Aquarium Heater Failure is often User Error

[rgb_aquarium]

I often hear story about heater failure, and we often blame the brand. But I don't think most of the time that is the case. I believe most people are not using it correctly. I used all type of heater through my fish keeping journey from Eheim, Fuval, Aqueon, and even the ones from Amazon. Yes there heater that is better than other when it come to as temperature accuracy, ease of use, and aesthetic. But I never have a problem with a heater overheating or stop working that wasn't my fault. I just want to share some of my tips:

1. Pick the right size heater for your tank. I think a lot of people often throw away and not read the user manual after buying their heater. The recommend tank size for the heater on the box is mostly correct. For example, a 50 watt heater is recommend for an aquarium between 5-10 gallon which is about 5 watt per gallon. This is actually accurate but with a caveat that it is only recommended to raise within 10 degree F of the room temperature. So if you have a 10 gallon tank, but your room temperate is 65F. And you want to raise it between 78-80F. It is not strong enough. So before you buy a heater. You should check what is your current room temperature, decide what temperature you want to keep your tank at, and check with user manual of that heater brand on its recommended temperature range. Also when checking room temperature. Check the temperature at night when it is the lowest.

2. Heater Position Placement. I often see people place their heater either vertically or horizon (bottom of the tank). But the best position of place the heater is diagonal. If you leave it vertical, the heat will just go straight up and heat the sensor right away. The sensor will think it hit the desire temperature and stop even though the rest of the tank have not reach the desire temperature. If you leave horizon, you will have the opposite problem because the sensor is away where the heat is dispersed. Placing it diagonal is the best way. Also, place it near the filter or air stone to maximize water circulation.

3. Keep a lid. I believe if you keep a heater but do not keep a lid. You are just wasting electricity and money. The heater is going to overwork. It just going to cause high humidity and constant evaporation, which mean potential mold problem or your de-humidifier is working overtime. I understand rimless aquascape with no lid popular. For my main display rimless aquascape. I don't use a heater. The plant prefer it cooler anyway. And I would pick fish that doesn't need heater.

4. Not turning it off during water change. Although most heater brand-name like Eheim have a safety feature that will shut off the heater if they are out of the water. However, cheaper brand heater don't have that feature. Like the rectangular, black, plastic case heater. I learned that the hard way. Check the user manual. You also don't want to overly relied on the shut off feature as it will also burn out your heater.

[Airborne 82nd]

Most of my heater failures were from being oversize even though it was the correct size. Fluval says a t300 for up to 80gals. that size was going off and on way to often. I went through 2 of them in 3 months. When I dropped down to 200w everything was fine. I even tested a 100w in my 75g tank room temp was 70 all heater set to 78f now it did run most of the time but it kept my tank at 78f. I have to think going on and off so often had to do with the 2 t300w failures. Who knows maybe I got two duds in a row. So now I run a 200w set to 78f as primary and a 100w as a backup set to 75f Both ran by a INKBIRD Itc-306a.

[Tony s]

Bentley Pascoe was talking about this a couple of weeks ago. He had an older heater from the 80’s or 90’s I believe. It still works fine. But you could actually see the difference in the windings of the coil. And the wire itself was a heavier gage. Problem with today’s heaters are the same with almost everything today. They’re prebuilt with early replacement in mind.

[rgb_aquarium]

On 7/5/2024 at 8:22 PM, Airborne 82nd said:

Most of my heater failures were from being oversize even though it was the correct size. Fluval says a t300 for up to 80gals. that size was going off and on way to often. I went through 2 of them in 3 months. When I dropped down to 200w everything was fine. I even tested a 100w in my 75g tank room temp was 70 all heater set to 78f now it did run most of the time but it kept my tank at 78f. I have to think going on and off so often had to do with the 2 t300w failures. Who knows maybe I got two duds in a row. So now I run a 200w set to 78f as primary and a 100w as a backup set to 75f Both ran by a INKBIRD Itc-306a.

I think it the opposite. I think 300 watt is undersized for a 80 gallon, which might cause the heater to burn out quickly. The T300 heater is recommend up to 80 gal. It means it already at its max recommended tank size limit. Also, the heater should raise up to 10 degree of the ambient room temperature. If you room temperature is 70F and you are trying to raise it to 78F. It is already super close to its limit. In addition, I am not sure if 70F is your room temp in the morning. But heater mostly turn on at night because it colder. So the night temperature may be lower than 70F, which mean the heater might be on constantly trying heat the entire 80 gallon. 

[rgb_aquarium]

On 7/5/2024 at 8:32 PM, Tony s said:

Bentley Pascoe was talking about this a couple of weeks ago. He had an older heater from the 80’s or 90’s I believe. It still works fine. But you could actually see the difference in the windings of the coil. And the wire itself was a heavier gage. Problem with today’s heaters are the same with almost everything today. They’re prebuilt with early replacement in mind.

I somewhat agree and disagree. I agree that the old heater are built better than the new heater. But I think the quality is still there but the "capability" of the new version is less. For example, an old Eheim 50w heater maybe able to heat a 20 gallon no problem. But the new Eheim 50w heater may only able to heat a 10-15 gallon. However, the price of new version is much cheaper than the old. It is a trade-off. I am running the new version of the Eheim heater on a 10 gallon. I have no problem in 4 years. I only keep it at 74F.

Edited July 6 by rgb_aquarium

[Airborne 82nd]

Well the t300 only stayed on for a short period of time off for longer and kept doing this with both t300s and the 200 stayed on longer and off shorter.My room temp is 70f all the time + or- 2f. I figure witth other stuff in the tank I have 70g max plus I lose 2g a week with evap. So 68 to 70g

Edited July 6 by Airborne 82nd