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kevin joseph
03-23-2011, 11:51 AM
i just moved to a new place and decided to upgrade my heaters i bought 5 200 watt jaggers. 3 did not work at all.1 came on sometimes and i dont trust enough to use and 1 seems to work fine. im going to use 4 of them for target practice for simple fact im not going through the hassel of sending them back.i have decided to buy my aquarium products that are electric from the lfs.(easier to return) i bought 1 aqueon pro 200 watt heater to try out befor i buy more.nice concept for a heater but turned up all the way it only reached 82 in a 29 gal.i would be happy with this brand of heater for my fish that dont need warmer temps but i wouldent use this brand of heater for my discus.it seems to work fine for the lower temps and is accurate but 80 on up it sucks.2 of my via aqua titanium heaters went out on me also recently.they were around 9 months old they held temp great and i liked that the dial was outside of the tank but they dident last very long and cost a bit more then most heaters.off to try another brand of heater.

jimg
03-23-2011, 01:38 PM
Try the sera's. temp don't go that high but so far the couple I am trying keep the temp exact

jball1125
03-23-2011, 01:58 PM
I have had pretty good luck with jager and surprisingly enough marineland. Sorry to hear your have had such rotten luck. Heaters are by far the most finicky part of our aquariums.

kevin joseph
03-23-2011, 02:04 PM
i have a sera in one of my tanks now and it works good. i have about 5 different brands of heaters.i made myself a discus room in my basement and i was moreless upgrading some of my older heaters and was thinking it would look a little nicer and more organized-simple having the same brand heater.my jagers never failed me but they have made some changes and they are not what they use to be.i put my old theo brand heaters back in the tanks and everything is back on track.no fish were harmed by faulty heaters this time.i think i may put my target practice on youtube to show my disgust for jager heaters though.lol only 1out of 5 new heaters worked. thats not good at all. i live about a mile from a online aquarium supplie store called pet solutions that has theos on sale im going to see if i can pick them up in person.

fish nut
03-23-2011, 09:46 PM
You live by Petsolutions! Wow, that is great. If I were you, I would go there every weekend:)
I just got a shipment from them last week. Their price have been increasing.

I used nothing but the visitherm and stealth heater and they don't last too long for me. I have about 12-15 broken heaters that is lying around because I am too lazy to send them back for replacement.

So I am trying a new heater. I just purchase the 800 watt JBJ heater with the controller. I hope this one last long enought to get my money worth.

kevin joseph
03-24-2011, 12:05 PM
yeah its weird.pet solutions owns all the jacks aquariums in the area if i can pick it up at the warehouse and get it for online price i can get the stuff for about half the cost then buying it at one of there retail stores. they dont sell discus at there retail stores but they have a nice little discus set up at the warehouse.they sell hans fish.i have a selection of stedker fish a mile from me but there retail prices suck on discus so if i want his fish its still cheaper to order from him directly. the thermo heaters are around $20 online and they sell them for $38 at there stores.i wonder if they would just let me in the warehouse to go shopping? lol worth a try

JEB
03-24-2011, 04:24 PM
I bought 2 Seras after reading good things about them. They failed to heat water above 78 degrees Fahrenheit even though the tanks were smaller than the heater ratings called for. I replaced them with ViaAquas for half the price and they are very accurate so far ( 3mos)

mikel
03-25-2011, 05:56 AM
Have you tried calibrating your jagers? Place your heater in the tank for 10 minutes, find the exact digital reading of your water in the tank (use a digital thermometer), take out your heater, pull up the red cap or the small nub at the top with a tweezer, then turn the dial to meet the little arrow at the temp of the water, then push down the red cap or small nub, then turn the dial again to your desired temp, place in the tank fully submerged and plugged in, and leave it for a day and check the temp. Dont fuss with it and it shoudl work. mike

DiscusLoverJeff
03-25-2011, 07:45 AM
Had 3 Hydor THEO Heater 300 Watt go bad in 4 months. LFS said it was my power supply. After spending $30.00 on a new one, the same thing happened to 2 more heaters. Was it really my power supply??

