Chief_waterchanger

We were working in the fishhouse today; Dino was going around inspecting fishtanks. We were real lucky, while Dino was staring into one of our pleco tanks he notices the a stream of bubbles coming from the heater. Immediately we unplugged and removed the heater only to fine that it was ruined. For some unknown reason the heater broke while he was standing right there, when we took it out it felt warm to the touch, which meant it had to be over 98 degrees farenheit.

So my thoughts are that the heater malfunctioned and starting heating up rapidly, causing the blister-like bubble to burst open on the plastic side of the heater, letting it take on water, which gave off the stream of pretty bubbles that alerted Dino to the problem. Had he not been standing there we would've lost the entire tank of plecos. (Luckily since it had just broken the water temperature was not raised at all.)

Dino said in all of his years of fishkeeping this is the first time he has had a visitherm product malfunction.



Thought I'd share that good luck story of the day.

sgould

Great bit of luck there. Glad you had no casualties!

COBettaCouple

I'm glad Dino saw that and saved the tank. Was it a Deluxe or a Stealth? We've had 2 Deluxes do almost the same thing but no problems with the Stealths.

Gozer_1

Yeah, was it a Stealth? Bummer. Good catch though. So, you got that goin' for ya. lol

Dino

It was a stealth.

As you can imagine, it kinda freaked me out when the heater started sprewing bubbles.

COBettaCouple

Good thing you have those nuclear-shielded suits to hop into!

Hmm.. first stealth I've heard of going nuclear.

Dino

First one I had heard/seen too.

capekate

Im also so glad that Dino was there to notice and your fish are ok... whew!
BTW.. my own visa-therm deluxe malfunctioned awhile ago and it was when I saw the air bubbles inside the heater. I had a spare handy but its an ole glass one but will do for now. Im sure it was my fault it malfunctioned tho, I couldnt find a crack anywhere.

~ kate

BlueGreen

Just purchased a 150w Visa-Therm Stealth today. I will watch it carefully for a while. Thanks, that is why this forum is great! Thanks for all of the valuable info.

BlueGreen

Just a quick update: The Visi-Therm has only been in a couple of hours and is really accurate. It is w/in less than a half of degree. Impressed!!

Dino

The heater had been in use almost a year when it blew.

BlueGreen

The fish seem to love it! Maybe I kept it kinda cool for them for soooo long..

BlueGreen

Thanks for all of the prior info., it was very beneficial.