# Preventing Heater Failure with External Thermostat



## Vertical Steel (Aug 10, 2014)

I'm planning to buy a canister filter with a Hydor inline heater. I ran a Hydor inline for a couple of years (in the past) without any problems, but recently I'm seeing anecdotes of thermostat failure causing the heater to fry all the fish in the tank.

1. Is this a real concern, or is it an extremely rare occurrence?
2. I have read about some people hooking up external thermostats to prevent disaster from occurring if the Hydor thermostat goes awry. Do you think this is a necessary step, and does anybody have any experience doing this, because I don't have a clue how to accomplish this.

Thanks,
Josh


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I haven't experienced it myself though I tend to use a heater wattage that would be incapable of overheating a tank.

You can buy a separate heater controller that would shut off the heater independent of the heater's thermostat, so that is an option and some people do use them.


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## Biciclid (Jan 27, 2016)

Although the risk of a heater "sticking" is small, and so is tge chanche of a fcannister filter not working, I still run 2 filters on my tank and 2 heaters and a thermostat. STC-100 cost only a few $€£ (but need wiring) so in the future I will probably use Inkbird 308 that are already wired. Anyway they both can conroll cooling as well. I set up the "main" heater at 25, "spare" one at 24 and thermostat at 26. This eay if the main thermostat stops eorking as the temperature drops the spare kicks in, if it overheats at 26 deg the thermostat cuts it off and (in summer) if the temperature increases further it turns on the fans


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## BuckeyeTez (May 10, 2016)

I have a 200 and a 250w Jager heater in my tank. With just the 250 I had a hard time keeping the temp at 77* so I got another 200w. I plugged the 250w into an inkbird that shuts off power to it when the temp hits 77* and left the 200w plugged in normally. I never had an issue before but have read some have. I'd rather spend $35 and not risk cooking $400+ worth of fish than hate myself for not. If you can afford it (let's be honest, $35 is nothing in this hobby) then I'd rather be safe than sorry.

They're your fish so do what you're comfortable/willing to spend.


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## Pdxmonkeyboy (Oct 17, 2016)

ditto what buckeye said. I bought this a couple weeks ago, Inkbird ITC-306T Pre-wired Electronic Heating Thermostat Temperature Controller and Digital Timer Controller

works great and is extremely accurate. I have a VERY expensive and properly calibrated ph, temp, and PPM meter on my tank and the ink bird stays within .2 degrees.

I wasn't worried about the heater frying my fish, it was just that I'm running dual heaters and the temp would fluctuate a lot.

and for $30 you get to open your cabinet and see exactly what the temp is and change if you want to without getting your hands wet.


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## Heywoodwest (Mar 4, 2017)

Wish I'd seen these posts on heaters and thermostats 6 months ago when I was stocking my 55 gal Mbuna tank. My 250 watt heater just stuck on, heated the water to over 90 degrees overnight and killed three quarters of my fish. So I'm now using two 100 watt heaters and I'm looking at what thermostat would add another layer of protection. I live in Northern New Hampshire so keeping warm in winter is always a challenge!


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## engotski (Dec 29, 2014)

I also use two 175W heaters for my 180g for this purpose...fish wont die if water gets to room temp


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## Dadwith2boys (Mar 3, 2014)

Biciclid said:


> Although the risk of a heater "sticking" is small, and so is tge chanche of a fcannister filter not working, I still run 2 filters on my tank and 2 heaters and a thermostat. STC-100 cost only a few $€£ (but need wiring) so in the future I will probably use Inkbird 308 that are already wired. Anyway they both can conroll cooling as well. I set up the "main" heater at 25, "spare" one at 24 and thermostat at 26. This eay if the main thermostat stops eorking as the temperature drops the spare kicks in, if it overheats at 26 deg the thermostat cuts it off and (in summer) if the temperature increases further it turns on the fans


What type of fan do you use/recommend to help keep temp down?


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## Walt (Feb 21, 2017)

Pdxmonkeyboy said:


> ditto what buckeye said. I bought this a couple weeks ago, Inkbird ITC-306T Pre-wired Electronic Heating Thermostat Temperature Controller and Digital Timer Controller
> 
> works great and is extremely accurate. I have a VERY expensive and properly calibrated ph, temp, and PPM meter on my tank and the ink bird stays within .2 degrees.
> 
> ...


Thanks, I just added this to my shopping list.


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