Close call!

[dianeww]

I was at the end of doing my 20-gallon change of my 75 today. Walked up to the tank for a final glance, smelled a horrible smell, and heard an ominous hissing noise. Looked, smelled, looked, smelled, saw nothing. Looked again, and there was a VERY fine stream of bubbles......coming from a 150 watt stealth heater!!! Oh no! Unplug the power, get daughter to help trace the cord, unplug the darn thing! (Daughter all the while thinking everything will blow up in her face!)

The burn stink filled the whole first floor of the house. It's snowing outside, and I've got all the windows open. But all tank residents look good. I think I caught it within minutes of the incident.

The heater has a pinhole in it, but its twin is still in the tank. I'm going to replace both ( they're 2 1/2 years old) but will one 150 watt and one 100 watt stealth heater be ok until I can get new ones tomorrow? The heat never stayed very stable with two 150's until I added a 100. So what I'm saying is, I needed both 150s and the extra 100 to keep my temp at a steady 80. Will I be ok without one of the 150s short term?

Diane W.

 

[RayD]

I was at the end of doing my 20-gallon change of my 75 today. Walked up to the tank for a final glance, smelled a horrible smell, and heard an ominous hissing noise. Looked, smelled, looked, smelled, saw nothing. Looked again, and there was a VERY fine stream of bubbles......coming from a 150 watt stealth heater!!! Oh no! Unplug the power, get daughter to help trace the cord, unplug the darn thing! (Daughter all the while thinking everything will blow up in her face!)

The burn stink filled the whole first floor of the house. It's snowing outside, and I've got all the windows open. But all tank residents look good. I think I caught it within minutes of the incident.

The heater has a pinhole in it, but its twin is still in the tank. I'm going to replace both ( they're 2 1/2 years old) but will one 150 watt and one 100 watt stealth heater be ok until I can get new ones tomorrow? The heat never stayed very stable with two 150's until I added a 100. So what I'm saying is, I needed both 150s and the extra 100 to keep my temp at a steady 80. Will I be ok without one of the 150s short term?

Diane W.

Diane you'll be fine short term until you can get another heater. You're running at 80 which is high so you have quite a bit of wiggle room before you have to worry.

Fish can withstand more than we give them credit for. Corals are another story but at 80 you'll be fine. I maintain my tank at 76 plus/minus 0.4 this time of year. HTH

 

[dianeww]

Thanks for the encouragement, Ray! I'll get at least one new heater tomorrow. My temp is down to 78.5, I hope it stays high enough over night. I do have a few soft corals, I hope they'll be OK too.

 

[JayM]

my tank dips down to 77 or 78 every night. Your fish and corals should be fine.