heater exploded!

[sharp tooth]

one of the heaters just exploded in my tank and fried my rays!

i hurd a cracking noise thought it was an internal filter had picked up some sand or something. as each fish swam to the left of the tank it went into HUGE death curl and started doing backflips.

YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN SOMEONE DESTROY A TANK IN 3 SECONDS FLAST TO GET THE LAST ONE OUT.

i had no idea what was happening and managed to get the last ray out the tank in a bucket. not untill i get an electric shock myself did i know what was happening.

dived under the stand and ripped out the plugs from the wall. all fish are still alive but breathing very very hard.

why why why, they we just pulling round from the problems and this has just put them back or made them even worse then before!

after ide had chance to calm down i started to check stuff. the fluval heater which is only a few months old has litrally blown the bottom off inside the heater guard. nothing had touched it or banged it or anything. nothing was anywere near it.

im devistated right now im still shaking.

 

[vamptrev]

dang sry to hear. hope the rays make it!!!

i was going over my heaters the other day since the weather is getting colder here and they will start kicking on soon... i found the same thing, the bottom of one of my heaters was split open

i replaced it immediately!!!

GL!!

 

[Potts050]

This is terrible news! I feel terrible for your potential loss but you mentioned that you also received an electric shock while working in the tank.

Please be aware that you could have potential heart damage as a result of electrical contact that may not show up untill you to show symptoms of a heart attack several days from now- if at all! You may in fact feel okay at this point in time but you should see a doctor and have your heart rythym checked out anyway.

If left untreated you could have permanent heart damage and its cumulative, getting worse each time you get shocked. The good news is that if you get help right away the damage can be prevented. PLEASE GET IT CHECKED OUT!

At the risk of sounding like a Monday morning quarterback, install GFCI protection on your aquariums. See this thread;

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=40560

Hope both you and your rays make a full recovery,

Jonathan

 

[sharp tooth]

well i can honestly say it wasent a big shock that i got more like a good tingle up the arm when i went in the water to grab one of the rays which was doubled up. you could actually see as the fish went to the left hand side of the tank they got shocked.

it wouldent of been so bad but as i rushed to save the ones that were in trouble the other dived out the way and into the problem area.

gladly they are just now starting to move around alittle. still breathing hard but moving.

all 5 glass fish were upside down fins and gills flared on the bottom. the fire,ice snakehead was upside down, i though he was dead but he came round agood 10 mins after as i let him on teh center brace bar of the tank. probably stopped him from drownding if he was paralised.

only the dat, aro, 1 ray and the catfish dident get it. everything else i was so positive was dead.

the female pearl, i scooped her out with my hands into the bucket. since i got stung years ago ive been very careful not to get stung again but to svae its life i dident think twise about getting stung. £750 each was worth getting jabbed for!.

i carnt for the life of me understand what is happening, i do everything the best i can. i do everything to the best of my ability, never cut corners do the jobs right.
then 2 big things happen which almost wipe out my tank in 2 weeks. makes you think its not worth it when you think about it.

im so happy right now that there all still here.

 

[phillydog1958]

Sorry for your fiasco. I hope all is well, in the long run. You mentioned that you had a Fluval heater. Which model? I recently purchased a Fluval E300. It's the heater with the digital readout, etc . . . it also has several built-in safety features, such as auto shut off. Is that the one that malfunctioned on you?

well i can honestly say it wasent a big shock that i got more like a good tingle up the arm when i went in the water to grab one of the rays which was doubled up. you could actually see as the fish went to the left hand side of the tank they got shocked.

it wouldent of been so bad but as i rushed to save the ones that were in trouble the other dived out the way and into the problem area.

gladly they are just now starting to move around alittle. still breathing hard but moving.

all 5 glass fish were upside down fins and gills flared on the bottom. the fire,ice snakehead was upside down, i though he was dead but he came round agood 10 mins after as i let him on teh center brace bar of the tank. probably stopped him from drownding if he was paralised.

only the dat, aro, 1 ray and the catfish dident get it. everything else i was so positive was dead.

the female pearl, i scooped her out with my hands into the bucket. since i got stung years ago ive been very careful not to get stung again but to svae its life i dident think twise about getting stung. £750 each was worth getting jabbed for!.

i carnt for the life of me understand what is happening, i do everything the best i can. i do everything to the best of my ability, never cut corners do the jobs right.
then 2 big things happen which almost wipe out my tank in 2 weeks. makes you think its not worth it when you think about it.

im so happy right now that there all still here.

 

[duke33]

Sorry to hear. I've had Pacu eat the wire insulation and there was no indication until I put my hand in to do maintainence....weird.

 

[dr_sudz]

I think we would all do well to make sure our systems are GFIC. That would prevent a lot. I was working on the ray tank at the store I am at and was noticing the fish where not acting right, when I reached into the tank I got a small jolt and discovered one of the stealth heaters was leaking electricity into the water. I unplugged it and am hoping there was no lasting damage. The shock didn't seem as bad but it is in the sump.

 

[sharp tooth]

no it wasent the E series. i have 2 E300`s and 2 M200`s. only have the M200`s because my lfs ran out of E series heaters.

it was the M200 which blew. i now have a new E300 on its way to replace the m200 which broke and i dare not put the other m200 (which is still fine) back in the tank.

so now ill have 3 E 300`s in there.

dam man so much to worrie about. i have 4 internal filters, 2 sump pumps and a few other electrical things on the tank.

NEVER had a heater go before in all my years keeping fish. even the old fluval tronics i used to use which had water inside the glass tube (ive never seen a used tronic without it) caused any problems.

im so happy there getting more and more active everytime i check on them. i may even try feeding them later.

 

[sharp tooth]

im thinking about putting the heaters in the sump, but the sump is above the tank on the left hand side and its more just a big trickle tower with a 2.5ft tank underneath and its all on the left side so im wondering if the heat with be spread equal across the whole tank.

 

[ShadowStryder]

First and foremost you are lucky you didn't get electrocuted. But I understand trying
to save your fish. I have on two occasions knocked light fixtures into my systems and
reached in and grabbed them without thinking, trying to make sure my fish didn't get
electrocuted. Only after wards did I think I could have just been toast.
I have qualit surge protectors on all my tanks now.

Hope the rays and all others recover.