Titanium Heaters

[scotz]

I will be ordering some new titanium heaters soon and was wondering what brands everyone is using ? There are two or three brands available and I was wondering what the pros and cons were ?

I have finally decided to chuck all my glass heaters as I just broke :-[ another one the other day.

Thanks

scotz

[Jeff]

Scotz,

I use Via Aqua heaters. I like them a lot, but have about 2% failure rate. I will continue to use and recomend these heaters even with the 2% failure rate.

Scotz, i also like the via aqua alot. I only had 4 of them, but they all worked great. They were dead on with the temps. 4 is to small to be sure of anything, but when i sold off my hatchery and only kept two tanks, i kept the titanium heaters.
HTH, Matt

[Aquatic_Design]

Scotz,
I also have ViaAqua. I like them more then any other brand of heaters I have used. All brands of heaters have some degree of failure. I have found so far the least problems with Via Aqua. I use both titanium and SS and run 10 of them for about a year.
HTH
Donna :)

[mench]

I just had my third viaaqua heater crap out....they are all less than 6 monthe old...sadly I got them on e-bay from a seller who is no longer around,so I have nowhere to return them.....from now on I will only buy electrical equipment from a proven store so at least I will have a receit to return the equipment to the manufacturer...The heaters are only warranteed by places like Big Al's for 60 days then you have to send them to the manufacturer..
On well my loss,right now I am not real happy with this brand of heater...

Mench

Won Brothers/Pro Heat for this gal.... No trouble as of yet...

Julz knocks on wood so hard her knuckles bleed..... :P

[Denny]

ron


francisco borrero has a thread on DAAH when it comes back up with the info on the via aqua heaters. they can be returned to commodity axis directly. if you need the info sooner contact him directly


hth

denny

[Aquarius]

I bought my first Via Aqua *** heater about a month ago. The LFS only had the 200 watt, and I have yet to order the 300, I like this heater so far. It is only 11" long for boththem wattages so it fits in the sump, and the temp prob can go into the tank.

The only problem so far is the fact that this little 200 watt heater is the only heater in my 125g tank ::) Though it seems to always be on(Guess I'm doing a "Burn In") yet it can keep the tank at a steady temp of 86 and the house is between 69-71

Not bad in my book!

-steve

[Denny]

steve

i had a 300 via aqua in my 125 and it, too was dead on and really put out the heat compared to the glass heaters. mine just up and quit one day but i also had a glass heater in there. that heater was too small to keep the heat where i wanted it but it did keep it warm enough for the fish to hang on until i could get another one in there.

it may be a good idea to put in another heater to take some of the load off and provide 2 heat sources in case one pukes out. hey, at least it isn't 30 below with 5 feet of snow out this year ;D


denny

[Aquarius]

Ya, i have a Ebo backup, but it was pulled and never put back in. I wonder if I'd be better off leaving the Ebo in the tank, and not a Titanium. Them Titanium heaters sure get hot IMO. Ever have problems with the Discus getting to close and getting burnt?

I never really worried about it with the glass heaters..but the Tianium sraces me a bit as I have felt how hot it is!.

PS. I have had good luck with the Ebo's, any one here if a design change is coming?

-steve

[Denny]

steve

if it were me i would put them both in there. even 500 watts is not too much in a tank that size. i never had a problem with burns personally.

my fish are organizing on me and demanding in floor heating ;D. i'll have to see what i can do lol

[Jason]

why not use an Ebo or simmilar heater with an external controller?

everyone is going crazy over these new titanium/stainless ones, there not proven and even though I've had two fail, I still have 16 that have been going strong for 10 years+++

and to add to that, metals in your discus tanks is a bad idea!
some european breeders of ultra sensitive wildcaught rainforrest fish prep all their water with metal removeing resins.

and you guys just wanna throw a metal tube in the tank??? ??? ??? ???

[Jeff]

Mench,

Commidy Axis is the importer/ Manufacturer of the Via Aquas. So far they are standing behind them and replacing them.

[Francisco_Borrero]

I hear you Mench.
I had one crap out just like yours, and they replaced without asking questions. I am currently using 2, and I am happy, but their 6 months are to be in March. We will see. This business if getting a decent heater is getting to be a pain.
Even with good customer service, if the heaters don't last...we are screwed.
Cheers, Francisco.

[allan_mark76]

I just picked up 3 more heaters today from Jeff at www.discusfarm.us.
Thanks Jeff.

A- :o

Scotz,
I only use the Via Aquas. They are worth the money.

HTH
Miles

[Jeff]

Francisco and Mench,

I have to say I do not believe a 2% failure rate is good. I'm very concerned about the failure rate. We all know how much the discus cost and what they mean to us. I have also used Jalli 800 w titanium heaters and had one go bad after about 2 weeks. I only have two its not fair to say a 50% failure rate on these, but it too will be a percentage of something. To me this is unexceptable, but I have tried 4 other brands of heaters and had worse results. So untill I find a better heater I'll stick with the Via Aquas.

[korbi_doc]

:bounce2: :bounce2: ViaAquas for me, love'm Dottie ;D

[Francisco_Borrero]

About the "2% failure rate"

I don't know who came up with this "statistic", but it is meaningless, and has the fallacy of all statistics: Statistics don't apply to the individual, only to populations.

This means that if I have a heater, and it croaks, as far as it concerns me, the failure rate is 100%. If I have one and is working, the potential failure rate is 50% : It will either croak or it won't.

As I said, I had 2 ViaAqua stainless 300watt in a 150gal. One croaked and it was replaced by the company. The old one is only 4 months old, the replacement about 1 month.

Cheers, Francisco.

[Denny]

all i know is i never had a single heater fail ever when i kept fish that did well in water lower than 80 degrees. since i have had discus i have had 4 different brands of heaters fail.

is anyone having heaters fail in their tanks with other cichlids or tropicals where the temp is kept closer to 78 degrees?

i also think it is important to consider that if we are overworking the heaters by not providing the right amount of wattage per gallon we are far more likely to cause them to fail. because if they are on all of the time they will naturally build up more internal heat and since all of their electronics are contained in the heater, it seems reasonable to me that they would be more prone to fail.

[Jeff]

Francisco,

You are correct. I have come up with the 2% failure rate based on the heaters I personally have and the heaters I have sold (totals over 70 Via Aquas) taking into account the ones that have failed. I'm keeping tract. I expect this number to rapidly increase as the heaters age. Most of these are only 4-5 months old. :)

[jeep]

FYI, Big Al's is providing free one year extended warranties, beyond the manufacturer warranty, on all electrical items. I think this includes heaters...