# **tank overheated** temp 90 f



## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

hello! man i'm having bad luck..............

so i've been having some problems with my nitrates being @ 40 so the last 3 days i did daily 40 % water changes, i skipped yesterday and today was about to do another, i stuck my hand in the water and boy was it hot!!! i checked my thermostat to find it was at 90 f - i normally keep the temp at 80, so in a panick i did my water change with cooler water and brought the temp down to 80 again, but now i'm thinking that was probally not the best thing to do  my fish seem fine, nobody is acting weird, so far, i' keeping my fingers crossed. *but if this ever happens again what should i do ?*

i'm not sure why the temp went up in a day to 90, it was not hot yesterday.. my heater is an aqueon 300 watt for my 90 gallon, i noticed that one of my plastic rocks was leaning on the heater, *could this be the cause?* i've had my heater for at least 8 months with no problems. could my heater be damaged? i checked it, no damage to the eye, i turned the temp down by 2 notches. i guess i will have to see tomorrow, as i don't have a spare and the stores are closed.

*should i buy a new heater & what kind would you recomend?* i really don't want to find all my fish belly up one day, its kind of lucky i was having a nitrate problem, it could of been a week before i noticed the temp...

thanks :?


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

i lost 11 of my 19 fish 2 months or so due to the same reason... i have a 90 gallon, and i got home from a long weekend getaway, and my tank was in the 90's... my heater was broken, but not to the eye... it must have just gone haywire... i took it out, placed it in a bucket, to try and find the problem, but neve could... it just would never shut off...

i don't think such a drastic change in temp is good for the fish either, but i did the same thing, cause i didn't want my other fish to die...

i actually have a small heater in my tank now, but here where i live, it is summer, so temps are usually in the 70's,80's,90's... i am sure i'll need to get another 300W heater before winter, but for now i am good... the fish that survived are fine, and no ill effects from the fish catasrophy...

good luck and i hope your fish survive...


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## forum-guy (Aug 3, 2008)

I had the a similar experience with a faulty heater. When I went to bed that night, everything was fine with my fish tank but when I woke up, the water was boiling! I started to panic looking for the cause and noticed the heater was still on! I was MAD! All my fish were belly up, dead, except my Gourami (which, come to find out, can stand spikes in heat like that).

After removing the heater, I slowly brought the temperature back down using ice. It was quite an experience. In the end, I'll never trust a heater again! Good thing those fish were cheap community fish, because if they had been $10 or $20 a pop... well, I'm just glad they weren't.


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## kingpoiuy (Jun 9, 2008)

I hate seeing these posts cause now I worry! :x

Glad to hear OP didn't loose fish! I would have done what you did but just be sure the new water is not COLD just luke warm. I don't know for sure but I would think that a fish will survive a large change in temp better than sitting in 90* water for a couple hours.

If mine gets too hot i put some pop bottles filled with ice in the sump.


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## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

well its comforting that i am not the only one who has had this problem- i guess i was fortunate enough to not lose any of my fish - sorry to hear about all your losses 

*i would still like to know what the proper thing to do if it ever happens again? *

should i change my heater? seems fine today, do you think this could of happened because one of my rocks was leaning on the heater?

i would like to hear what heaters you guys use and trust? i've searched the reviews section-kind of mixed reviews for every heater. do i have another safe method of heating my tank- i'm so stressed out now, i don't think i can trust any " F%*#in" heater now that this has happened. my poor fishies! i still can't get over it..

my fish are all still alive but seem to be flashing now, i hope everything will be ok..  - i'm hoping that this is from all the water changes because my nitrates were high.....

thanks everybody!


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## kingpoiuy (Jun 9, 2008)

in the old days they had a metal bottom and they used a candle. You could do that!

Seriously, I've heard that 2 small heaters are better because if one goes fatal then it's not powerful enough to over heat your tank.


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## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

so i have a 90 gallon, what watt would i buy for each heater then?


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I had that happen too and lost one fish. I was lucky that's all I lost. I brought the water temp back down more slowly though. Since it worked for you once I guess it's ok but if it happens again, I think I'd bring the temp down a little slower next time. Get it down SOME real quick but then slowly get it down to where it should be. I'd think in a half hours time would be ok. When I buy new fish, I float the bag for 1/2hr to acclimate them to the new temp.

I bet the rock against the heater had something to do with it.

kingpoiuy, posted what was recommneded to me.... use 2 smaller heaters so if one malfunctions it won't heat the water up to dangerous levels.


