Exploding Heaters - Marineland Stealth and Stealth Pro (Pictures) - Recall Issued

[abcha0s]

This falls in the category of "I should have known better", but I'm going to share it anyway. It's not new information that that these heaters explode, but if there is anyone out there that is still using them, please cut your loses and take them out of your tank. It's just not worth the risk. A quick search will bring up dozens of examples and I know it's been posted on Canreef before.

Honestly, I am appalled that Marineland hasn't formally recalled these heaters. Consider you entire tank crashing to nothing because of one of these heaters. How mad would you be?

This particular Marineland Stealth Pro 300W heater is only about 6 months old, so this problem is still happening. It had been in the box until about a week ago when I plugged it in for the first time. I am fortunate that it was in my new tank which doesn't have a lot in it right now, but it's still a major problem for me. I'll have to do a 90% water change to ensure there are no residual chemicals left over from the explosion and that will cost me $300+ (300G RO/DI + Salt) and take a day of my time.

The heater was fully submerged. There were no electrical faults. Nothing fell on it. There is no reason why this should have happened.

The explosion was loud and could have cracked the glass of my sump. There was a black powder covering the surface of the tank. I had an almost clogged filter sock which I think caught most of the black stuff (lucky), but it's the stuff I can't see that worries me.

[lastlight]

Holy cow! I previously ran these but have since gone back to the good old jagers.

[wayner]

Holy Shite!, that's bad, run the jagers too.

[Delphinus]

Wow

[dsaundry]

Finnex for me has been good.

[Dez]

There's a guy that rents space from me at work and he has a turtle tank there and the same thing happened to him. His looked a lot worse though. It's just crazy!

[fishoholic]

Yikes, somehow I didn't know this, I've used and am using this type of heater right now. I always thought they were well made, I haven't had any issues yet and been using one for 3yrs. I was always worried about glass ones crapping out/breaking (which I have had happen) which was why I switched to stealth in the 1st place! Apparently the stealth's suck too Looks like I'll be looking for a new heater.

[mseepman]

Yikes...I have two of these...one still in the box and one running my 70g tank.

My Ebo-Jager failed on and nearly cooked my tank at 90 degrees so J&L replaced it (it was in the first year) with two smaller Stealths.

Guess I should be looking at other options before it costs me my tank.

[abcha0s]

The trouble is, when these things fail they pour toxic chemicals into your tank.

When a glass heater fails, you should be able to catch it by monitoring the temp of your tank. Most people, including myself, recommend a secondary control. I have mine connected to my Apex controller, so a stuck heater won't crash my tank.

An exploding heater is an entirely different story.

[mseepman]

Yeah...I've been holding off on a controller to buy the right one once my 290G starts.