I hate aquarium heaters!!!!!!!!!!

[JTL]

Originally Posted by Pool Man

Just got off the phone with Wes?? at their customer service #. He indicated "there Were a FEW problems, but nothing concerning any particular lot #'s." He asked if I was experinencing any poblems, so I told him I was concerned after reading about them on various forums. He suggested the forums were "getting a little crazy with it". He said if I wanted to send them in to Marineland, he would send out replacements. Totally acted as if it was all in your head! I can't believe the Toyota like approach! I'll take mine back to my LFS, maybe they'll have better luck dealing with them. As for me... no more Marineland products unless I get an honest person on a customer service phone call.

Wes is an idiot, I got the same run around initially. Contact Rosemary Hartmann. She is sending me a replacement and is aware of the problem. You saw the response I posted where she admitted the problem. This kind of BS is criminal when their products are causing property damage due to defects and risking bodily harm.

Rosemary.Hartmann@unitedpetgroup.com

[rroselavy]

Just swapped out my display heater (Stealth) for my mixing heater (Jager). Will not be buying another Stealth considering this potential.

[Lynnmw1208]

wow this is insane! I really think marineland should consider putting FRESHWATER ONLY on the packaging. I've had these no problem in FW, but it seems the salt must be doing something to them to cause them to explode. perhaps we should contact mythbusters about this lol. exploding fish tanks and put ur pictures on their website. they love explosions.

anyways I have 2 visitherms by marineland and now I'm nervous to use them. are there any stories with these except the paint coming off?

[LeslieP]

Ebo-Jager put into my tank in 2001 - still going strong, no problems at all.

[john miller]

All of my heaters, except for one little Tetra and one TopFin, are either Visitherms or Stealths. Looks like I'll be asking Santa for new heaters this year.

[JTL]

I really don't think it is widespread problem, but it is a problem with certain lot numbers which I think are over a year old product. Marineland is making it worse by not just putting out a recall. They could do this on RC and other aquarium sites and it would be good PR.

[Pool Man]

Traded my 250w Stealth Pro for a bag of Reef Crystals and some fish food! I have an Ebo-Jager 150w a friend gave me... just curious. It says not to immerse below this line?

[JTL]

Originally Posted by Pool Man

Traded my 250w Stealth Pro for a bag of Reef Crystals and some fish food! I have an Ebo-Jager 150w a friend gave me... just curious. It says not to immerse below this line?

I guess it is not submersible. Mine has a min water line but I keep it submerged.

[Rosh]

You get what you pay for, why not invest a bit more in a heater.

I never trusted glass heaters anyway.

What's the protection between the water and 200watts of electricity?
A thin wall of glass.

Use a titanium heater, there's 3 barriers that'll protect you with extra security.

Titanium Wall
Copper Wall
Rubber Wall

If all hope fails, then you have a good reason to leave the hobby.

Titanium heaters are 40-60 each.

Hydor also makes an inline heater, pretty good quality, fairly new.

Had my Titanium Heaters for years, no problems. It's covered in coraline now though.

[btkrausen]

I had a Stealth blow up on me a while back. Shot the heating element across the sump, breaking the glass of an AGA 40 gal breeder. Sent the actually heater and pieces to Marineland, and they sent me a check for the heater, tank that it broke, and the cost that I paid to have it drilled.

Needless to say, I won't be using another Stealth and will spread the word about them. I'm now using a new green Ebo-Jager and haven't had a single problem with it.

[Alunai]

*quickly crosses off the stealth heater that was circled in Dr.'s Foster and Smith catalog literally minutes before reading this thread*

I've been using stealths for a while now with no problem, but am worried after reading this. For replacements I'm looking at Smartheaters and Hydor Theo Heaters. Thoughts?

[twinreef]

I throw mine in the garbage were it belongs. It was leaking electricity into my tank.

[Johnny C]

For those who are claming that these 'issues' are related to a certain lot of Stealth heaters, that is false information. I have used several over the years, and every single one I own has had one issue or another.



From Left to Right:

#1: Almost caused a house fire, you can see the burned cord on top exposing bare wires.
#2: Started melting/expanding near the bottom.
#3: Stuck on the "on" position.
#4: Cracked down the middle, leaked toxic chemicals into the aquarium (Stealth Pro)
#5: Also stuck in the "on" position
#6: Leaking voltage
#7: Boiling hot white liquid started pouring out of the top, you can see the remnants between heater base and top.

Here's a few close ups of the heaters... rest assured that the folks at Marineland will be hearing from me shortly.

[Chrishew09]

just got my 100w Finnex titantium with the controller in the mail today, it's in the tank now hopefully i'll be okay with that one.

thanks everyone for the the kind words.

[rengnath]

Johnny, thanks for the pictures!

After seeing that these heaters have some serious issues, regardless if some people have no problems, I just submitted my order for 2 new heaters. Maybe I can put the stealths up on craigslist and get a 12 pack of pabst out of them. That's $60 down the drain ....

Good news is I got a 100w and 250w ViaAqua titanium heaters from bigals along with a temp display/alarm for under 90 bucks shipped. Drs wanted 90 for the heaters alone! They should be nice additions to my 60 fowl and 14 nano reef. They have a seperate control for the temp setting and a seperate probe to place away from the heater for more accurate temps.

[Korrine]

Time to go heater shopping. Won't reuse my stealth when I set up my 75g.

[Pallobi]

Originally Posted by Johnny C

For those who are claming that these 'issues' are related to a certain lot of Stealth heaters, that is false information. I have used several over the years, and every single one I own has had one issue or another.



From Left to Right:

#1: Almost caused a house fire, you can see the burned cord on top exposing bare wires.
#2: Started melting/expanding near the bottom.
#3: Stuck on the "on" position.
#4: Cracked down the middle, leaked toxic chemicals into the aquarium (Stealth Pro)
#5: Also stuck in the "on" position
#6: Leaking voltage
#7: Boiling hot white liquid started pouring out of the top, you can see the remnants between heater base and top.

Here's a few close ups of the heaters... rest assured that the folks at Marineland will be hearing from me shortly.

if at first you dont succeed, try try try try try and try again i guess lol...

im curious, why sould you have kept goin back to the same company's product? i would have given up after the 2nd

[JTL]

Marineland claims that these lastest problems were from a particular batch, myself and others were just repeating what they said. Johnny, if you had so many problems why would you keep buying their product? I have a brand new 300W replacement for one of the "bad" lot numbers but I won't be using it.

[~ChrisB~]

I had 3, and all ended up with issues leaking voltage into the tank. Never again, back to my Ranco and Titainium.