Tapping collective wisdom: Best aquarium Heaters

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Forgot to mention that I have cross checked the temperature with a glass thermometer, digital, and my infrared thermometer. It's within 1 degree.

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joeypaul said:
Forgot to mention that I have cross checked the temperature with a glass thermometer, digital, and my infrared thermometer. It's within 1 degree.

Sent from my LG-MS770 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
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Very nice accuracy!

I run two FX5's so I'm a fan of the brand, but I'm always a little leary of the first gen of a product & I've read some mixed reviews. From what it sounds though, like they're worth a second look.

Thanks
 
I have 5 fluval e200 and 3 fluval e300 heaters between my tanks (58gal, 90gal, 100gal, 135gal, 225gal) No problems yet, pretty accurate temp, and very easy to set the temps. Heaters do need to be near constant flow to avoid low flow mode.
 
aldiaz33 said:
Get the best of both worlds...Eheim heaters on a Ranco ETC Temperature Controller (Rebranded by Jehmco and prewired/ready to use here: http://www.jehmco.com/html/temperature_controller.html).

Those aquarium temp controllers are a joke; cheap pieces of junk. The Ranco's are used for all sorts of industrial applications; they have a solid track record (read, reliable).
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Agree 100%. Regardless of heater brand, the most likely point of failure is likely to be the dinky thermostat that most of them have. Use a legit temperature controller like a Ranco or a Johnsons Controls unit and you get around that problem.

I wired up my own Ranco ETC 11100 (available on Amazon for less than $50) to a power strip and use that to power dual 200W heaters on my 150. I set the thermostat on the heaters a couple of degrees warmer than the controller as an extra failsafe, but that way the heater thermostat almost never has to go on so it's not getting worn out and progressing to eventual failure. My heaters are in my sump so I just went with cheap Aquatop heaters and didn't bother with titanium or anything like that.

Don't waste your money on expensive heaters - invest it instead in a good Ranco temp controller which will do a better job over the long term.
 
if you run canisters or sump id highly recomend hydor eth inline heaters. they make 200 and 300w.

had a bad experience with jbj trutemp 1000w heater and controller. the probe kept going bad and they wouldnt do anything about it and after a year the whole unit was junk($200)
 
brich999 said:
if you run canisters or sump id highly recomend hydor eth inline heaters. they make 200 and 300w.

had a bad experience with jbj trutemp 1000w heater and controller. the probe kept going bad and they wouldnt do anything about it and after a year the whole unit was junk($200)
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I love the idea of getting the heaters out of the tank as I've gone to some effort to make the tank as natural looking as possible. I even called Hydor about the viability of installing an inline on my 2 FX5's. The rep said it could be done, but the reduction of the hose diameter (1in I.D. to 5/8 I.D) would create enough back pressure to reduce flow and shorten the life the filter.

I know people have done it, but I'd need at least one heater on each filter and I don't want to risk it.

My UV filter is on a separate loop. The rep crunched numbers and said I'd need 3 or 4 of the inline 300 watt heaters running in tandem to ensure stable temp. I want to use at least two heaters, but daisychaining 4 heaters together sounds like a really bad idea

I looked at the Lifeguard Aquatics heater module as an alternative but there are enough bad reviews out there (albeit older models) about leaks and other poor construction issues that make me hesitate.


* A friend gave me two used BlueLine Biotherm heaters a few days ago, but everyone I've talked to said they were notorious fish killers.
 
IMO. If your using the fluvial E Heater
you just wasted your money. I've gone through 4 of these units and none of them worked correctly from day one out of the box. They sure have a pretty display, but that's all. The temp would turn blue ( too cold) and still not turn on.
Customer service did nothing.

Now I'm using the aqua temp controller with 2 300 w heaters and all is good.

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maxxxx said:
* A friend gave me two used BlueLine Biotherm heaters a few days ago, but everyone I've talked to said they were notorious fish killers.
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Mispoke, my friend gave me two BlueLine Biotherm Temperature Controllers as well as the heating unit's.

Sorry about that
 
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