heater reccomendation

[tlc]

im planning my system now. looking to heat up about 180 gallons. i have been out of the hobby for a while. reliability is a must!!!

 

[Reeferon]

how about titanium heaters?
i was looking at sunlight supply's aquaheat.. any idea if those work well?

(sorry to steal the thread)

 

[Amoore311]

Any heater you are going to want to hook up to some kind of controller (Ranco, Reefkeerp, Aquacontroller, etc). The built in thermostats are extremely unreliable.


I'm not sure what heaters I will buy. But I do no they will for sure be controlled by my ACjr.

 

[evergreenreeftank]

I just bought 2 Won Brothers titanium heaters for my 120. Plan to use my RKL to control. They came highly recommended to me.

 

[anemone123]

I have lost more fish to heaters failing than any other problem. I recommend using two heaters per tank and I like the idea of using a controller to protect against overtemp. Although I do not have experience with a controller. I like the idea so much I just ordered one.

I don't like the ViaAqua titanium heaters. They seam great for about a year then the thermostat breaks and they don't come on at all.

I do like the Aquarium Systems Visi-Therm Deluxe Heaters. I have 10 of them and the oldest has been running for about 3 years. I keep two in a tank incase of a failure and undersize a little so they don't cook the tank if stuck on.

 

[LouH]

FWIW, I used to use a submersible "Stealth Heater" in my saltwater batch tank. The thing shorted one day, dumping some nasty smelling substances into the tank. I threw out all 45 gallons of salt water that I had in there. I sure would be frightened to have that happen in my tank. I use Jager heaters suspended in the corner of the tank so that the water level can't go above the high water mark that they provide.

My $0.02

 

[addicted2reefin]

rena smart heaters are pretty nice, also are the stealths, i have been itching to try out the new fluvals, that have an lcd with current tank temp, and a remote temp probe, with internal controller. seems pretty reliable, but who knows without testing them.

 

[Aqua Keepers]

I really do not trust any heater unless hooked up to some kind of controller (Ranco, Reefkeerp, Aquacontroller, etc) like Amoore311 mentioned. I just have had better luck with the Stealth Heaters.

LouH, that's the 1st time I have heard this with the Stealths. Most people love them. Sounds like you just got a bad one which can happen with any product.

 

[billgraf]

I prefer the stealth heater, I had to many glass one break on me

 

[LouH]

I agree that every product has the occasional defective piece make it out of the factory. It just happens. I may have had an anomaly with my unit.

I also use a controller to turn my heaters on and off. I wouldn't do it any other way.

LouH