This falls in the category of "I should have known better", but I'm going to share it anyway. It's not new information that that these heaters explode, but if there is anyone out there that is still using them, please cut your loses and take them out of your tank. It's just not worth the risk. A quick search will bring up dozens of examples and I know it's been posted on Canreef before.
Honestly, I am appalled that Marineland hasn't formally recalled these heaters. Consider you entire tank crashing to nothing because of one of these heaters. How mad would you be?
This particular Marineland Stealth Pro 300W heater is only about 6 months old, so this problem is still happening. It had been in the box until about a week ago when I plugged it in for the first time. I am fortunate that it was in my new tank which doesn't have a lot in it right now, but it's still a major problem for me. I'll have to do a 90% water change to ensure there are no residual chemicals left over from the explosion and that will cost me $300+ (300G RO/DI + Salt) and take a day of my time.
The heater was fully submerged. There were no electrical faults. Nothing fell on it. There is no reason why this should have happened.
The explosion was loud and could have cracked the glass of my sump. There was a black powder covering the surface of the tank. I had an almost clogged filter sock which I think caught most of the black stuff (lucky), but it's the stuff I can't see that worries me.
