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View Full Version : What's that burning smell......


Red Reefet
12/16/2006, 07:22 PM
This morning I had the sudden urge to check my tank. When I got over there I could smell a distinct burning smell coming from the tank. As luch would have it, our electrician friend was there for something else and is also a fish enthusiast. He checked a few things to make sure there was no shock danger and couldn't determine the source of the smell. About five minutes later my clownfish & hawk were on there sides with dark spots all over them. I freaked and quickly put them in a bucket with some water I was mixing for an up coming change.

So several hours & gallons later, we found the source. A stealth heater had gone bad. There were actually bubbles in the plastic on the body of it. They were supposed to be fully submersable, but it makes me wonder.

So this explains why I got a shock a few months ago, why my macro is almost dead, I have no pods anymore and all my shrimp, snails, crabs and clam died. I thought it was my nitrates, which were a little high, but not enough to kill. My tank was perfect for the last year until the last 6 months or so.

This evening, all the fish are still stressed but are swimming upright. I hope they make it.

Any reliable heater suggestions are appreciated.

ps. We're leaving for vacation next week. Can you imagine what could've happened??!!:eek2:

Timmy44221
12/16/2006, 07:39 PM
Thats no good. I use stealth heaters an havent had a problem. Hopefuly its an isolated incident

ezcompany
12/16/2006, 07:51 PM
oh boy...all my systems are running stealth heaters. it seems like nothing in this hobby is 100% fail proof.

Red Reefet
12/16/2006, 08:10 PM
I know. I like these heaters. Are they submersible or not? I had mine in the fuge. It was near a mag 7 that powers the skimmer & I can only think maybe the vibration did something. OUr electrician was trying to tell me that they were not full submersable.

jamal-188
01/15/2007, 01:33 PM
GFCI and a Ranco controller...heater are just bound to fail no matter what brand....