my heater keeps on breaking

[OzQuant]

What causes the heater to crack?  I have a small 90l breeding tank and my 3rd (or 4th, I've lost count) heater has cracked and broke.  I first had an el cheapo one, and I thought maybe they were low in quality, so I went and bought a name brand expensive one, and that too cracked and broke.  My current one I bought off ebay also cracked and broke yesterday.

I thought that having the heater near the air stone could be doing something, so I relocated the heater away from the bubbles, but that didn't prevent this last one from cracking.

I also have a 200l main tank, and that has had the same heater in there for 4 years and still going strong.

I'll be buying another one, I guess, off ebay, but would like to know what is causing these breakages as it is starting to add up in costs.

Thanks.

[Chuckmeister]

It might be because you have the heater touching something, maybe in the substrate, leaning against a rock or something. This can cause hot spots on your heater though I have never heard a heater cracking because of it. I have had heaters show signs of burning though. If its made in China or something then maybe they use thinner glass and not up to standard. By a Jager or something of quality and you shouldn't have these issues.

Chuck :)

[mark_zx9]

what fish do you have in the tank?   i had fish that used to brake, eat , you name it to floating or suction capped thermos

so it could be the fish that are doing it by hitting them or biting them ,ramming ect
if that is the case you should get a heater guard that might stop this happening in the future
mark

[Dead Fish Floating]

Trun it off and give it 10 minutes at least before starting your water change.
My money is sudden temperature change is doing them in, either taking them out while still hot or leaving them exposed when ya water change and the refill cracking them.
Never really had problems with heaters touching substrate.
Have had oscars and devils break them, but a simple heater guard or roll of something  like gutter guard helps protect them from those breakages.

[OzQuant]

Its my krib breeding tank and only have tiny kribs in there and I don't think they are capable of breaking/cracking the glass.

I did however do a water change on Sunday, and noticed the heater broken Monday evening.  So I switch off the heater >10min before the water change?  Do I need to take it out?

I thought that heaters would be built strong enough for small temperature changes :(  Its not as if I'm pouring boiling water into an icy glass mug!

Thanks for all the tips by the way.

[gasnitro]

leave the heater in the tank I always keep mine submerged while doing water changes.
buy jager plus they work a lot more economically.

[Dead Fish Floating]

Ensure the whole heater remains under the water at all times why it is hot.
If even a small bit of the glass secton is exposed to the air and heats up,
then the heater will very often crack as the water level rises.
Not the 1 degree difference from 26 deg C to 25 deg C that does it.
But the 100 degree or so exposed to air glass hitting 25 deg C water.
The insides of heaters are also often filled with insulators.
Thats why I give them at least 10 min to chill before removing from water.
Yes still water change with them in the tank, but push them right down,
so they remained submerged the entire time during the water change.
I use 2 smaller cheap heaters in tanks where possible over 1 expensive one.
That way when one goes down/up it's just like losing 50% heating power and not all of it.

[christo]

ive had the cheapies from age of aquariums for about 2.5 years cost me like $9 each lol

luck of the draw i guess