Aquarium Heater Failures: How to Protect Your Reef Tank from Disaster
Aquarium heaters are vital for maintaining the stable temperatures that reef tanks require, but they can also be a hidden vulnerability in your life support system. In the latest episode of BRStv's "The Breaking Point" series, the team delves into the reasons behind heater failures and provides actionable advice to protect your aquatic investment.
Understanding Heater Failures
Any mechanical or electrical component of your aquarium's life support will eventually wear out over time. Because heaters are such a vital part of keeping the environment stable, they are one of the most notorious pieces of gear in terms of causing problems. Why do heaters break, you ask?
- Mechanical Failures: Heaters can suffer from wear and tear, leading to malfunctions.
- Thermostat Issues: Faulty thermostats can cause heaters to overheat or not heat at all.
- Electrical Problems: Power surges or faulty wiring can lead to heater failure.
Heaters turn on and off many times throughout the day, which means the relays and switches are under heavy use. The most common failure is a broken relay or switch, which causes the heater to either stay powered ON or it will stick OFF, causing temperatures to fluctuate outside of the acceptable range.
Although less common, you might also encounter a faulty thermostat, which just means the "controlling" part of your heater system is not monitoring the water temperature correctly. Again, the same result of water heating up or getting too cold is what threatens your fish and coral.
Electrical problems are the least common cause of failure, but also the most dangerous. There are a variety of situations that can lead to electrical issues, including water finding its way inside your heating element from cracked or damaged seals, water dripping onto a surge protector or wall socket, and even just faulty or careless wiring that ultimately shorts out and winds up causing a disaster. Not only will your heater stop working, but you are also looking at a fire hazard and the potential risk of electrical shock.
Preventative Measures
With just a bit of preparation, you protect your tank against the most common heater-related catastrophes. Regardless of what type of heater you decide on, we recommend always keeping a backup. Something like the Eheim Jager is great because it is affordable and doesn't require a separate controller. If your primary heater system fails, you can use the Jager to temporarily keep your temperatures stable until you can repair or replace the failed components of your primary temperature control system.
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Use a Reliable Heater Brand: Invest in heaters known for durability and reliability.
- BRS Titanium Heating Element - primary heater
- InkBird WiFi Controller - primary controller
- Eheim Jager or AquaReady Preset - backup heater
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Implement Redundancy: Use multiple heaters to ensure that if one fails, the backup heater can maintain the temperature. Keep a spare heater on hand at all times.
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Regular Maintenance: Periodically check and clean your heaters to ensure they function correctly.
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Redundancy is key when creating your "water temperature control" system for your aquarium. We typically recommend two heating elements and two methods of control so that no matter what goes wrong, you have that redundancy in place to keep your aquarium safe. On smaller aquariums, two heating elements may be difficult to employ, which means it's all the more important to have a reliable method of water temperature monitoring so you can be notified right away via your smart device.
Learn More: Heaters and Temperature Setup for a Reef Aquarium - Don't Learn The Hard Way!
Monitoring and Alerts:
The Neptune Systems Apex aquarium controllers are one of the best solutions because you can monitor your entire tank, including water temperature, from the convenience of your smartphone, even when you're away from home. Additionally, an Apex connected to an energy bar can be programmed to automatically turn OFF power to your heater in the event of failure. You can even have it automatically switch and power ON your backup heater. All of which can be controlled and monitored via an app.
The Wifi InkBird Temperature Controller is also quite popular because it can send notifications right to your phone should water temperatures drift outside safe parameters.
Of course, a reliable thermometer is equally important and we recommend something with a large digital display that is easy to see when walking by your aquarium. Then it's just a matter of making it a habit to glance at that water temperature daily. By keeping tabs manually, you can get a good feel for normal and ideally identify changes in water temperature before your livestock is in trouble.
With over 25 years of experience keeping aquariums of all kinds, Robert has a detailed understanding of advanced aquarium techniques and theory. Working as a professional content creator in the saltwater aquarium industry for over 18 years, his perspective, thoughtfulness for the hobbyist, and a general understanding of the hobby, and industry that surrounds it, allows Robert to write and create digestible content that makes reefing fun and easy.
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