Melted Plastic?

[Flying_Diamond]

Ok. I'll look for one at my lfs store today, but I doubt they'll have one. I'll end up getting an elite 100w. I like those. They've been very reliable and all I can find. They might be too big, But I use them in my 10 gallon and my 2.5 without problems so far, soooo.. eh. Thank you everyone for your replies

 

[Shelby_Tempo_GT]

they sure do... I'm guessing you never felt one underwater. It's one of the reasons people should uplug the heaters before emptying/water changing the tank. As to whether they should get hot enough to melt plantic underwater, that, I don't know but the forethought is that the heater is malfunctioning anyway.

I've touched mine before to see if they are working and they are just warm, not hot (I have 2 x 200w driving a 75)

And that is keeping tank water around 76F where room temp is 68-70.

 

[Flying_Diamond]

Well I don't what my heaters problem was then.. but my room that the tank's in is usually around 65 room temp and I usually keep the tanks at 78... do you think that had anything to do with it?

 

[Shelby_Tempo_GT]

Well I don't what my heaters problem was then.. but my room that the tank's in is usually around 65 room temp and I usually keep the tanks at 78... do you think that had anything to do with it?

maybe it was the thermostats. If they went for a poop and opened up... maybe that would cause it to get hot.

 

[kmail5776]

I've touched mine before to see if they are working and they are just warm, not hot (I have 2 x 200w driving a 75)

And that is keeping tank water around 76F where room temp is 68-70.

Check to see how long your heaters is actually on. at only a 6-8 F rise, your heater won't be on a lot. I have a 30 gal. with discus. The tank controller (I'm so proud of my DIY) is set for 84.6 F. My room temp. is around 67-69 F. The controller drives the heaters on so much that the heater element on one of them turns red.

Well I don't what my heaters problem was then.. but my room that the tank's in is usually around 65 room temp and I usually keep the tanks at 78... do you think that had anything to do with it?

Here's the skinny on what happens with the big heater in the small tank. A small tank doesn't take much energy to heat 10 degrees. But the heater only has an on and off switch and the thermostat. When the thermostat reads low temp, the heater turns on, pumping heat into the tank. When the thermostat reads high temp, the heater turns off, simple enough. Unfortunately, because of the small size of the tank, if the tank temp. is not close to the temp. set point, the heater may grossly overshoot the setpoint. It has something to do with the rate of change of the temp. This is why the instructions say only change in very small increments. By the same turn, when the tank is cooling, it may cool way below the setpoint before the heater thermostat kicks in. In some instances, your heater's thermostat may never reach temp. setpoint, but instead fluctuate around it, by alot. Over time, the fluctuations should approach the setpoint. This may be what happened. To decrease the chance of that happening again, your water changes should be at the same temp.