Rebuilding after disaster. (Heaters suck!!)

shermoen

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Hi all, a few weeks ago my wife called me and said that my 3 gallon pico tank was hot. I mean the tank was hot, I had her grab a thermometer and it was reading over 100 degrees in the tank! I cant remember but I believe I was using a 25w or 50w aqueon heater that I got secondhand and was something I had laying around.
So the night befor this happened I noticed the corals we not opening like they should but would give it a day to see if it continued. Unfortunately the heater got stuck on and was cooking my livestock.
I felt terrible about this happening and failure was looming over me as I let all those poor creatures die over my lack of attention and total incompetence.
That tank was about 6 months old and starting to come together. I had my first coral I got over 2 years ago in it and it had been through thick and thin but finally was starting to grow (Kenya tree), a small hammer colony, zoas and shrooms splashed in the mix, and a sun coral I nursed back to life over the last year. There was also a small maroon clown with nem and a coral banded shrimp.
Have you ever had something happen in your life that was terrible but at the same time a blessing. When I set this tank up initially I just threw a bunch of stuff at it and that was it, I was about to get married and move and was in no place to be setting up a other tank but I just had to.
So now I have the opportunity to do this right. I will be documenting this on reef2reef and hopefully with the guidance of others I can have a long lived pico reef.
Here is what I am starting with...
*3 gallon water box aio
*dry rock that came from a tank that was torn down. (Only up 4 months)
*kessil a80 tuna blue
*hydor mini 1000 return pump
*tiny 80 gph pump for circulation
*possibly a smart ato micro
I'm probably going to go bare bottom just because of the ease of cleaning but Im open to suggestions. Still need to get a new heater but something a bit smaller this time, again I'm open to suggestions. Not sure what I'm going to use for filtration yet, I'm open to suggestions. Here's a few pictures of the scape I made yesterday. I would love input from everyone, oh and did i say i was open to suggestions!!

20191129_205233.jpg 20191110_135509.jpg 20191129_205222.jpg 20191215_085415.jpg 20191215_085829.jpg 20191215_085813.jpg 20191215_085805.jpg 20191215_085822.jpg 20191215_090051.jpg
 

Samina

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So sorry to hear of your troubles but I’m happy to see you not give up. That speaks volumes. I really love the aquascape and am super impressed that you are using a rather negative occurrence to achieve a positive result! Cheers!
 

Goose91

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My lfs eecommended getting a controller for the heater. The one im using is actually for reptile rocks. But works the same for fish tank heaters. Basically you just set the temp you want on the controller. Set your heater temp a couple points above that so the heater doesnt turn itself off. Then the controller controls the power going to the heater. Which will keep the heater on all the time, but keeps it at the set the temp. Unlike what just running your heater would do, which is on and off all day long, bouncing between the comple degrees and also wearing out your heaters on off switch. So ya i highly recommend a controller on the heater. If at the very least you now have two fails for that heater unit to turn off.
 
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shermoen

shermoen

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Thanks Samina!! I find that the greatest lessons are generally taught through mistakes and things not going as planned.
 

GabeM

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I recommend using a heater controller. I have been using the inkbird for saltwater since it came outbwith no issues.
 

Goose91

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Also the controller has a digital display which shows you set point temp and actual temp. So a very handy little unit to have, think it only cost me 100 some bucks.
 
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shermoen

shermoen

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Goose91 and GabeM thanks for the input. A heater controller is going to be in the build for sure, I'm just trying to figure out which one I want to use or to build one of my own.
I have used the inkbird on a different tank a d it worked well for months a d then I had to calibrate to the correct temp multie times. After I moved I never set it back up, but after this happened I pulled it out to see if it worked again and now it doesn't work at all(reads 95 in a tank that's 78).
I may give inkbird another try as they are very affordable.
 

GabeM

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If you use inkbird make sure to get a sealed probe unit like

As the unsealed probes will get messed up by the saltwater.

I keep the controller set to 78 degrees and my heaters each set to 80 degrees.
 

ca1ore

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Heaters are, I think, the most common source of tank crashes. Particularly in very small tanks where even a 25 water gone bad will be a problem.
 

pdxmonkeyboy

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I would second the inkbird controller. They work REALLY well. Also, try to get a heating element instead of a temp controlled heater. They seem to break much less.
 
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shermoen

shermoen

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I would second the inkbird controller. They work REALLY well. Also, try to get a heating element instead of a temp controlled heater. They seem to break much less.

Are there aquarium companies that make heating elements or do I need t ol get something and to convert to work in an aquarium?
 

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