Troubleshooting- aquarium heater

[JuiceBox52]

As many of you know, I recently acquired a 210 gallon aquarium and have spent the past few months setting it up and preparing for fish. It is now full, the wood is soaking, and I just put in the heater.

Now while this heater is rated for 180-300 gallon tanks, I do eventually want to get a second one as finances allow before adding fish (one on each end to better disperse heat), but right now I have just the one in the center. I don’t plan on adding fish for a few months until I have a second heater, but hoped to bring the temperature up enough to start growing plants and begin a planted cycle.

However this heater is consistently flipping my breaker for that part of the house. If it’s plugged in, every 10-30 minutes the breaker will flip, it’ll be fixed, and then it will flip again.

This is quite literally the only place in our house that such a large tank would work (not to mention the physical labor of draining and moving it as a severely disabled person lol)

Do I need a different type of heater? What are my next steps? Will I be limited to only cool water fish that can live in room temp? How do I prevent it from flipping the breaker?

We don’t have many things plugged in on that circuit. The aquarium lights, and the house lights and a few outlets that don’t have anything in use, so it shouldn’t be overloaded

 

[Rocky998]

As many of you know, I recently acquired a 210 gallon aquarium and have spent the past few months setting it up and preparing for fish. It is now full, the wood is soaking, and I just put in the heater.

Now while this heater is rated for 180-300 gallon tanks, I do eventually want to get a second one as finances allow before adding fish (one on each end to better disperse heat), but right now I have just the one in the center. I don’t plan on adding fish for a few months until I have a second heater, but hoped to bring the temperature up enough to start growing plants and begin a planted cycle.

However this heater is consistently flipping my breaker for that part of the house. If it’s plugged in, every 10-30 minutes the breaker will flip, it’ll be fixed, and then it will flip again.

This is quite literally the only place in our house that such a large tank would work (not to mention the physical labor of draining and moving it as a severely disabled person lol)

Do I need a different type of heater? What are my next steps? Will I be limited to only cool water fish that can live in room temp? How do I prevent it from flipping the breaker?

We don’t have many things plugged in on that circuit. The aquarium lights, and the house lights and a few outlets that don’t have anything in use, so it shouldn’t be overloaded

Honestly, it may be too much of a drain on your circuit with what that heater is rated for. Sadly that would mean getting a tad lower rated heater put on each end of the tank and maybe upping the water flow slightly as well to help.
Aquarium heaters use a lot of wattage and the temperature of water holds pretty steady, so it takes a massive amount of heat energy to change that which in affect will cause the heater to work overtime, putting a strain on your outlet and breaker.

 

[fishorama]

I too, think your heater draws too much sudden power on the circuit when it turns on. Every 30 minutes sounds like that to me.

I know you don't want to hear this but 2 or even 3 smaller heaters might work better than 1 big 1. I was given a temp controller for a small high temp tank & it works great with 2 heaters. It can use up to 3 heater plugs. I don't have good specs on mine & you'll likely need a more heavy-duty controller but look into them.

I've never had such a big tank, I'm a bit jealous! So take my advice with some skepticism & ask & research more. It'll also depend on fish you want keep. So many possibilities!

 

[Colin_T]

How many watts is the heater?

You can run an extension cord to a different part of the house and have the heater on that. See if it triggers the circuit breaker. If it does then the heater is probably faulty.

In Australia, the maximum draw we have from normal power sockets around the house is 2400 watts. If we use more than 2400w the circuit breakers tend to trip. I don't know of any aquarium heaters that use that much power (most range from 100w to 300w) so if the heater is less wattage than whatever the maximum is for your place, then it shouldn't trip the circuit breakers.

In the shop we had issues with circuit breakers tripping because we had way too many things plugged into the power sockets and when the heaters came on, they used too much power and shut down the system.

The only other reason an electronic device would regularly trip the breakers is if the device is faulty and shorting out. Then the circuit breakers trigger to stop you being electrocuted.

Thinking outside the box, someone might have done a dodgy job when it came to doing the electrical wiring in your house and that might be causing the problem too. You would have to get an electrician out to check the wiring in that case.

First thing would be try the heater on an extension cord from a different room or part of the house.
If the heater is under warranty, swap it for another and see if it helps.
Get a sparky in to check the wiring in the house.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Aquarium heaters use a lot of wattage and the temperature of water holds pretty steady, so it takes a massive amount of heat energy to change that which in affect will cause the heater to work overtime, putting a strain on your outlet and breaker.

I may use 10-12 gallons of boiling water (keep in mind it is not stocked yet haha) to bring the temp to where I want it and see if the heater can just keep it steady without having to work as hard as bringing it up from 60 degrees

I know you don't want to hear this but 2 or even 3 smaller heaters might work better than 1 big 1. I was given a temp controller for a small high temp tank & it works great with 2 heaters. It can use up to 3 heater plugs. I don't have good specs on mine & you'll likely need a more heavy-duty controller but look into them.

I've never had such a big tank, I'm a bit jealous! So take my advice with some skepticism & ask & research more. It'll also depend on fish you want keep. So many possibilities!

If the extension cord does not work I may just have to do that. This is my first tank larger than 55g, I am very excited!

How many watts is the heater?

It is a 1000 watt heater

Thinking outside the box, someone might have done a dodgy job when it came to doing the electrical wiring in your house and that might be causing the problem too. You would have to get an electrician out to check the wiring in that case.

First thing would be try the heater on an extension cord from a different room or part of the house.
If the heater is under warranty, swap it for another and see if it helps.
Get a sparky in to check the wiring in the house.

It’s possible. I will have to see if I can get an electrician in once I can afford it. Funds are extremely tight. I can try an extension cord maybe

 

[JuiceBox52]

This is the heater I got, it was gifted to me brand new by a friend who is leaving the hobby.