A lesson in going the cheap route

[EndlessSummer]

So I was in the process of setting up a 10 gallon tank from one I had lying around. I put in 5 gallons from my last water change and was going to put in the rest in a couple of days. So I set it up with a (PETCO!) heater and powerhead to keep the water moving. While I'm sleeping I hear a loud POP! and see sparking coming from the tank, I immediately unplug everything and this is what I find......


I must say I learned my lesson.. Even on small projects I still need to buy reliable equipment. Thankfully I didn't have anything in the tank! They would of been TOAST!

[Jnicho]

What brand of heater was that?

[three90s&125sump]

Wow I have never had that happen to me before but I have been using titanium heaters for the last 10 years.

I did have an airstone in a 2 gallon tank once and the bubbles were popping at the surface and caused the ballast on my PC light to explode.

[EndlessSummer]

A cheap petco heater i picked up for a backup, worst mistake I ever made.

[Jnicho]

Ya I had a glass heater break years ago...haven't touched on since.

[Doug1]

I have found over the years that there are really no CHEAP shortcuts that work. I think they are maybe 3 levels of reefing and the less you spend the more maint and work needed to keep things going well. Within that 3 categories there are certain items that deliver bang for the buck compared to the tons of stuff out there that fails to deliver on promises. The trick is to research and learn from the ones that have spent $1000 + till they found that (insert skimmer, pump, lighting system) that works and offers the most value for the money.

Having said that I have, and still have old Penn Plax glass heaters that I used for years, and old "Shark" series powerheads that have over a decade on them

[EndlessSummer]

I will say that I will never use a glass heater ever again. The one thing I thought it would be okay to go cheap on and it bit me in the butt!

[Loverotties]

Originally Posted by EndlessSummer

A cheap petco heater i picked up for a backup, worst mistake I ever made.

You should of had a backup for your backup.

[dv3]

i had that happen with a stealth visi therm heater (plastic) ...except mine shot out of the tank and landed in a bucket of salt water ...i made a thread on it a while back if anyone wants to see pics

now i use the ehiem jager glass and it has been fine so far but it has thicker glass than the older ones ...i think all heaters are bound to mess up eventually ...i really want to try those titanium heating probes

[cutietwo]

Same thing that happens with our Petsmart heaters by the name of Top Fin. Anybody out there never get one of these they get returned all the time and are CHEAP!! (in price and quality)