HEATERS:what is ur preference?

porksnorkel

i was thinking about doing my own personal review of heaters, but then i thought i'd just see what everyone thinks. personally i like the acura heaters. always dead on acurate and never a problem. also the stealth models from visatherm. these heaters are awesome cause u can't break the glass. they are plastic coated. also a very acurate heater.

my least favorite is All-Glass. totally inacurate and they overheat my aquariums, even on the lowest setting. i have 2 of their 200w heaters and both are duds. they were bought from 2 different stores at 2 different times. the other heaters i dislike are the hang on gizmos of any brand. usually shoddy construction and the big problem is u almost have 2 overflow ur tank to get to the minimum water line.

so what do u guys like?

Nick

I have the crappy all-glass/hang on back type of heater. IT SUCKS! It's a 150 watt and right now, i think its dead, because the light hasnt came on in forever. So I need a new heater, my tank is only running on a 50 watt heater and its an all-glass/hang on back heater too. My 150 watt has never satisfied me. There wasnt any really direct range on the knob for the heat it just had little lines, my temp was either REALLY HIGH or REALLY LOW and I was ALWAYS switching the knob around...Well, thats my input!

Nick

crazie.eddie

My favorite is a Hydor inline heater, which connects directly to the output connection of my canister filter. I also use Big Digital Temp Alert...


Once the temp is set, my temps never go +-.5 degrees. By any chance it does, it will sound an alert if it goes about +- 5 degrees of my desired temp, which is 82°F (28°C).

The nice thing about the Hydor heater is, since it is inline, you cannot see the heater in the tank, so there is no chance of the fish getting accidently burned by the heater. I have 4 canisters using the inline heaters. My Eheim Pro II 2128 has it's own built in heater.

My 2nd favorite are stainless steel and titanium heaters, which look like this...

I used several Wonn Brother's titanium heaters and a ViaAqua Stainless Steel heaters. I originally bought the Wonn Brother's titanium heaters becuase of an instance I had with a glass heater that I broke inside my tank. I bought a few of them, but due to the costs, I looked for a cheaper alternative, which is why I bought the ViaAqua Stainless steel heater.

trreherd

the won bros titanium heaters get TERIBLE reveiws. I would never get one. Rite now i have a cheap little wisper heater that i bought at wall-mart in my 5 gallon tank. When i buy a heater for my salty tank im going to get the jagual cause it gets great reviews.

crazie.eddie

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Strangely enough, I never had any problems. The only tank I used it now is the one I use for water storage for water changes. I belong to a Discus forum and I even asked those who did not like their Wonn heaters to give them to me and I was willing to pay for shipping. Nobody replied back. :( I think the problem is, the dials to change the temp on the Wonns & even ViaAquas are very easy to adjust. Maybe when they moved cables or tubings around, it rubbed against the dials and accidently lowered/raised the temp. I place tape over these type of dials, even on my Hydor, just in case.

The only ones I do know that are problematic are the ones with a digital readout, all of mine do not. I never had a problem with them. The only reason I stop using them is becuase I like the heater to be external.

trreherd

Before i buy a product like a heater i check to see if marinedepot has it then i read the review on it and make a conclusion. That what i would sugjest to anyone when buying a new heater.

crazie.eddie

Heaters can fail. When I bought my Wonn titanium heater, I heard great reviews. The digital Wonn heaters came later and were problably problematic. Also, many of these heaters with external controllers probably got wet and of course, would fail. I used my Wonn and ViaAqua heaters for several years and only switched to external heaters about 2 years ago. So if you find anyone with a failed Wonn heater, direct them to me. I will take them.

What many people use in conjuction with their heaters are heater controllers. These run independant of the heater and use a temp probe, which is placed inside your aquarium. This will then turn the heater on /off depending on the temp. For tanks that have allot of heat like SW tanks due to high lights, there are dual stage controllers that turn on/off a heater AND a chiller, depending on the temp.

It's always best to have extra equipment, such as filters and heaters in case of failure or last minute QT setups.

Lupin

Eheim and Sera for me. Resun and other heaters made in China aren't that great though. I never bought those heaters made in China because as a matter of fact, my lfs have been using them but those heaters keep failing and those killed the poor fish.

herefishy

I am partial to Eheim and Ebo-Jaeger. I do have quite a few Marineland/Tetra filters up to 100w for some of my smaller tanks.

Derek-M

After selling many diff types of heaters over the years the one I have settled for at the moment is Sera as they come with a 5 year guarantee and they have shatterproof glass.... Another plus is the price they RRP @£14.80 which is a great price... Out of the hundreds that I have sold, I have only had 1 returned fauty (not bad at all, imho).