Oh Joy, finally part of the Finnex you failed me club

[Jacksparrow]

Aloha all, that's right my Finnex 500w got stuck in the on position and fried all the sps and leathers and just about every snail I had. I thought it was odd that the fish where laying on the bottom of the tank not moving very much and when I checked the tanks temp 92*. My leathers looked like melted marshmallows and the water was slightly cloudy. I quickly though some bags of ice in and turned the ac up and the house fans on. I did several small water changes to the tank over several hours to slowly allow the fish to acclimate. Good and bad points, all the fish are alive, all the sps are going to be medium for my Cal reactor, my poor garf. The finnex was 2yrs old and I had been reading awhile back how the finnex have been sub par since they started being made in mass production but I thought mine was different, NOT!!!!!! I took the precautions the other way by having 2 200w heaters in the sump as back ups in-case the finnex failed to turn on but no the case here. Well I so shall be shopping soon for more sps so anyone who's tank needs a trimming, I will be looking out for ya, especially Aquaman_68 (B.) absolutely incredible tank. Mahalo for letting me vent. EBS

 

[Aquadiva]

Ouch!!!...
I am soooooo sorry.

I hate those finnex heaters, but at least when mine failed, it just died and my tank was a wee bit chilly.

 

[Jennifer]

Wow that really sucks for sure. Sorry to hear about your loss.
That is why I do not trust the thermostats on any brand of heater. Just way too many horror stories like yours. Mahalo - Jenn

 

[wsonner]

This is heart breaking. Has anyone ever considered a class action suit? The heartbreak aside, this has got to be costing people LOTS of money.

 

[Jim Tansey]

Sorry about the loss, but using a 500 watt heater with two 200 watt backup is not the way I would do it, you know what will happen if the 500 watt locks on, don't know your tank size but two 200's in the tank and a 200 back up would seem to be the way to go.

Jim

 

[Reefried]

thats why I dont use heaters at all!

 

[Brian92]

That really stinks

I had a finnex get stuck on my tank got up to about 92 but I lowered it down and the tank got through it. It was only a bunch of zoas and palys though. I thought it was supposed to be a good brand too?

 

[stevenp]

Finnex makes a good quality titanium heater IMO, it's just their controls/thermostats that suck. I run (2) 300w titanium tubes on an external temp controller. The heaters I run have no built in thermostat - plug it in and it's on.

ALL heaters should be run on a quality* external controller of some type.

*the external temp controllers that come with the larger Finnex tubes are junk IMO.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Finnex Heater

I had 2 Finnex 300 watt heaters (without controllers) fail in the first week of operation. I sent them back for replacements and have been running these 2 replacement heaters for around a year without any problems.

 

[Aquaman_68]

Eric, That just plain out sucks...somtimes equipment failure is more frequent when the temp hovers over 90 in the home...(not sure if your house gets that hot in the summer without the a/c on & the tank lighting up)

Whatever heater you decide...I suggest being redundant....Get yourself a rancho controller & Plug the heater into it as a failsafe...


I use the titanium "won" brand Heater. (many people in this club have posted there dislike about reliability) Been using it since they first came out. (bout 10 years) still on the original one....(though I have a new backup in stock)

I run it thru my x-10 portion of my controller. This way if it decides to stay on & the temp goes above my settings the controller will knock off power to the circut till the temp falls into the "heat params"

It's always good to be reduindant in this hobby. (The "redundant" way of life for me goes down to every facet!! I can thank my open water diver training for that!!!)

It's always nice to have a spare back up for the equipment you have...I know it cost enough to just have singles of ea peice of equipment...When you need to replace something it never breaks at the optimal time...(IE sunday at 11:00 pm)

Anytime you have a question shoot me a pm....

HTH

B

 

[Jacksparrow]

Aloha all, thanks for helping a bleeding heart heal. A Rancho is in my future really soon and I did change over to 2 200w heaters with a 300w backup. B. thanks for the advice and my Rancho is ordered. Mahalo again everyone EBS

 

[maxfischer]

Finnex makes a good quality titanium heater IMO, it's just their controls/thermostats that suck. I run (2) 300w titanium tubes on an external temp controller. The heaters I run have no built in thermostat - plug it in and it's on.

ALL heaters should be run on a quality* external controller of some type.

*the external temp controllers that come with the larger Finnex tubes are junk IMO.

100% right,

We all spend $$$ on corals and cheep out on the luttle stuff. After reading all the stories i would never run a heater without a controller again

 

[Jim Tansey]

You will be very happy with the controller, they are extremely reliable, the only way to go.

Jim