Venting on my hatred for marineland

[PlecoCrazy]

Over the last 6-8 months I could not count how many stealth heaters i've been returning. On top of it all I've lost 3 tanks of fish in that time period due to a stuck on heaters. I've have used visitherm stealth heaters for 15 years now and this camper is done. Warning to all, they do not make the same heaters like they used to. I don't know what they do different now but there heaters suck and unless you want to loose a tank of fish I suggest no one purchase their crap anymore. What is the point of a lifetime warranty on the heater, I need a life warranty on my fish if I use their heaters. I'm not the only one having issues, search the internet and you'll find others. But after throwing out $300 of fish again this weekend I am done with them. They had a customer for life and they have just lost a customer for life.

My new motto. I HATE MARINELAND!!!! FISH KILLERS!!!!!

Since I am finishing up building my new fish room and am re-engineering my heater situation. Every heater is going to be hooked up to a temperature controller that has an audible buzzer when it goes out of range. It's going to cost a pretty penny but still far less than the amount of $ I'd loose if just one tank dumped again.

Phase two of this project is going to have temperature sensors in everytank tied to a pc that can text me when a tank gets too hot or too cold.

I am done with heaters being my biggest reason for losing fish. They are supposed to keep them alive not kill them. And with the Brazil ban it's not like I can just replace them.

As sad as it is I am terrified to even have heaters in my tank at this point but a room at 84F would be unbearable to do much work in.

I have more faith to drive a Toyota than I do having my tanks all filled with stealth heaters. I am very scared for my fish's well being untill I get the temperature controllers in. It's like an accident waiting to happen anymore.

[Shane]

Trent,
My suggestion would be not be to bother with alarms. Just heat the fishroom and you will never have this problem again.
-Shane

[apistomaster]

I bet I have one of the largest collections of defective stealth Heaters among all this forum members. Very few of mine malfunctioned by over heating. Instead, I some that did but the majority stuck at about 75 and some simply do not heat. I never bothered to register them because I didn't think so many would go TU.
It has occurred to me to box all 25 or 30 of them up and return them with a polite letter and see what they would do. What brand of heater do I use now? Stealth Heaters, of course. The thing is that unless you buy a more expensive, better engineered make like Jaegers, you are going have a lot of heater problems. Heaters are the most poorly engineered pieces of essential equipment we use. Since all heaters seem to have problems I prefer to use one that at least can't shatter.
You can buy the central heater controller/thermostat and a sophisticated alarm which will call you in case of any problems arise. That is the best system. Heating a fish room is also a good approach unless you keep a variety of species with different temperature requirements.
I do like my newest replacement Stealth heaters more now that they have incorporated a pilot light in the control knob.
For the heater controller/alarm systems check out http://www.aquaticeco.com

[PlecoCrazy]

You don't have to register to get replacements. just call or email them and they are good about the replacements. I just wish they didn't fail so that they had to be replaced. Most of mine don't overheat either. They just simply quit working most of the time. But I probably sent about a dozen back last year and with these three overheatings I'm done. And if you think the stealth pro is any better, I did as well, people are having issues with them actually exploding in their tanks and sumps. I have two of the stealth pros and Im scared to death of them now as well. I am so done with marineland. I'm even going to boycott M&M's now. I hate the whole company. Grrrr.

[bronzefry]

Is this the newer one where the color changes on the top? Mine all have the ones that don't change color. It's my understanding the newer ones are called "Stealth Pro" and some of the smaller ones(10w?) are pre-set to 78.

I have this one set on the lowest setting and the occupants jockey for it:

Soon enough, I'll just unplug it.

For a 20 gallon long with species requiring 80 degrees F, I set it at 82 (100 watt heater).
Amanda

[Suckermouth]

Aww man, don't tell me you lost the L260.

I have also had a pretty poor track record with those plastic black "stealth" heaters; I think I already have two or three broken that don't work anymore, and I certainly don't have as many tanks as you do. The heater I have now is one of those glass deluxe Marineland heaters, so I'm hoping the glass ones work better than the stealth ones do.

