Eheim jager vs titanium heater efficiency

[moray23]

I am trying to decide on what heaters to put in my new 180. I have previously always used Eheim Jager heaters with good success. For the 180 I was considering going with titanium heaters such as the finnex since they are smaller. Along the way I noticed that you end up having to get a much higher wattage titanium heater vs the eheim for the same size tank if you go by the recommendations posted. For example these two models are more less equivalent per Dr Fosters:

Eheim jager 200watt 79-106 gallons gallons
Finex deluxe titanium 500 watt 70-130 gallons

This comparison seems to more less the same with other titanium heater brands as well. Can anyone comment from experience on whether or not the Eheim Jager heaters really are that much more efficient?

 

[lighthouze08]

i've used both jager and finnex, either one is fine. Finnex died on me first, water got through the titanium housing (the ends are made of plastic), it would trip the circuit everytime i plug it in. Jager leaked a year later (condensation inside rusting out the heating element) . I would get 2 300w heater because i noticed in the winter, 1 300w isn't enough to keep it at 76, so if one fail, it won't overheat your tank. i have a 130 with a 75 gallon sump. i replaced the my finnex with another finnex and jager with another jager LOL

 

[moray23]

I know all heaters have their reliability issues unfortunately. I will certainly be running multiple. I am interested in whether or not two 200 watt jagers is really more less equivalent to two 500 watt titanium heaters.

 

[lighthouze08]

in short, my titanium takes longer to heat up the water than the jager, i don't really know what all is inside those heater but the the titanium heater with the same wattage takes twice as long to heat up the same volume of water in my tank as the jager. That's just my observation, don't kill me with all the science research and thermal conductivity

 

[lighthouze08]

one more thing, the length of the 300w Jager is twice as long as the 300w finnex heater,

 

[moray23]

Cool, thanks for the feedback. The extra surface area from the longer size might very well contribute.

 

[noj3333]

They have the same efficiency, they're both almost 100% efficient.