Aqueon Pro heaters

[Charlyc11]

Does everyone still recommend the Aqueon Pro heaters? I had multiple failures on my Fluval E300's. So now I am getting worried about the ones I have in my two 75 gallon tanks. Last week I had one fail off and by the time I got home my temperature had dropped to 79 F on my Marlboro discus tank (only two in there). OK cough it just at the danger zone no harm done so I took out the E300 and replaced it with a spare E300. I had ordered the E300 from Amazon and it gave me till Jan 31 to return so I did the return/replacement. When I got the new one I tested and I was not drawing any current per my power strip so that one was DOA. That same day the one in my aging tank died also so I did a return on both with no replacement just give me my money back. Now I in the hunt for alternatives and a two heater min for my INKBIRD controller.

[LizStreithorst]

The Aqueon is the only one I will buy from now on. I know that all heaters will fail eventually but none of my Aqueon's has failed yet.

[Charlyc11]

I ordered 2 x 200 watts Aqueon Pro (on sale for 29.99 at Amazon) to replace at least 1 of the E300 and I will keep that one as a spare. I will replace the second one if it fails or when I can put that in my budget. Good thing I have notification on my INKBIRD controller.

[Aquaman218]

I use the Eheim heaters almost exclusively. Some of mine are pretty old, from my original fish keeping days. I'm not sure if the newer ones are as good. I say "almost exclusively" because my new 120 gal tank has Oase Thermal filters with the built in heaters. I just wanted to keep everything out of the tank.

[Iminit]

Hard to find a good heater. It seems they all fail. Just put an aqueon pro 150 in a new 36g and it could only bring it up to 68. All I have left is finnex 300s so in went one of those. I have the finnex in most tanks. They’ve been good so far. Oldest 3yrs.

[LizStreithorst]

I loved the finnix at one time but mine all failed. I guess everyone has their own experience with heaters.

[Willie]

I use the Eheim heaters almost exclusively. Some of mine are pretty old, from my original fish keeping days. I'm not sure if the newer ones are as good. I say "almost exclusively" because my new 120 gal tank has Oase Thermal filters with the built in heaters. I just wanted to keep everything out of the tank.

I've found all heaters will eventually get stuck or die. I had a 25+ year green Ebo Jager cook 3 female Blue Diamonds two years ago, particularly galling because I had just ordered 2 males from Kenny.

I recommend getting new heaters, at least something manufactured this decade. In my experience, new heaters are much more reliable than old ones. Back in the 90's, I bought heaters in lots of 10. On average, 1 out of 3 did not work properly. That doesn't happens anymore.

[14Discus]

I loved the finnix at one time but mine all failed. I guess everyone has their own experience with heaters.

Knock on wood…….I still love, and am using, my Finnex Heaters on all three discus tanks. Back then, I bought extra ones for backup and have yet to need them

[Iminit]

Also a ink-bird should be used with your heaters. It will keep them from boiling your fish.

[Aquaman218]

I've found all heaters will eventually get stuck or die. I had a 25+ year green Ebo Jager cook 3 female Blue Diamonds two years ago, particularly galling because I had just ordered 2 males from Kenny.

I recommend getting new heaters, at least something manufactured this decade. In my experience, new heaters are much more reliable than old ones. Back in the 90's, I bought heaters in lots of 10. On average, 1 out of 3 did not work properly. That doesn't happens anymore.

In spite of liking my Ebo Jager heaters I don't take chances with them. They are connected to an Inkbird controllers. I have seen what can happen when one gets stuck.

Robert

[Charlyc11]

Also a ink-bird should be used with your heaters. It will keep them from boiling your fish.

Tom
I been using Inkbird now for a few months on my two 75 g tanks and the are great with the WIFI connection and notifications.
I have all connected to WIFI even my power strip so I can see power draw on all devices plugged in to the strip (filter, light. air pump) so I know they are on and working.

[14Discus]

Also a ink-bird should be used with your heaters. It will keep them from boiling your fish.

Yes…….putting one’s heaters on control units has merit indeed.
Interestingly…..my Inkbirds failed after a few months. Went with Blueline and all has been good.

[Charlyc11]

So far Inkbird controllers ok but they are only 3 months old and I can monitor with the phone. Hopefully they failed off for you.
Which p/n controller failed on? I got the Inkbird ITC-306A WiFi Temperature Controller with double probes.

[14Discus]

Thnx for your concern. I must say, however, that I don’t use my controllers to turn and off the heaters, but instead as a fail safe. The controller powers my heaters to work on their own until such a time that the water temp surpasses my controller set high temp. For example…..my controllers are set to provide power to the heaters ( on/off themselves) until one gets stuck on and starts to overheat the tank. At that time, the controller cuts power to heaters never allowing the temp to pass the set temp max. When the water temp falls below the set high, the controller again powers the heaters until max temp…..then off. When I check my tanks daily, I’ll notice this and take corrective action. Btw……each tank has a totally separate heater set to a minimal temp in case the regular heaters and controller fail. Because the extra heater is set to say 85 degrees, it will sit idle until my 87 degree water from the regular heaters/controller falls below 85. This way, I’m endeavoring to protect both too high and too low water temps. Also, although I’d like to, the heaters are in the main tank and not my sumps in case the pump to the sump should fail. If the sump pump did fail and the heaters were in the sump, the idle sump water sitting there would be heated while my tank cooled down below desired set temperature. I know this is a bit much, but my discus fish are worth the extra precautions…..imho.

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi @Charlyc11

I don't put a lot of faith in the Aqueon Pro series after viewing this on Dean's Fishroom FB page.
https://www.facebook.com/deansfishro...03902980306067

I have gone to using Fluval M series heaters and set my 75 gallon up with two heater in conjunction with an Inkbird ITC-306A controller for redundancy and alarms to my phone if high or low temps occur. -Roy