Best submersible heaters?

[aldiaz33]

I bought a jager because I read about people having them for 20 plus years on here... guess they don't make em the same anymore. I like the design its solid, simple, basic, and dynamic(because you can calibrate it). At the end of the day it has to work though and not shock your fish. A 50 percent failure rate is not acceptable to me. I hope I have a better experience with these new heaters.

I bought (6) 300W Jagers a week ago and they are definitely not the same quality that they used to be. I remember the older models feeling very solid...these new one's appear to be made out of thinner glass (although still thicker than most other heaters out there) and the plastic control knobs also feel cheaper. As others have mentioned, I don't think there is a clear cut "best" heater out there right now, but I think Eheim is still better than most.

This brings up a good point. We're probably lucky the stealth pro was a marineland product and not eheim. Eheim probably still have gotten back to anyone on the heater issue from what you hear about their customer service. Based on customer service everyone should probably buy from aqueon and marineland.

Eheim customer service is pretty slow, but I had a 2073 (Pro 3 G90) leak on me and they sent me a new pump head no questions asked. Granted, it took them several weeks to even acknowledge my initial e-mail, but they stood behind their product.

 

[aaronb]

I'm not sure what your point is.

I was saying that aqueon and marineland have good customer service, so if you have a problem they're more likely to take care of it for you. If everyone took every heater that quit on them you'd have a big pile of heaters from every brand. If you're going to say something negative about every heater anyone brings up I'm afraid nobody here has anything for you.

 

[oneyedfish]

I have had a pair of Marineland Stealth heaters for going on 3 years now. They have yet to let me down. (until I post this of course!) LOL

 

[aldiaz33]

You know about the recall and you are still running Stealth heaters? I would return those ASAP. I believe petsmart and other large retail pet stores are still allowing you to trade them in.

Do a google image seach for Marineland Stealth Heater Damage.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

I'm not sure what your point is.

I was saying that aqueon and marineland have good customer service, so if you have a problem they're more likely to take care of it for you. If everyone took every heater that quit on them you'd have a big pile of heaters from every brand. If you're going to say something negative about every heater anyone brings up I'm afraid nobody here has anything for you.

I wasn't trying to shoot down your recommendation just say I have around 20 of those heaters and 5 or 6 of them are busted and not old. I've had SO many bad heater experiences and I'm looking for a trade secret or something, lol. What are the magic heaters other people have that don't electrocute, cook, freeze, or poison their fish. I've basically used every typical retail brand and had every one fail in some form or another. As I launch into a fish business I don't buy one of anything but 10-20-30 or something. I want to inform my purchases as much as possible as uniformity in hardware is good for me, as is reliability.

I look around on the internet and no there are lots more heater brands than I've ever seen, jager heaters are never stocked at any of my LFS, so I tried those per recommendation. No hard feelings but as I scale up my purchases I really value the aggregate experience of the internet. I'm not trying to discount your positive experience just that I've had the opposite experience not trying to be offensive sorry.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

You know about the recall and you are still running Stealth heaters? I would return those ASAP. I believe petsmart and other large retail pet stores are still allowing you to trade them in.

Do a google image seach for Marineland Stealth Heater Damage.

ok time to start planning replacing all those heaters then. lol

 

[aldiaz33]

I have had a pair of Marineland Stealth heaters for going on 3 years now. They have yet to let me down. (until I post this of course!) LOL

ok time to start planning replacing all those heaters then. lol

Not sure if you are teasing because you already know about the recall (it was pretty well publicized) or if you really didn't know about it, but here's the official word...Check out this link to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11202.html

I just checked my 200W Eheim Jager heater that I bought 2 years ago and it has condensation inside the glass tube. All bad. On a saltwater forum I read that a guy changes his heaters out every year because of the high failure rate that seems to plague most heaters after 1 or 2 years of service. He justified it by saying that he has so much money invested in his livestock that spending $50 to $100 per year on new heaters is a small expense. Something to consider.

 

[debisbooked]

I use the Marineland submersible visa-therm for my 75 g with no problems.

 

[kamikaziechameleon]

Not sure if you are teasing because you already know about the recall (it was pretty well publicized) or if you really didn't know about it, but here's the official word...Check out this link to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission: http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml11/11202.html

I just checked my 200W Eheim Jager heater that I bought 2 years ago and it has condensation inside the glass tube. All bad. On a saltwater forum I read that a guy changes his heaters out every year because of the high failure rate that seems to plague most heaters after 1 or 2 years of service. He justified it by saying that he has so much money invested in his livestock that spending $50 to $100 per year on new heaters is a small expense. Something to consider.

I had no idea because prior to a couple months ago I didn't have stealth heaters and didn't care to commit such news to memmory. thanks for the heads up.

I can't ever afford to replace products in such a fashion. Typically bogus heaters fail for me between the 6 and 18 month mark, not replacing heaters every 6 months that is just not reasonable. I've personally known friends to pursue legal actions against heater companies for faulty products, and I hate to resort to such measures but it seems to be an endemic issue for consumers when it seems that every other product on the market is failing with no real repercussions. Its a sad state, my mom used the same heater for almost 30 years. I haven't had a heater for more than 4.

 

[aldiaz33]

I had no idea because prior to a couple months ago I didn't have stealth heaters and didn't care to commit such news to memmory. thanks for the heads up.

I can't ever afford to replace products in such a fashion. Typically bogus heaters fail for me between the 6 and 18 month mark, not replacing heaters every 6 months that is just not reasonable. I've personally known friends to pursue legal actions against heater companies for faulty products, and I hate to resort to such measures but it seems to be an endemic issue for consumers when it seems that every other product on the market is failing with no real repercussions. Its a sad state, my mom used the same heater for almost 30 years. I haven't had a heater for more than 4.

I hear you man...they don't make stuff like they used to. I've found that the stuff made for the aquarium hobby is typically cheap/poorly made. If you look to other industries that have similar needs, you can find higher quality products, but typically that comes at a premium. For example, Medo air pumps are used in the medical industry so you know they are reliable air pumps, but they come at a premium (read expensive). In regards to heaters it's tough because the applications where electric heat is required typically are high wattage. I came across this site looking for heaters and I am willing to bet you can get many years out of these, but they will cost you a pretty penny:

http://www.process-technology.com/processtechnol/aquaculture.htm

http://www.ptsmartone.com/SmartOneProducts.html

Looks like the smallest they make is 1,000W which is a lot more than most in our hobby would need.