Heaters, Heaters, Heaters ...

[pissydiscus]

http://www.petsmart.com/fish/shopping/aquarium%5Fheaters/products/product%5F16557.shtml

Currently I have that heater and I think it's starting to fail. I came home yesterday and the tamp temp on my digi meter said 84 degree's. I keep the tank at 86 and have for the past 2 weeks that I have had the discus. I turned up the knob a bit and monitored it throughout the afternoon yesterday and it appeared to be ok. I came home again today and yet again 84 degree's with it set higher. I'm open to all suggestions on which heater to get for my 40 gallon and what wattage you guys think, such as maybe buy 2 for the 40 gallon etc etc.


My real requirement this time is a fully submersible heater. I didn't notice that this was a non submersible till a few days after I had gotten it, luckily I never fully submersed it.


Currently searching the forums for heater info.

Something I can get at perhaps petsmart, petco or I can always call a few local lfs's to see if they have what I need.

TIA

[pissydiscus]

Appears like everyone is pro Via Aqua Titanium

Via Aqua heaters come with an external temperature control, stainless steel heat probe, waterproof double insulation, indicator light for on and off cycle and is submersible

Anyone have any other suggestions?

[Jeff]

I personally like the titanium heaters better. It is always better to have at least one back up heater handy. You never know when you will need it. ;)

[pissydiscus]

I personally like the titanium heaters better. It is always better to have at least one back up heater handy. You never know when you will need it. ;)


Should I drive to Long Beach and pick one up from you :D Traffic will sure be hell if I didn't leave right now.

timiddiscus,
I use the same heaters as Jeff does. By the way he is where I buy them. It is always a good idea to have back ups. I trust them so much that I have two. LOL
I sure miss the ole green ebo's.


Miles

[pissydiscus]

Who likes the tronic heaters by hagen?

[Ryan]

I still use Ebos. I have found that in most cases, the 250 watt Ebos are the ones with the problem. I have two of them that do not work right -- one was dead out of the box, the other doesn't heat to the right temperature. However, I use 200, 150, and 100 watt Ebos and they all work fine, plus or minus a few degrees. I have yet to try the titanium ones. JMO ;D

Ryan

[elimon]

Try this link, the guy is a member here!

http://www.aquacave.com/FreePage11.htm

Efren ;D

[Carol_Roberts]

I've had good luck with the tronics, but would like to try one of the via aquas next

[pissydiscus]

Thanks for all the info everyone! Nice quick answers just like I like.

[BlueTurquoise]

In the instructions (correct me i I am wrong) but the tronics also say it should not be totally submerged in water. I have done it on many occasions without a problem. I think heater manufacturers do that to save themselves from lawsuits. That said I am not sure if glass heaters are better insulated than stainless steel or titanium heaters.

The Via Aqua Stainless Steel (where do you guys get the Titanium name from? ???) is totally submersible and I would regard them highly as heater of choice...

Chong

[keno]

Used ebos for years until i got plenty of bad ones, i still have some old greens ones that work like brand new, but will never buy another because of the newest ones. I now use visitherms and am very happy with them.

Ken

[Pick]

Though there have been some bad ones that made it into customer hands in the recent past I would still recommend Ebo Jagers. I recently tried the Rena Cal and it works fine but it is obviously not as well built as the Ebo's though it is slightly more expensive?

As cheap as industrial temperature controllers are getting, in a few years you could afford to build a control panel and have thermocouple probes in each tank with flashing lights or alarms going off for hi/lo alarms for about $150 per tank - or per system if you are running a central filtration setup.

TC

[engineguy129]

I like the the Via Aqua titanium 300w I have now, it works pretty well and I have no complaints. Here is a thread that may help you out.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=21;action=display;threadid=6183

Peace

Rob ;D

[Jeff]

TIA,

Just don't wait until 5:00 to leave. Like miles said trust no heater. Have a back up plan. 8)

[BlueTurquoise]

Regarding Ebo's: I feel that this quality problem is only related to 300W heaters? I think the 100W to 150W are still good quality but yes I will not be buying glass heaters any longer, let alone Ebo's.

Chong

[keno]

I have had 6 ebo 250w heaters go bad in last 8 months and have given up on them. :( :( but this ebo thing has been beaten to death here in the last few months. The old green ones were like gold!

Ken

[Discusgeo]

Try this link. They are having a sale on Won Brother heaters.http://oceanencounter.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=OE&Category_Cod e=HT

[BlueTurquoise]

Maybe you're right Ken...

Chong

[taybelZ]

Seems like Ebo has lost a lot of customers lately, and their reputation has gone down lately. I as an Ebo fan have gone with the move towards Via aqua-Stainless steel heaters.

