arctictwist
Member
Looking for heaters for my new build. Its a 120 DT/240 system. I was thinking 2 x 200 or 250. What brands have you all had good luck with?
Heater Brands
- Thread starter arctictwist
- Start date
detroit_fan
New member
I use jager heaters, but I always use a temp controller like a ranco. never trust a heater
gooyferret
New member
+1 use the exact same heaters!
arctictwist
Member
i have ranco to. i was looking at getting the stealths as well because they are pretty unbreakable.
Grassroots
New member
+2 on the stealths thats what i'm using atm.
Johnny C
New member
Absolutely NO-GO on the stealths...
I too was a very big fan of them, until recently when two people that I know personally had them literally start on fire in their tanks. My friend Dan had about $2k worth of livestock lost because the stealth burned a hole in the plastic. It then leaked stray voltage and also boiled his tank water while smoking.
IMO do a search on heater malfunctions. It's quickly becoming evident that the Visitherm Stealth heaters are having major issues. HTH
To the OP; I personally use Jager/Ranco.
I too was a very big fan of them, until recently when two people that I know personally had them literally start on fire in their tanks. My friend Dan had about $2k worth of livestock lost because the stealth burned a hole in the plastic. It then leaked stray voltage and also boiled his tank water while smoking.
IMO do a search on heater malfunctions. It's quickly becoming evident that the Visitherm Stealth heaters are having major issues. HTH
To the OP; I personally use Jager/Ranco.
arctictwist
Member
hmmm. hadnt heard of that happening before. i will have gfi but only on the lights. everything will be on two separate dedicated 20 amp lines that are afci at the breaker.
Nanz
Premium Member
+1 eheim jager, I use a reef keeper 2 to control.
I use stealth on my clownfish breeding tanks. I think a GFCI would have prevented the fire also. It probably overheater due to lack of water at one time of another and then released voltage in the tank.
What some people do is buy 2 low watt heaters so that if one goes berserk its still not enough to overheat the water. The two heaters in unison work to keep the tank at the desired temp.
I use stealth on my clownfish breeding tanks. I think a GFCI would have prevented the fire also. It probably overheater due to lack of water at one time of another and then released voltage in the tank.
What some people do is buy 2 low watt heaters so that if one goes berserk its still not enough to overheat the water. The two heaters in unison work to keep the tank at the desired temp.
Last edited:
Nanz
Premium Member
Make sure everthing is on a GFCI. Return pumps are notorious for leaking voltage when the die. In fact I had that happen just the past week. The GFCI saved my tank. Get the GFCI plug outlets if you can't change the actual wiring. They are a simple $20 cost that will solve that problem.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=18026
Johnny C
New member
...yes, he had a GFCI on the Stealth.
Putting a return pump on a GFCI isn't a great idea unless it has its own dedicated recepticle. If ANY of your equipment fails, it's gonna kill the pump (and everything else) which if you don't catch it within a few hours can wipe-out everything. JMO.
Putting a return pump on a GFCI isn't a great idea unless it has its own dedicated recepticle. If ANY of your equipment fails, it's gonna kill the pump (and everything else) which if you don't catch it within a few hours can wipe-out everything. JMO.
Nanz
Premium Member
It seems the GFCI was faulty then because it should have stopped the leaking of voltage.
If your pump overheats and releases oils and phenols then your tank is going to crash if not overheat first.
Simple solution: Keep the heaters on a separate GFCI so your tank doesn't change temperature. Keep one heater and powerheads on one GFCI and the return and another heater on another GFCI.
detroit_fan
New member
The only problem with that is you would need 2 temp controllers. Unless you are trusting a heaters thermostat to be accurate.
arctictwist
Member
yea gfci's are a big debate. I got nuisance trips ALL the time with my last set up and everything was on the same GFCI outlet. I can easily wire both dedicated lines as gfci but im trying to avoid nuisance trips that shut everything down with out me knowing about it.
