Which heater do you use?

[Maximus]

Hey guys, just wanted to see which heater you use and the wattage? I have been using a Cobalt Neotherm heater for the past 5 months now but have read about a few failures on them. The Neotherms have been cracking and splitting and releasing some sort of black eppxy and smoke into the water. It might be time to get a new heater.

 

[greengeco82]

I have been using the eheim heaters and hydor. The eheim are okay, in my opinion. They have been holding a temp that varies about 3 degrees. They are very long. I needed another heater for my other tank and got a hydor 300watt. I dont like it much. It does hold a temp nicely, but it is short and all 300 watts is packed into a small space. This causes the water to actually boil. You can see the bubbles form on the glass. I evaporate a lot of water in that tank.

 

[JUNBUG361]

Been using fluval 300 watt. It has a nice slim look to it

 

[Psionicdragon]

jaeger

 

[ikanayam]

jaeger also...although I like the old jaeger better.

 

[Dapg8gt]

jaeger also...although I like the old jaeger better.

Ditto. I've been using Jaeger heaters since '99..i have one I just retired to my mixing bin that's about 10years old at least.

I also have a hydor in my frag tank due to space and it's been good for a while without any sorta controller fwiw.

I actually went on last night researching this heaters for my Dt to save some space and saw that thread. I can't believe they haven't recalled them. It's showing up in more than the 200w ones. I'm guessing they are all going to have the same issues as they are all just about exactly the same except size.. I smell trouble for cobalt

 

[toky916]

My jaeger burnt out after 1 year and 3 mounts I was kinda angry but got the same one if I run into any other issue.
Will switch brands we will see.

 

[Maximus]

I've ran Jaeger and Finnex titanium heaters in the past. I know Jaeger heaters are solid but in the back of my mind, I am always thinking about explosions and metal substances leaking from it. Which type of heaters do you think would be more prone to cause a catastrophe, a broken glass or a broken titanium heater?

 

[Dapg8gt]

I haven't heard of too many failures with the titanium ones but they all can fail imo. It's up to you which type of failure your willing to deal with. Regardless I feel a temperature control should be used.. But then you have the chance of that failing also lol.

I had a Penplax (I think) glass heater shatter in my old nano cube and surprisingly didn't kill the livestock or coral. I actually still have some of those rocks and sand in my system's so it's not always a catastrophe . One person in winecountry had the top blow off his titanium heater. I've also seen ones that have cracked down the side or stuck on and melted the sump..

So I think it comes down to whatever your comfortable with.. I haven't had any problems with my eheim jaeger yet (knock on wood) ebo jaeger were by far some of the best I'm so I'm hoping these will be of the same caliber..

 

[Maximus]

Good points, Dap. I think I'm leaning toward the titanium one because if it does malfunction, it shouldn't explode and leak metals into the tank.

 

[spoon671]

ViaAqua Titanium 200w. :thumbup:

 

[Maximus]

ViaAqua Titanium 200w. :thumbup:

This is what I'm leaning toward. How do you like it so far? How long have you had it? Does the temp readout seem accurate?

 

[Reefer54]

finnex titanium. 2x 300w 1x 500w

 

[spoon671]

This is what I'm leaning toward. How do you like it so far? How long have you had it? Does the temp readout seem accurate?

The readout is accurate. The little controller doohickey is okay..I'm relying on it until I get my controller. I'm not at all worried about this heater for a couple reasons; I don't have any livestock as I am cycling, and the heater itself feels heavy, made of very sturdy components it seems. It has rubber bumpers at the bottom and top..it feels pretty industrial, save for the doohickey which feels chinsy but works.

I like this heater so far. I want to say when I had my last tank prior to leaving the hobby years ago, I also had a ViaAqua heater. That one was glass though, had a dial up top (which I never completely submerged) and I had the plastic cage protecting it. That heater lasted for at least 5 years IIRC. Tank never crashed. This was back when only ballers could afford Reefkeepers.

 

[orientalexpress]

This is what I'm leaning toward. How do you like it so far? How long have you had it? Does the temp readout seem accurate?

get a ranco controller to controller the heaters,i wouldn't trust the apex controller or the onboard controller on the heater,they're alway off by 2 to 4 degree :eek1:,That a Huge different .I'm using jaeger currently.good luck bud

 

[spoon671]

get a ranco controller to controller the heaters,i wouldn't trust the apex controller or the onboard controller on the heater,they're alway off by 2 to 4 degree :eek1:,That a Huge different .I'm using jaeger currently.good luck bud

Very interesting..I'll have to check this out.

 

[pcfish]

Eheim truetemp 300W heater for a year now with no issues.

 

[arc eye]

I use a finnex titanium 300w heater element controlled by my apex on the main tank. I may get a second temp probe for extra protection.

For quarantine I use digital finnex titanium heaters, but wouldn't trust them for display use.

I do not trust glass heaters at all. Everyone I've has been way off or leaked rather quickly.

 

[scuzy]

EBO that were pre Eheim were the best quality heaters bar non.

 

[NanoClown]

I use the Hydor Theo 25/50w in both of my pico aquariums. Ive had them for years without a problem and Ill probably continue to use Hydor heaters as a result of the good experiences with them.