Help - Heater Malfunction?

Hi guys,

I have a theo hydor 300w in my flowerhorns tank. I usually like to keep the tank around 83-84, I found this works best for flowerhorns. Before anyone disputes that I have raised my thai silk from 1in to 8in at this temp. Anyways, I noticed my tank temp is up to 88 even though my heater is set at 76! Now I know these hydors usually run hotter than the what you set the dial for, but what the heck! The light on the heater was not currently on when I checked it, so I know that its stuck-on per say. Ive had a problem with smaller hydor before that put the temp on a different tank up to 90! I thought it was a one-time thing. Anyone else have a issue with these heaters or any suggestions? PS- my flowerhorn is not showing any signs of distress at the time, but I want to bring the temp down to 83 before he does.

Thank you!

LukeOscar said:

From my experience all heaters can and will eventually fall out of calibration. Best to turn it all the way down and constantly monitor it and see what setting equals what temperature in reality. That's if you can't buy a new one.

Personally I threw all my eheim Jaggers away and went with hydor heaters and have had way better luck. People can preach what they like but dismantle a hydor and dismantle a Jagger like I did. You will make the change quickly. The thermostats is all these heaters are just cheaply massed produced from China anyhow

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

Click to expand...

How frustrating! I was thinking of switching to jagers to see if those were better.

Sent from my SM-G386T using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

LukeOscar said:

Jagger has a coil running through a glass tube. A lot of this coil sits free air and isn't even touching the outer glass case. So your only getting an air heat transfer. That's horribly inefficient.

Hydor depending on Model is either a pad stuck to the inside of the case. Or a liquid inside used to transfer heat. In either case both are much more effective at transferring the heat then the Jaggers design.

Now the Jaggers could be more reliable. It will take a few years for me to say that with experience. But as far as how much water your heating per watt. Eheim Jaggers are horribly inefficient by design.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

Click to expand...

There's gotta be some brand out there for reliable heaters with as large as the hobby is

Sent from my SM-G386T using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

xraycer said:

OP, either ditch that heater or hook it up to a controller. Personally, I would ditch it and get 2 smaller wattage heaters and hooked both to a single heat controller

Click to expand...

I've only used these kind of heaters, escuse my ignorance but what is a straight heatet? And what brand of smaller wattage heaters?

Sent from my SM-G386T using MonsterAquariaNetwork App