Fluval heater exploded

[Dan]

I have a 8 gal cube shrimp tank with 1 betta. I smelled a strong electrical burning smell. After searching my house I noticed the water in my tank was black with an oil slick on top.  My small fluval heater failed and expelled stuff all over in my tank. The water stunk of electrical burning smell and my whole house smelled of it. I moved my betta to another tank not sure if he’ll make it and did 3 90% water changes.  Has anyone else had this happen?

[nabokovfan87]

Which one!?

Holy smokes. I am glad the house is on and all that.

I would highly recommend getting some sort of heater controller and/or make sure that the heater is on a surge protector. Man.... That's intense.

If you have some photos, I would highly recommend contacting fluval and stuff as well.

[Dan]

Well good news my betta is still kicking this morning and my shrimp seem to be ok. Here is the heater. The heater is the 25 watt nano. I bought it last February so it’s just over a year old 

[nabokovfan87]

Definitely not good.  The only thing that would ever (or should I say) cause a heater to explode is that it isn't sufficiently underwater and/or there isn't enough movement to keep the heater working. 

If you do email/call fluval let us know what they say if you can.  I'd be extremely curious to hear what a company does when something like this happens.

[Dan]

Just got off the phone with fluval. He said that can happen if there is a big temp change.  I haven’t done anything with that tank for 2 weeks so still not sure why it happened. He also said that they would replace it after I responded to the email he was going to send. So I gave them pictures and a screenshot of my purchase. Thankfully aquarium coop saves past purchases.  If I get it I’ll probably save as a backup as I plan on switching my heaters to coop ones as I replace. 

[nabokovfan87]

@Dan  did they mention anything about damage to the tank or hardscape itself?  I'm sure the chemicals in the heater aren't great and you may have to do something to clean everything....?  Their engineers should have some sort of MSDS (material safety data sheet) for the heater assembly and be able to assist with clarification on how exactly to get back to safe for fish or if that is at all possible.

[Dan]

When I asked he wouldn’t specify as to what it was. He just that it shouldn’t harm my tank and recommend a water change. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Omg. Run carbon in the betta tank to remove toxins that may be present. It’s a miracle he survived. Probably because he goes to the surface for air.

Edited May 11, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/11/2023 at 1:18 PM, Dan said:

When I asked he wouldn’t specify as to what it was. He just that it shouldn’t harm my tank and recommend a water change. 

I'm at a loss for that.  As someone who had to work on "problems" like that for work I'm frustrated for you.  Heaters having major failures like this are frustratingly common it seems.

Run some carbon, I would keep doing siphons and changes and then clean your siphon, bucket, everything after each time as well as you can.  I would keep an eye for rainbow colors on the surface of the water and do a deep dive in your filter a few times as well.  I would also suggest replacing the media if you can.

.... a lot of that is likely my being overly cautious, but that is just what I would do personally.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I have an ink bird on my main tank but reading this makes me want to add one to all the tanks.