Northwoods Discus
03-25-2011, 09:22 AM
Fish Nut
I think you are going to love that JBJ I have 2 and they are expensive but the digital readout on the external controller is great. No issues so far. Owned over a year now.

kevin joseph
03-25-2011, 11:35 AM
yeah i tried calibrating the jaggers the new style doesent have a pin like the old ones you just turn the red dile to the temp then turn the degree knob to the desired temp.3 did not work at all.as in nothing!1 i thought was working and the next morning the water was cold.and the other one works perfect.i have2 of the newer style jags in my 90 gal that i have had for 5-6 months and they seem to work fine. i have some theos that have been working good for me so i think im going to stick with that brand.i hope they dont change them to.the aqueon pro is kind of cool cause it will tell you thats its not working rite from the get when the desired temp is reached the light turns green.green light came on but it was way off.lol

vss
03-25-2011, 05:52 PM
I had two Sera 300W as well after reading the good comments, but neither could go beyond 83 F. Then I switched to the Finnex digital 300 W, and they work very well by far. Even for 93 F water temp, it can be maintained very stable and accurately.

Xiaofei :)

rev2eight
03-25-2011, 06:59 PM
I hate the new Jager designs. I tried lowering the temp after having calibrated the red arrow perfectly and when i turn the blue knob, the red arrow moves along with it making me have to recalibrate it again. :mad:

TURQ64
03-25-2011, 07:13 PM
Well, I guess I'm living on the edge...seven new Jager's earlier this year, and two more from KensFish today..all 300w's...I'll hope for the best...Trying one of the newer Finnex 500w with outside controls in one of my sumps..so far, so good, but it's hardly been a month....I grew up with just an 'arrow', no calibrations, so it doesn't matter what it says to me, as long as it's stable to a thermometer..

hedut
03-26-2011, 08:06 AM
well I consider you still lucky :), my visitherm heater was over heat to 110F ,I put them at 86F and my pair died :(

JEB
03-29-2011, 09:39 PM
I have been having very good luck with the Finnex glass 300 heaters as well but interestingly enough, the ViaAquas have also been very accurate at less than half the price. Visitherm stealths work well if you are interested in blowing up your tank. LOL- SAD BUT TRUE

jimmyjoe
04-09-2011, 10:33 AM
Since all this talk on heaters I thought maybe I could ask a question regarding my Titanium heater I got awhile back. It's not working and was wondering if it's the heater or the control unit. I had it in my wet/dry filter for a bit before it died, the light still works on the control unit to show me it's alive but I just don't know if I shoud spring for another heater or the whole shebang again... Jim

Jhhnn
04-13-2011, 09:17 PM
Since all this talk on heaters I thought maybe I could ask a question regarding my Titanium heater I got awhile back. It's not working and was wondering if it's the heater or the control unit. I had it in my wet/dry filter for a bit before it died, the light still works on the control unit to show me it's alive but I just don't know if I shoud spring for another heater or the whole shebang again... Jim

You need to open up the control unit, if it's not glued together, and check the resistance thru the heater element with a meter. Open circuit= bad element. Resistance too low= bad element, likely damaged controller. A 300Watt element, for example, should have ~45 ohms resistance, give or take, from this handy calculator-

http://www.the12volt.com/ohm/ohmslawcalculators.asp

Your controller may have an internal fuse, so look for one...

You can also cut the cord between the element and the controller (leave a foot or so sticking out of the controller) & measure the voltage from the controller & the resistance thru the element independently.

Decent multimeters are extremely inexpensive & handy to have. Just an example-

http://www.amazon.com/Equus-3320-Auto-Ranging-Digital-Multimeter/dp/B000EVYGZA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1302743395&sr=8-2

If the controller is good, then a female plug can be installed, and a variety of elements used as replacement, including a regular aquarium heater.

People who aren't good with tools would probably just do well to discard anything electrical that doesn't work, buy new.

Chipper jones
08-02-2011, 11:59 PM
Finnex titanium heaters. Buy one you will be happy

DiscusLoverJeff
08-03-2011, 02:53 PM
I think all heaters to some degree have flaws in their design. I have gone through 5 different brands myself in the past year and each brand had its pro's and con's. From my experience though, find one that has a great warranty and return policy. I had Hydro Theo heaters as mentioned in this thread and the good news was, they have lifetime warranty. Bought them from the local fish store, when one went out, just exchanged for another. The only ones I had real bad luck hold temp was the Fluvals. Set it at 84 and it barely made 78.

Heaters seem to be the one thing all aquarians can say they go through the most.

Luvewithkindness
08-05-2011, 12:09 AM
The best heaters that I have had good luck with a cheap eBay heaters 200 watts like $7 with shipping from china . I ordered 6 over a year ago and works awesome I ordered another 8 last month and tested them all out all worked great . Never had any issues with any of them they are in all my tanks 4 55gal 3 20gal 2 30gal and 2 10gal .

Craigmax
04-09-2012, 11:14 PM
Good thread to read as i had an Aqueon 400watts fail at 32 days. Luve do you have a link?