Hydor Theo 400 watt heater

[back 2 discus biz]

I bought this Dec 2006 and the temp adjust dial froze Oct 2007. I called the U.S. division of the company and had a brief conversation with their representative. He was very nice and asked me to mail it to them with a copy of the receipt. The box with the new replacement just came in with no questions asked. That's the way to do business.

[mikesmac]

I have a number of the Hydor Theos, I bought a bunch when my local LFS started carrying them.... from 100 watts to 400 watts....NONE of them will hold a consistant temperature. ALL of them will over heat the tank they are in if given the chance so I now will only use them with a separate controller, or for heating up tanks that are way oversized for the wattage ( I have a single 300 watt one set at 80 degrees that keeps my 600 gallon tank at 86 with the ambient temp of my basement in the low to mid 70's), and my reservoir/aging tanks which, even those I have to watch or else I'll have to wait for the temp to drop back down from the high 90's, no matter what temp they are "set" at. They do work good for heating up my reservoirs fast though....but you should see my electric meter spin.

Mike

[back 2 discus biz]

Hey Mike,

I've got the new Theo in storage as a backup in case my Rena Excel 300 fails. So, glad to know I will need to keep a sharp eye out if it goes in the tank. I used the old Theo for African Ciclids, which never seemed to care about conditions, but it never boiled them either!

Thanks again,

Paul

[jack396]

Hey Mike,

I've got the new Theo in storage as a backup in case my Rena Excel 300 fails. So, glad to know I will need to keep a sharp eye out if it goes in the tank. I used the old Theo for African Ciclids, which never seemed to care about conditions, but it never boiled them either!

Thanks again,

Paul

The difference between a Theo and a Rena is the difference between a Yugo and a Mercedes. If you do not have a controller to plug the Theo into, you are better off contributing it to the local dumpyard. Think of the investment you have in any tank, regardless of species. Is it really worth it to use a device which on any given day can go awry and fry them all?

Hydor Theo is junk, no matter how often they send you a replacement.

I speak from personal experience.

[back 2 discus biz]

Wow, the evidence is mounting! Based on this info if I use it at all it will be just long enough to get a replacement.

Good info and thanks!

[2sybs]

I've had problems with the Theo as well, But I've had the same problem with a Rena Excel 300 that was sticking, Luckily I was there to do something, just turning the dial back and forth seemed to fix it temporarily.
Paul you should invest in a controller. You can use either the Theo or the Rena with it and it will give you a safety margin. They are fairly cheap considering.
Ray

Btw,Paul, I went to Golden on my only day off this week, And wouldn't you know it but they were closed on Wed. :P

[Condor]

I am running hydors and they have done well for me. I think all heaters are pretty worthless, but sometimes you get lucky.

Adrian

[mirmar]

good that you got new one!

We also hd a 300w theo, broken in 3 months
we also had a 300W hydor external heater (between the pumphose), broken in 4 months.
We also had a little hydop pump, with heater in it, 2 days and now it is only a pump.
We had a Hydor filter wich works good, but something broke of, bad material.

So for me it is clear: no more Hydor!
The only thing that i think is really good is the Hydor automatic fish feeder (the digital one)