How to Swap out Heaters Safely

[Jennifer V]

Hi All! 

I feel silly even asking this question but I can't find direct advice about how to safely change out heaters. I'm changing to an ACO heater from one of the Tetra cheapies and want to make sure I do it right. I had a nightmare that I did it incorrectly and the fish died! 

[Zenzo]

On 11/29/2022 at 10:55 AM, Jennifer V said:

Hi All! 

I feel silly even asking this question but I can't find direct advice about how to safely change out heaters. I'm changing to an ACO heater from one of the Tetra cheapies and want to make sure I do it right. I had a nightmare that I did it incorrectly and the fish died! 

It should be pretty straightforward. Keep in mind that it takes a long time for water temps to change, so you shouldn't have any issues.

Step 1: unplug the old heater and leave it in the tank for a few minutes to allow it to cool. Once cool to the touch, remove, dry off, and store it. 

Step 2: unpack your new Aquarium Co-Op heater and place it in the tank in the desired area. Plug it in (keeping in mind drip loop, etc.), set the desired temperature using the inline controller, and you should be all set. 

[Theplatymaster]

I actually pretty much did exactly this including the brands.

Here's what i did:

Step One: Unplug old heater, and put new heater in tank

Step Two: Set half hour timer

Step Three: After half an hour removes old heater, and plug in new heater.

Step Four: Enjoy your aquarium!

[MattyM]

My coop heater is very accurate and was easy to dial in, no adjustments/calibration needed, unlike my usual Eheims. Just be sure to leave it in the water for 20-30 minutes before plugging in. 

What I often do with new heaters is put them in a bucket of water for a few days with a powerhead or something to circulate the water, and check that I'm getting the expected temp. 

[TOtrees]

If it was me, and I wanted to go over the top and be 100% sure I did everything just right to minimize any change in temperature (even though I accept that a few degrees up or down is nothing between friends), here's how I'd do it. 

I'd leave the existing heater in the tank, plugged in and running. I'd install but not plug in the new heater. After 30mins, I'd turn on the new heater, and set the desired temp. At the same time I'd unplug the old heater. Remove the old heater after 5-10 minutes. 

Use a digital thermometer before during and after to make sure that the temps read what you think they should read. 

Note: both the heaters you have are thermostatically controlled, so there would be no issues having both running at the same time, so long as the coop heater is set to within a degree or two of the older one. There's an old expression in the hobby, 2 heaters is 1 and one is none. It refers to the fact that if you only run 1 heater, and it burns out or stops working, sometimes you won't know about it for days or even longer. 

Edited November 29, 2022 by TOtrees

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I use the same process at @TOtrees.