[Marc van Arc]

In the old days I used the highly praised Visi-Therm with the heating element sitting in separate internal glass tubes. This device mainly made noise. However, it was supposed to be a heater, not an instrument.
Mind you, they weren't exactly cheap back then!
After these and some Italian rubbish I went back to the Jäger/Eheim heaters: more expensive, but much less risky. Also very reliable and long lasting.
Wrt all materials having to do with my hobby: no more "cheap". The only thing I tend to forget is changing the lights more regularly, which one could call cheap but is more sheep(-ish) imo.

[PeterUK]

a room at 84F would be unbearable to do much work in.

Can I ask why the room must be so warm ?

Whatever temperature my fishroom is, the tanks are approx 2 degree's cooler.
So I'm guessing that you keep your tanks at about 82F (28C) ?
Why not just get rid of the heaters and just space heat the entire room and drop the temp down to 76-77F which is easier to work in.
I used to keep my fishrooms ambient temp at 80F (tanks about 78F) and it was warm with a capital W
I've now dropped the temp so that the tanks are 75-76F and the ambient temp is much easier to work in (i havent got to strip off evertime I walk in the room )
More importantly, the fish are OK and I havent noticed any difference in their behavior or feeding.

[2wheelsx2]

Sorry to hear that.

But boy am I ever glad I went with a temperature controller because I started my pleco collection.

[drpleco]

I'll get on board with stealth bashing. Most of my failures come from the heater not heating (except when removed from the tank - oddly), but I did have one stick on and nuke a tank of lamprologus multifasciatus. I've probably thrown out or sent back 8-10 in the past 5 years and I'm done with stealth heaters once my current stock runs out and until they make significant improvements.

Now I just heat the room and everyone is happy. Since I keep mostly plecos, I do keep the room at 84 but don't find it intolerable. Humidity is a factor in comfort and I run a dehumidifier so that helps a lot. The room is about 12x19 feet and I put the dehumidifier in one corner and a thermostat controlled ceramic heater in another and it seems to keep everything evenly heated. There is some variance between top-rack tanks and bottom-rack tanks, but everything is generally with a couple degrees, varying from 80-83. Tanks with powerheads get another degree or two warmer. I insulated the walls with 1" styrofoam sheet insulation.

[apistomaster]

Heating the fish room is fine for Killiefish and Tetra breeding but not so practical for Discus and warm water plecos. My small house is essentially a fish room and the ambient temperatures are about 78*F in the winter and 100*F+ in the peak of summer.
Only a few interesting Killies can tolerate long term temperatures over 80*F.
I used to specialize in killies but I only raise a few species every few years now.
It is now mainly wild Discus, warm water plecos and a few Apistogramma these days.

I have decided to send in all my defective Stealth heaters to customer service and see what kind of response I get. I wouldn't mind getting the replacements of the new design. Having a pilot light gives us some indication of how the heaters are working at a glance.

[Jools]

The problem with heating the room is your tanks all go to the same temperature relative to distance from the floor. This can be mitigated somewhat by taking air from around the ceiling and blowing out on the floor, but if you have things like Hypancistrus, Discus, Madtoms, Scleromystax, Mystus, Auchentipterids and Neosilurus, for example, then one size doesn't fit all - even with putting the hot stuff up higher and the cool stuff in the bottom tier.

When you have cold source water (like me) water changes in unheated tanks cannot be done on a large scale either especially during the winter.

However, if you're keeping hot water plecos etc, then a fishroom at a pleasant 78F needs heaters to take the tanks (even those high up in the room) up to the 84F+ you are looking for.

As to heater failures, I have never (touch wood) have a heater fail that I have never moved. It seems once you move them, switch them on or off, then they can be dodgy. I used to use undertank heating and loved it, can't buy it any more.

Jools

[Bas Pels]

Basically, I got 2 fishrooms -

1 the former garage, with mainly fishes from Central America. This room is well insulated, contains 13 tanks, and it is warm. In winter 26 C, in summer 30 (I open the door) even though I don't heat it. The energy used in the lights and the pumps always turns into heat, and apparently, this heat stays indoors long enough

The other is cool, for fishes from Uruguay. The window is almost always opened, and in winter the temp drops to 10 C (I close the window if I expect temps te get much lower) while in summer it raises to 25 C or more.

All these tanks are unheated, and therefore safe from any heating-problem