whats the best reef heater nowaday's

[Drae]

Titanium heating prong without a thermostat on a controller (rkl or apex or better) hands down. Fail proof.

 

[don_chuwish]

Aqueon Pro on an Apex controlled outlet. If it fails 'on' the Apex will turn it off. If the Apex goes wonky in some unexpected way, the heater isn't set high enough to do any harm.

- D

 

[MedRed]

I moved passed Jager's and onto Cobalt Neo Therms. The tech level and features are higher and I couldn't find a single instance of someone saying one had failed.

 

[Drae]

With a heating prong IT WILL NEVER FAIL! There's no on/off switch to get stuck. Period. Your controller would have to fail. .. very rare. Even a simple rkl Does a great job at controlling one. They simply act as the thermostat. Get a good temp probe and your done.

 

[sslak]

Nothing but Jager.

 

[Drae]

I've had a jager fail. It didnt get stuck but it went out.

 

[Jstdv8]

My jaegers seem to loose their heating power after a couple years. Don't get as hot as they used to.
I now have soe jeagers in small tanks and one 800w titanium finnex on external controller in my main sump.

 

[ptreef]

the new ebo jagers seem very nice. But with any heater get something to control it!

 

[bravanc]

Finnex titanium on Apex

 

[jaa1456]

With a heating prong IT WILL NEVER FAIL! There's no on/off switch to get stuck. Period. Your controller would have to fail. .. very rare. Even a simple rkl Does a great job at controlling one. They simply act as the thermostat. Get a good temp probe and your done.

Yea I had one fail, those heaters with prongs do fail. Lost a 265 gallon tank to one. You have to check the probes as well, they will rot where the wire meets the water surface.

 

[blazzing_ray]

my 4th marienland just did as every one else said light and no heat

 

[meisel1]

aqueon pro...no issues EVER....damn near indestructable and accurate heat.

 

[Bpb]

My mag 5 is an excellent heater lol...but to make up the small 1-2 degree difference on my 60 gallon total water volume I keep a 75 watt jäger heater in the sump. It's undersized but only turns on here and there at night. Lights and return pump keep the water plenty warm. We keep the house at 74 and my tank stays at 80. I have an extra 150 watt laying around if I needed it.

The new cobalt heaters look really nice, they come with an external controller and have solid state heating with no moving parts. They claim they will never stick. If I were in the market I may spring for one of those

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Jagers are good. Visi-therms used to be okay but now they are crap.

Either way, I would always have it plugged into a secondary controller as a backup, something like a reefkeeper, apex, or ranco. Its pretty unlikely for two separate thermostats to break. I also replace my heaters every few years even if they are in working order just as preventative maintenance. Heaters are cheap and you can always find someone local willing to buy a used heater locally for a few bucks to help cover part of the cost of a new one.