EBO HEATERS

[CHEWAL]

I JUST WANT TO SHARE THIS WITH DISCUS PEOPLE I WILL TELL YOU FROM MY 15 PLUS YEARS WITH DISCUS THAT WE ARE ALL OBSESSED WITH CHANGING WATER LIKE I ALWAYS SAY THERE IS ONLY ONE THING NUTTIER THAN A DISCUS AND THAT ARE PEOPLE THAT KEEP THEM BUT THE REASON FOR THIS POST IS THE 200 WATT EBO HEATERS AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT HAS A PROBLEM WITH THEM I PURCHASED 5 NEW ONES THIS MONTH {OCT} AND NONE OF THEM HOHD THE TEMP WHEN I SET THEM TP 84 THE TEMP IS FLUCTUATING FROM 79 TO 89 NO WONDER MY DISCUS ARE NOT FEELING UP TO PAR HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS PROBLEM I AM THINKING OF SWITCHING TO VISITHERM HEATERS ANY COMMENTS

[Willie]

Lots of people have had problems with new Ebos. There has been a number of threads. You can do a search to find out more.

Willie

[Denny]

i am switching to the via aqua titanium heaters and have found them very good as long as you keep them under the water level during w/c

my lfs has them for $24 for a 300w heater w/ my club discount

denny

[oodi]

Hi Chewal,

We've been using the Visitherms with no problems. If you are in the U.S. or Canada, Big Al's has the lowest prices I've found.

HTH

Judi
:)

[fcdiscus]

Very strange about Ebos! I have purchased about 20 different wattage in the past 6 months. I had to return two to Big Al's for replacements. A 250 and a 100 tat did not come close to holding the temp. Even the 250's I still have need to be set at 87 to keep my water at 83. The 200 have been ok so far, and the 100's are pretty good, but nothing like the old ones. I still have some old green ones that seem indestructible. As of this moment, I would try another brand next time I purchase. Frank

[Paul]

This Ebo problem has got me wondering whether someone is looking out for me. I have bought approximately 6-7 Ebos over the last 6 months. Purchases have been online from two sources. They have been both 150 and 200 watt heaters. I can honestly say that all have been tested and work reasonably well. Temp settings on some may be off by 1-2 degrees. All will heat up to 93-95 degrees if set to. These are all of the new type. I also continue to see these very same heaters in many of the tanks pictured here on the forum. As stated above, please refer to the email posted before on this subject. Also, do test them and watch them carefully for several days to confirm everything is okay. I strongly advise you to buy them in a wattage that won't cook your fish should something go wrong.

Paul

[RichieE]

Ten of my friends have pace makers. Five work fine. Three work sometimes and two of my friends are dead. Someone at EBO should do a search. Rich

[hunterbeav]

I'v got several Visi-therms 300 watt, and 200 watt types and have had them for 8 mths with no problems. :)

[brwi]

Until I started reading here again, I thought I had a "unique" problem with Ebo's. Not any more. I have had three go dead in the last year and have better results out of PetSmart's own brand than Ebo's.

I'll not buy another Ebo until they get a few years of reliability under them again(they used to be the premium heater out there) because right now they are unreliable at best, and perform poorly.

Brad

[1bigfish]

I've used the Visi-therm heaters for years, no problems. The new style Visi-therms are very nice and extremely accurate. Steve

[Rick_May]

well heres a story,
this week end I noticed two fish in two tanks had some stringy white poo so, in the first tank a 55 with a ebo 250 I reach in to the water change the them to as high as it would go (93) driping water all over the place. the other a 75 with a single via aqua 250 simply reached under the tank and turned the dial up to 93 and close the cabinet. the next day the ebo tank hadn't not changed the temp my a single degree! the larger tank with the via aqua was a tosty 93.4. I went and searched through my fish junk and found a 15 year old green ebo put it in the tank and began the wait. the 15 year old ebo has brought the temp up to 93 after a few dial adjustments and driping water all over the place. so these are the points that I learned.

1. the new ebo's are junk. the ebo I had in the 55 is stuck at 83 I can turn the dial but it doesn't change where it will heat to.

2. the older ebo's are more reliable. the green ebo I put in the tank hadn't been used for two years but it worked like a champ.

3. I'm ordering Via aquas for the all of my tanks today. I kept a close eye on the tempture in my tank because its so high and the via aqua kept it at a stedy 93.4 for the past three days. even the ebo's would flux one to two tenths of a degree.

[rfidiscus]

I would have to say ditto to ricks comments. The new ebos are not to reliable. The old ones can be dropped from 3 feet onto concrete and still work great( don't try this at home) The Visi therms and the tronics both seem to hold temps fairly well... the glass is pretty weak however.

[Jeff]

I have recently started using the ViaAqua heaters and found them to be great. I'm now in the process of switching all my tanks to them.

[BLUEKNIGHT]

yes the old ebos work better than the new ones the ones some work some dont i am using the new titanium heaters.

[Smokey]

I have to agree. My old 250W Ebo's are still alive and working well.

The two new 250W Ebo's - still need some fine tuning..
However - I do notice the room temperature affects the 100 G. tanks' temp.

Winter is here - so windows are closed and the room temperature is a bit warmer [72F]. The tank temp has risen to 92F, as compared to the 89F, before.

Wow - these new ebos sure are easy to adjust. Time will tell, if they are as good as my old 250 w's.

Smokey

[limige]

do a search for ebo's in the general section, you'll see the topic has been beat to death and come close to being locked with how unhappy people have become with the newest line.

go with visotherms or won brothers titanium pro heat's
these seem to work well, viso makes a decent titanium too i believe.

not real thrilled with jalli's, hard to get a good one, hmmm did ebo and jalli merge..? lol

[brewmaster15]

next fish room I build... I am heating the room ...not the tanks! :)


-al

[RichieE]

This origional post started November of 2002 and was picked up again November 2003. One year later Ebo still has a problem. Whats up with that? Rich

[Mr. Limpet]

Al, you are still going to need heaters for tanks that need to go above room temp for treatment and such. I'm betting they won't be EBO's. Paul.

[Paulio]

next fish room I build... I am heating the room ...not the tanks! :)


-al


I heard that!

I've seen threads on all the forums in the last little while about many of the heaters mentioned here(other than ebos) failing also...now what?? switch to yet another brand of heaters that are new enough to not have many reports of failure?? ::)
I'm sticking with ebos...I monitor the temp. in my tanks on a regular basis, and if the temp is not reading what it should, at least with ebos i know how to open them and recalibrate them...I have no problem reaching temps of 90-92 degrees with most of my ebos..
david

[limige]

hmm 84-86 degrees is alittle uncomfortable don't you think?

[daninthesand]

I must be lucky too. I currently have 14 x 200 watt newer type ebos running and i have yet to have any major problems with them. Some are almost two years old now. I did have to recalibrate a couple or three, but i'm happy with the performance I'm getting for a such a low tech, cheap device. It ain't rocket science to build one of these heaters. For the price I can't complain.

I also have about 8 tronics and they are fine too. And visitherms, 4 of those. All seem to work pretty much like they are supposed to. (they are not perfect, but work without killing any fish.)

I don't doubt that some people are having problems with them. I'm just lucky i guess. :-\

Daniel