Heater exploded - what's inside?

[BigTom]

Hi all,

Just had one of my plastic 'safety' nano heaters explode with a bang. Looks like the top popped off, and there's now a lot of white powdery stuff all over the tank and a pretty acrid stench.

Fish are out and in a bucket and sseem OK for now, but I'd quite like to know what is now in the tank and how much of a detox is going to be required.

Heater -

White stuff that used to be in the heater -

 

[Iain Sutherland]

thats bad news tom, can only hope its not toxic and is more of an insulator to disperse the heat. Is this in one of the three nanos? Sorry i cant be of any help though, no doubt youve already done a complete water change vacuuming most of it out...

 

[BigTom]

Yeah the tank is drained... water smelled like electrical burning. Plants are being rinsed in the shower, just need to decide if rinsing out the aquasoil will be OK or if I should bin the lot of it.

 

[OllieNZ]

Could be some sort of ceramic/glass packing or more likely a metal oxide of some description (the oxidised remains of your element)

 

[Steve Smith]

Might be worth an email to Hydor or whoever... I expect it's some sort of ceramic powder or something like that. No idea what though