The Puffer Forum

I've met a couple of people, and read about a few on here, that have had their heaters malfunction, overheat their tank and kill their fish.

This, needless to say, seems less than ideal.

Any idea how i might prevent this from even thinking about happening?

A heater controller in conjunction with a heater with a built in thermostat is a combo some use. You set the heater like normal and then set the controller to shut off a few degrees higher as a safety. Some will also add digital thermometers that give audible warnings when temps fluctuate beyond the parameters.

How does the controller know? is it basically a backup thermostat?

An extra thermometer is always a good idea to give you a heads up. Also using multiple underrated heaters instead of one that is rated for your size tank can safeguard you, in my experience they burn out and fail before cooking your fish as the others just shut off forcing the malfunctioning one to work real hard. Extra plugs though

genius! thanks!

I still have not set mine up yet but I purchased a Ranco controller. This unit is actually a commercial controller used in beer and wine making and other food service uses. These things need to be wired up but they are the most bulletproof units available.

that's hilareous let me know how it works out.

I have a 224 gal tank and have 2 heaters in it for redundancy and cooking my Fahaka was one of my concerns. I was advised to get inkbird as an overheating prevention. Inkbird also connects to your smart phone so that you can get notifications if an issue comes up. I am still getting my tank ready for my baby as funds will allow so he is not in there yet. So, I cannot say if the inkbird is good or not bc I haven't got to use it yet.