3 Via aqua's - no returns
3 Ebos' 150,250,300Ws - all returns :(

Just to prove that Ebo seem to be decreasing in quality, this is an extract from email from an Aquarium Warehouse.


Hi David,
Sorry to hear you are having problems with another Jager heater.
Jager have had a major problem with heaters last year and we had many returns..........<cut>.......I would suggest you pick another brand of heater as a substitute as the problem with the Jagers is still not resolved....

[sammosammo]

Chong,

My ViaAqua says "Titaniumtube Heater" on the box. Is this one in the same as the Stainless Steel? The heater itself does look more like stainless steel - other titanium products i've seen are more of a flat metallic color

sam

[blackghost]

I use RENA heaters, works good for me but I have never cross-checked it with a digital one. It has an increment of 0.5-degree Celsius.
Has any one used these heaters?

[DarkDiscus]

Ah heaters,

I'm not going into brands, models, etc.

My new rule is this: ALL heaters can be unreliable. I will now buy a heater and test it in my Q tank for a month prior to using it. If the heater survives the test, which includes bumping the temp to 90 for one week during the trial run, it will be used. I have one in my q-tank now and one in my empty 25 gallon breeding tank which are being tested.

It's the only way to be reasonably sure, IMHO...

John

PS. My heater purchases for 2002 went as follows:

Brand 1: 4 of 7 worked
Brand 2: 0 of 1 worked
Brand 3: 0 of 1 worked

Hi Everyone!
I thought I would never say this cause I allways used ebos.
Well anyways I just set up a QT room with 6 125 Gal tanks.
For Wilds that am bring in from Oliver. Well I needed some heaters fast and could not find any other brands but ebos off line.

After all the talk about the problems with the ebos and after buying a few new ones am not so trusting of them anymore!
So I thought I would try another brand.

Now Don't Yell But I bought the New Visi Therm Deluxe sumersible heaters 250 watts.


All I can say now is WOW! All My 125Gal tanks have 1 heater per each. Not to mention the tanks are set up in the coldest part of My basement. Well to My surprise they are all holding at 87F without a problem. So I guess am Happy with that At $21 each! from a locall pet shop.

HTh
TakeCare,
Cary Gld!

[keno]

WTG Cary, Im using Visitherms now, i love em!

Ken

[yellow sub]

For what its worth, every visi therm I have ever owned, the glass tube has always cracked on me. so be carefull doing water changes.

just something I have noticed is that a lot of people seem to be using 1 heater to heat thier tanks, be carefull if they ever stick...you will cook your fish. I always try to use 2 smaller heaters to heat a tank instead of 1 large one...not trying to get on a soap box, just learned this the hard way.

Stephen

Hi Yellowsub,

yes I agree with you on the old visi therm's but on these new ones the glass is much thicker and coated!
HTH
TakeCare,
Cary Gld!

I am now using all Won Bros Titaniums at the time and I have noticed a considerable difference when insulating the tanks with styrofoam. In comparison to the tanks upstairs (with no insulation) the heaters are much more accurate. Of course it could be that specific heater but, there are more than one in use without the styrofoam....

Who knows? Maybe just my observation.... :P

Julz :)

[limige]

well i currently have
several ebo's
1 visotherm
1 won pro heat

and 1 jalli on the way.

ebo's died almost all at once, some are still holding but most will only do 84 degrees.

visotherm doesn't heat as well as the ebo's did. but still works fine.

pro heat is nice but is too easy to accidentally change the temp by bumping it.

jalli titaniums seem to be reasonably priced and they're titanium so i'm gonna try them.

btw. thanks for the tip on the pro heat's good price on the 250-300 watter's

but the jalli i ordered is 800 watts for 34.95 and it's titanium. so far i haven't seen anyone beat that.

[Aquatic_Design]

Sam,
About your question on Via Aqua heaters. They make both titanium and ss. The titanium are much lighter weight and have a rubber cap on the bottom of the heater rod. The ss do not have the cap and are quite a bit heavier. I have both and see no difference in their ability to hold the proper heat.
HTH
Donna :)

[black rat]

Hi,
i've just looked at the Won Titanium heaters and i dont think we have them in the UK,
What do you think of them?,
I assume if they stay on all the time then yoy need some type of guard around them so that the fish don't burn themselves. ???

[Debo]

I have both Stainless steal anf titanium. They keep the heat right where I want it. I was told by the company that I bought them from that the only diffrence is tha the SS shouldn't be used in salt water. They don't hold up.
DebO

[black rat]

Thanks :thumbsup: