# Cooking with a Hydor ETH In-Line Heater



## pineapple (Jan 22, 2004)

Long story short, I had a nice mossy, Anubias petite forest, java fern, and a little Rotala rotundifolia 20 high tank, full of tiny fairy shrimp (have no clue about name of this type but 0.5" long) and a bumblebee gobi (great fish to keep) in my office for several years. It gets cold down there in the winter (unheated basement office space) so some years back I added a Hydor ETH In-Line Heater. It worked great. So efficient. The tank was a little ecosystem that kept itself going with little or no fertilization. I had CO2 on it and a small Eheim cannister filter. The tank was up for at least 4 years and had got a lovely perfect balance. Until....

I look at this aquarium now and again (it's right beside my desk) and was not in my office much this summer. I came in a couple of days and noticed it was humid and warm - not unusual for a basement in the summer of NYC. But I should have known something was up.

The Hydor ETH In-Line Heater thermostat must have blown or got over-ridden because the heater was on full blast for at least a week. Even the gravel was hot. I had to tear the tank down and needless to say everything was mush. I think the massive growth of Taiwan moss would have survived, though (it's very hardy). What a sad shame....

This was the tank in 2006 in one of its periods...

So - the lesson is - always keep an eye on your aquarium and your Hydor heater. (Bear in mind all heaters can misfunction - not just Hydor brand heaters. I will buy another Hydor in the future...)


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

Sorry to hear that. 

Thermometers on my larger (and/or more expensive) tanks are run on a temperature controller for redundancy.


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## pineapple (Jan 22, 2004)

Well, that's an idea. Redundancy sounds like the way to go on this.


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## Stevie D (Jul 16, 2008)

It's an extra expense, but one that i see well worth it. I have temp controllers on my main tanks.

Stevie D


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## Natty (Apr 2, 2008)

Moral of the day? Get a temperature controller that'll shut the temp off if it gets too high. 

I'll probably try to get one if my wallet lets.


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## pineapple (Jan 22, 2004)

It's no fun eating poached moss ;-) Believe me....


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## Down_Shift (Sep 20, 2008)

beautiful tank.. rip


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

pineapple said:


> It's no fun eating poached moss ;-) Believe me....


DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, dry leek soup mix, water chestnuts and [strike]chopped spinach[/strike] poached moss. Chill in the refrigerator 6 hours, or overnight.

2. Remove top and interior of sourdough bread. Fill with mayonnaise mixture. Tear removed bread chunks into pieces for dipping.


...makes for a great moss dip.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Ewwwwwwwww :confused1:

Definitely should replace the mayo with fish sauce. :thumbsup:

On a sorta-related subject, anyone have any recommendations on a temperature controller that's reliable but without an astronomical price tag?


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## lescarpentier (Feb 2, 2008)

lauraleellbp said:


> On a sorta-related subject, anyone have any recommendations on a temperature controller that's reliable but without an astronomical price tag?


Ranco.
Read this..
http://www.reefland.com/forum/coral...emperature-controllers-stability-savings.html


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

OK so can you put into layman's terms the difference between the $40 one and the $130 one that's "wired and sealed"? What exactly needs to be wired? :confused1: https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop/index.php?cPath=76&osCsid=c3452e6e2c767f4771dd17d9cea41122


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop...d=212&osCsid=c3452e6e2c767f4771dd17d9cea41122

and 

https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop...id=37&osCsid=c3452e6e2c767f4771dd17d9cea41122

?

I don't see a $40 one; only $80 vs $120.

One is a single stage (controls either heater or chiller) and the other is a dual stage (controls both chiller and heater).


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

7 Finnex DIGITAL Heater Controller - use with TH-0300,0500,080

Is this just a part?


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## lescarpentier (Feb 2, 2008)

epicfish said:


> I don't see a $40 one; only $80 vs $120.
> 
> One is a single stage (controls either heater or chiller) and the other is a dual stage (controls both chiller and heater).


What's wrong with this one?
https://diyreef.authsecure.com/shop...d=770&osCsid=c3452e6e2c767f4771dd17d9cea41122


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Can you only use that one with their Finnex heating element? Is that the catch?


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## lescarpentier (Feb 2, 2008)

lauraleellbp said:


> Can you only use that one with their Finnex heating element? Is that the catch?


How would this be the case?
It's merely a thermostatic switch,110v,that's all.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

It looks to me like only those Finnex heater elements that are shown at the bottom of the page will plug into it?


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## lescarpentier (Feb 2, 2008)

lauraleellbp said:


> Can you only use that one with their Finnex heating element? Is that the catch?


If you look closely it seems that those elements use the standard monkey faced plugs.

Regardless,it's for 115 v so I would modify it if it came to that.

Where's epic when we need him?


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## allaircooled (Oct 24, 2008)

The same thing happened to me in 2006. My hydor heater was only a few months old. Made me leave the hobby for a couple of years due to the fact I was so PO from losing everything. Then against my better judgement I recently bought another one due to being highly recommended by some so I thought mine was a fluke. I guess I better look into some redundancy myself. How common is this problem on these heaters?


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## pineapple (Jan 22, 2004)

I was wondering if anyone else had suffered this fate. I guess we live and learn... more than those poor little shrimpy dimps did. Thanks Les and Laura for the talk on controllers. I am going to check into those.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

This is the first I'm reading about a failure. Usually I hear about how the temp dial got turned inadvertently. I have 2 on my 125, and so far, I love them. (knocking on wood).


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## allaircooled (Oct 24, 2008)

I lost a lot of fish, shrimp, and plants because of that heater. I was away from home for a week when it happened or I would have caught it. I am going to look into this
here


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## Stevie D (Jul 16, 2008)

Hydor has a pretty cheap temp controller. It's not a dual stage controller, but it it would do just fine for redundancy. 

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=11371

I have two of these (non Led display $49.99 although i got them cheaper when i bought them) and each heater and undergravel heater is hooked up to not only the hydor thermostat, but also the temp controller on my Reefkeeper Elite controller. You can never be too careful with something that can wipeout your whole tank in a matter of hours...

Stevie D


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## pineapple (Jan 22, 2004)

As cold hearted as I might be (not really), I found myself worrying greatly about all that electricity the defunct heater used for that time of dysfunction.


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## Kris (Feb 27, 2004)

i just had this same experience. i lost bleeding hear tetras, neons and my sanity.
thanks to your recommendations, i have a new heater and control on the way as an early christmas present.
heater failure wasn't something that was on my radar.


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## confuted (Jan 31, 2007)

pineapple said:


> As cold hearted as I might be (not really), I found myself worrying greatly about all that electricity the defunct heater used for that time of dysfunction.


Don't. Let's assume you had the 200W heater and that it was on for a week.

1 week = 7 days = 168 hours
200W * 168 hours = 33600 watt hours = 33.6 kWH
at 10 cents a kWH (rough estimate), that's $3.36 on your electricity bill, assuming it ran for a full week like that.


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## mott (Nov 23, 2006)

Had a top fin heater go on me today! not a hydor but same thing happened.
went to go feed my betta and noticed he was hanging on the bottom. Hmm.... strange I thought and then looked at the thermometer and it was at 90! Stuck my finger in cause I thought it was wrong and it felt like a hot tub!
Holy sh** did a quick water change with cooler water bout 84-85 and he is doing fine now.
Ran out and bought a penn plaxx heater. I hope this one last for a while.


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## Raul-7 (Oct 17, 2003)

lauraleellbp said:


> It looks to me like only those Finnex heater elements that are shown at the bottom of the page will plug into it?


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1096813

You get what you pay for, buy the Ranco. Mine finally died after two years in use, but it held the temperature solid.


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## original kuhli (Nov 28, 2006)

Happened to me once too, made it easier to justify the Ebo Jaeger and Neptune controller. And then plumbing the Ebo inline to the other mass of plumbing which I created under the tank.

Look on the bright side, now you get a chance to do it even better!


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## unirdna (Jan 22, 2004)

The Hydor ETH 300 is a very powerful heater. It easily keeps my 50g tank steady at 79F despite the tank being in a 50F room (sometimes cooler when I go on vacation), and next to an outside wall. If the thermostat ever failed during the summer months, I'm sure it would cook the tank in a matter of hours. That's the risk I take, I guess - I need that kind of power for the cold times!

My Hydor is 4 years old.


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

lauraleellbp said:


> Can you only use that one with their Finnex heating element? Is that the catch?






> Three prongs power receptacle works with Finnex 300W, 500W & 800W heating
> tubes _and other brand's heating elements._



x-amount of characters.....


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