Most will have a minimum water line printed on them. Anything below that line MUST be submerged to ensure safe operation.
Good god... I haven't even begun to set up my 60-Gallon breeder because I need heater(s) for it. And watching this after doing *extensive* digging on what ideal heater(s) I should get & hearing horror stories of catastrophic failures are giving me a *massive headache.* Seriously, this 60-Gallon breeder is my first aquarium in over *20 years...* Long story short, this tank is supposed to be "lessons learned" from 20 years ago. Along with everything else that are new on top of that since then.
You keep saying every piece of electronic equipment will fail. While, yes, you should design with that in mind it is _not_ true that everything will fail. I have equipment that is 10, 20, 30, and even 40 years old that still works fine. I design, always, with the thought of failure, but not everything fails.
@@BRStv The main solution to my reef issues is watching BRS TV! I can't tell you how many potential issues your show has made me aware of before they even happened! I have so many counter issues in place I was beginning to believe that my system was fail proof. Until last week when a snail got stuck in my ATO float and drained my return chamber. My Apex optical eye caught the error and emailed me. But it just goes to show any little thing can go wrong....