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## kingpoiuy (Jun 9, 2008)

Yes, And I think it's a 300W for a 90 gal so I would get 2 150W or something like that. But alot of heaters will show different wattage for different gallon ratings on the package.


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

i can't remember what wattage my heater in my tank now is, but i know it's pretty small... i my 90 is the biggest tank i've kept to date so far, most of my accessories are for small tanks, 20's, 29H.... so, my heater may only be like a 75W, but like i said, it's summer here, and i am ok for now...

i'll probably do the 2 smaller heaters..

maybe a good thing to look into is getting a sump... i used to put my heater in my sump, that way it could never get hit by fish or rocks... speaking of sumps, i need to get mine put back together soon, ...


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## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

i was thinking about the two smaller heaters, i don't think it would help in my case, cause if one of the heaters went all wacky, it would still over heat the water, i think the concept behind 2 smaller heaters would help if one was not working, at least the temp would not drop so low - either way your screwed!

so after much debating, i went out and bought an external thermal heater for use with my canister filter, lets see how that goes, it had the highest review in the reviews section.

on a sadder note- my fish seem to be breathing very heavy today  
thanks for all your help!


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## kingpoiuy (Jun 9, 2008)

I see what you are saying. The goal is to get a heater that is too small to heat up your tank over it's maximum range within 8 hours.

A 100W heater in a 100 gallon tank will not heat that tank to 90* very quickly. Hopefully by then you will have checked the temp and caught the problem.


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## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

ya your right, that makes sence :thumb:


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## Nathan43 (Jul 9, 2007)

It sucks, if it hasn't happened to you, then you have not kept fish long enough :?


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## tankmates (Feb 19, 2007)

I recently had the same issue with the Aqueon heater. I had three relatively new heaters overhaet and stick at 90+ degrees. The heaters do have a lifetime guarantee. I contacted the co. and they will replace the heaters. My concern is that it happened more than once.

Maybe it's time to look for another heating method?


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## jenandcoffee (May 3, 2008)

i went out and bought the hydor eth external heater, my tanks a 90 gal and i bought for 80 gal seems to be doing the job keeping the temp @ 79- mind you its still new so i guess i could still have a problem but i can tell you i will never use another Aqueon heater again, its the second time in 8 months i have had a problem with one. first one i bought did not work period ( i guess i should of clued in at that point...) i got my money back with a store credit and put that $$ towards the external one.

i have a beautiful f0 metriclima callainos and he seems to have been affected by the temp raiseing to 90 - he was always so active, and now he just hides and seems to be very nervous and sadly i noticed hes been flashing since then & has not eaten in 2 days .

maybe its not because of the temp raising maybe i'm just being parinoid... or maybe i should post in illness section to see if its something else. :-?


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## nick a (Apr 9, 2004)

The temp (90*) in and of itself is not dangerous. I've kept many tanks successfully in an non-climate controlled garage thru TX summers. I've had Mbuna quite content in over 90* water for months on end.

Quote from Ad Konings @ Cichlidae.com "The temperature of the water in Lake Malawi fluctuates with the seasons. In the dry season it can be as low as 20Â° C and in sheltered bays in the rainy season as high as 30Â° C. "
30C is 86F.

While it is a few degrees out of the standard range, it's not necessarily the prime issue. At those higher temps, there is significantly less oxygen dissolving into the water. This will cause your fish more problems. Adding a long airwand/stone as a safety is advisable if you must use a heater. It can be placed high up near the water's surface to keep it somewhat out of sight. That way you don't have to see the wall of bubbles or the tubing etc... but you still get the primary benefits of surface agitation and increased H20 & O2 surface interface.

2 smaller heaters is my prefered set up as well. I've had excellent results with the 'stealth' line. Some folks don't like 'em because the don't have a on/off light--I prefer to pay attention to an in-the-tank-water type thermometer (not a sticky-backed-outside-the-tank one) more than the light tho.[/quote]


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## chapman76 (Jun 30, 2004)

I agree with others that you should ALWAYS have 2 heaters and not one for tanks over 55g IMO. I always keep 3-4 spare heaters around anyways just in case.

Ebo jager and stealth are my two favorites. I've been pretty lucky as I bought ultra cheapos and the beginning and have been replacing them with good ones.


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## newcichlidowner (Aug 20, 2008)

When my heater broke It completely shattered into the tank so I had to quickly take the fish out and put them into another tank to change all of the water...unfortuneatley I lost a funny looking peacock...now I always use the stress enzyme whenever I change any of my water it helps my fish from looking funny, kind of flip flopping...


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