Stealth Heaters

[TonyHNY]

If you have one, return it and get a Visitherm or something (as a free replacement).....They are destined to fail and I had no idea of a recall until it heated my tank to 115F and started buzzing... I've lost over $2K worth of stuff.

here's a pic before and after I was surprised the Elegance and Duncan survived!

 

[KathyC]

So very sorry for your losses.

Don't give up on anything that may even have a remote chance of coming back.

Did you lose all of your fish?

How did you cool the tank back down?



This heater recall has been posted before on MR - we have a 'sticky' on top of the General Discussion Forum. I will bump it back up in case there are others who have not removed these heaters from their tanks.
http://www.manhattanreefs.com/forum/general-discussion/115441-new-recall-sticky.html

 

[TonyHNY]

I was away for 10 days for the military and had my folks babysit the tanks. I think it must of happened on the day that I was coming back since there was no way for the Elegance to survive that long with the heat of over 100F.

All the Aussie Acans die with nothing left. whatever is left on the After picture are bleached out but slowly recovering. It was so eye-soring coming home to see it. My home smelled like the beach but the Clowns survived! I am just grateful that they are...

What I am more happy about this outcome is that it didn't happen any earlier. I know for sure that if it had happened on day 1 of my departure, my apartment will be toasted since the water evaporated very fast and I can't imagine what would an overheat heater would do...

I got an estimate of losses from Dr Mac's Coral so i am trying to send a claim into United Pet Groups.

 

[kenconnect]

Wow.. So sorry for your losses.. Good luck with this keep us posted

 

[rbtwo4]

hey man sorry at least it didnt start a fire in your apartment the way my stealth heater did. good thing that someone was home and caught cus if not my whole apartment wouldve went up in flames. could be worse bro i lost EVERYTHING in my tank equipment and all. keep your head up.

 

[TonyHNY]

I hope owners of a Stealth heater should contact Marinland for a replacement. I have had failed heaters before and they usually shut down. This one stayed on even at 115F! Along with the heat came with lots of evaporation and the ATO dumped a good load of kalk into the tank....sigh.....

You know things are really bad when your xenias and mushrooms are dying..

 

[skene]

This is reasons why everyone should not rely directly on a heater.. and should use a controller to compensate for any issues.

 

[B.BASH]

There was a recall on those heaters a while back i can't remember exactly when.

 

[TTSkipper]

Sorry for the Los but thanks for the heads up on the recall I have one in my tank I will check the serial.

 

[al0ha]

yeah mine blew up in the tank, thank god i was doing a water change and was able to siphon all the toxic shizznits that leaked out

 

[piranhapat]

Thank god for Forums like this. I had 4 Stealth heaters and someone posted about a recall. It was about 2 yrs ago . I called Marineland and 2 days later UPS ring my bell and took my heaters. All I had to do was to put them in a box. Few weeks later I got a check for all 4 what I paided for them...I heard someone house went on fire.....

 

[TonyHNY]

Piranhapat, glad that you did since I have no idea about these recalls until this happened.
I really feel that it is VERY unusual for this to happen to heaters and that's why they are doing a full recall and stopped production...I've been in the aquarium hobby for over 20 years and when heaters failed in my cases, they normally don't turn on. And when they do stay on, they don't heat the water to 115F.
I have to thank God that it didn't happened any earlier and it was right on the 10th day when i came back from TDY....My mother, who was caring for them when I was away, would have had a heart attack!


On a side note, the survivors of over 115F were:

1) Duncans
2) Elegance - to my greatest surprise! I always thought these were a pita to keep but she's been with me for over 2 years! I got it from Ryan (a vendor) along with the acans.
3) xenias
4) mushrooms
5) 2 small colonies of Acan Ech

All wiped out were the Australian Acans, blasto, acro(s) ....

 

[masterswimmer]

I really feel that it is VERY unusual for this to happen to heaters and that's why they are doing a full recall and stopped production...I've been in the aquarium hobby for over 20 years and when heaters failed in my cases, they normally don't turn on. And when they do stay on, they don't heat the water to 115F.

Tony,
Without having done a scientific study I can still safely say that it's at least arguable that heaters are actually the #1 piece of equipment to fail in this hobby. I've been in the aquarium business for a number of years now, and by FAR, heaters have failed more than any other product. The big problem with a heater failing in the 'on' position, is just as you experienced, they can cook a tank and wipe it out in a very short time. This one reason is why we recommend plugging your heaters (yes multiple, smaller heaters) into a controller.

Russ

 

[Yonkers28]

Mine also broke
There was a recall on them
Sorry to hear good luck