Double Heater Aquarium failure !!

[macabethiel]

Called into our old house yesterday to feed my tropical fish - found the temperature had dropped to 17.3 Centigrade / Celsius overnight.

Strange I thought as I have two heaters in my sump filter. One is 150 W that does all the work set at 24 deg C plus a second 50W heater set at a few degrees less as a back up.

I quickly installed a spare 100 W heater to recover the situation until I have obtained a new pair of heaters.

I tested the two heaters today, the 50 W unit has failed completely the 150 w heater is partially working as it is slightly warm to the touch. Both are fair quality Rena heaters that are resin based and have no glass tube & are electronically controlled. Both units were new 4-5 years ago.

I guess I should have just fitted new ones after 4 years use. By comparison I had an old glass "Black Heat" unit that I bought in 1972 that was fully submersible and could be buried in the gravel or sand. It worked until around 2001 when I had to bin it as the separate thermostats were no longer available!

[jims-terrano]

I think aquarium equipment has moved on since I used to keep fish.

You are lucky to save the fish after a cold shock like that too. I’m guessing the 50w heater must of been faulty for a while and not noticed until it was needed.

Been thinking about buying a replacement tank and kit but they all seem so expensive now and all funny shaped things.

[stevew]

i only use cheap Chinese heaters they last as long if not longer than modern expensive ones thermostats are not always accurate but i just set them up with the help of a external thermometer

[macabethiel]

I think aquarium equipment has moved on since I used to keep fish.

You are lucky to save the fish after a cold shock like that too. I’m guessing the 50w heater must of been faulty for a while and not noticed until it was needed.

Been thinking about buying a replacement tank and kit but they all seem so expensive now and all funny shaped things.

TBH you can get a lot of good stuff on the used market as people often tire of the maintenance and fish mortality due to inexperience.

It is surprising how tropical fish can withstand lower temperatures if they are in good health. In nature you do get sudden temperature changes due to acute dry spells,Monsoons and the like.

Back in the bad winter of 1978/79 my father lived in a rural bungalow with overhead power cables. He was without electricity for 6 days. Luckily his central heating was coal fired and although the pump did not work the thermo-siphon effect gave him some background heat.

I told him to stop feeding the fish (filter had stopped) and we lagged the tank to slow down the heat loss. The temperature fell from 76 dg F to 58 deg F over the 6 days. His tank consisted mainly of Clown Loach that have no scales and are a "skinned" fish being very susceptible to white spot. When the power returned we treated the tank for whitespot and they all survived !