Ordering heaters today! Titanium or Stainless

[heavyp83]

Ok, I just want to take a quick poll of peoples opinions on titanium vs. stainless heaters. I'm planning on ordering 2x200w's today or tomorrow. Thanks!

[chinoz]

titianium all the way ! ;D ;D i just got two from discusfarm.us a week ago.

[Jeff]

Titamium are better. They tend to last longer. ;)

[Jason]

BOOOOO TO BOTH! :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

sorry Jeff!

[Jeff]

LOL. I have always said I don't like them, just haven't found anything I like better. ;D

[Jason]

very true, very true Jeff!

I should elaborate though glass is glass and glass is good, we've been using it for tanks and it works.

Titanium and stainless are good too, but! nobody is gonna convince me that some company in China is using the same grade of titanium that is used for hip replacements, and and same goes for the steele. all for a product for the pet industry that retails for 40 dollars or whatever.

I have a titanium socket in my jaw that accepts a dental implant, its alot smaller than a heater tube and I wish it only cost me 40 bucks.

ask someone in the metal industry what surgical s.steele costs, then ask them if they can machine a tube for you out of steele or titanium and how much that would be.

then if your still not convinced, I'll go grab my digi and take a pic of every hyundai and honda on my street and we can count the holes in the panels :P

even the cheapest glass heater is pretty much inert, I don't think anyone could say the same about "pet industry" grade steele and titanium.
Throw them in a tank of water, low ph, apply heat to it.YIKES

[brewmaster15]

I have a bunch of the titaniums from Jeff at discusfarm that have been working out real well for me. So far a better track record than my recent ebo purchases. I think I have had one failure out of 10 ish... it was an electrical one...rather "shocking "actually. Though the fish didn't mind. Actually it wasn't shocking it was a grounding problem and stray voltage I didn't feel the shock on one hand... the other hand had a cut.. and I felt a sharp localized pain.


What I can tell from everyones experiences that I read on this site... They both Fail...


The difference seems to be when the glass ones fail they either don't heat or cook the fish, when the titaniums fail ..it seems they just don't work.

anyone have par boiled fish with titanium?

I can live with failure to heat..but parboiled kills the fish, the filter, and is a terrible way to cook and serve a hundred dollar fish! :)

any how.. I have the titaniums /paird with glass on some of my big tanks. I think this combination may afford me some protection..at least mentally it helps.

For glass I have been leaning more towards the reno cals. so far no issues there.

hth,
al

[daninthesand]

Jason you raise a good point. I have been tempted to go with stainless/titanium mostly because of the external controls most of them have. I feel that this could be very handy in the long run. as for reliability I think the bottom line is all aquarium heaters for the most part are cheap and bound to fail eventually. i was attracted to the external control of metal heaters for the ease of repair of the thermostatic part, because I think by far most heater failures are due to the thermostat and not the heating element itself. heater failures I have seen have been specifically with the contact points wearing out and sticking "ON" (cooked fish) I have a few tronics (electronic points I'm told, and after breaking one by dropping it I was not able to see any contact points in there) and so far I have not had one fail yet.

But now, having disassembled an ebo (and just now an old green one also) I see they are actually easy to repair as well.

I know this does not answer the question, but jason has an excellent point. At least you know the glass is inert for sure. But to answer the question, I assume whether its the titanium or stainless they will have the same controls. So reliability of function should be the same(my guess here) as for inertness in an aquatic environment, i have seen stainless parts on boats in salt water corrode, so my guess titanium would be more inert. But I have no experince with either.

Daniel

[Jason]

I think we can all agree on this,

heaters do fail- have extras around!

heaters do stick "on" use two underpowered ones if you can!

I like the Rena cal tops too, really expensive up here though :(

[Jason]

here's a thought,

maybe we should start looking into products from other industries that we could adapt to our needs, like air and water pumps.

surely there's a product somewhere for some industry that can heat water safely and accurately.

[Willie]

I like titanium heaters for the quarantine tanks because you can control the temperature without getting your hands wet!

Willie

[Jeff]

Trust no heater domestic or foreign, glass or otherwise. Its not a question if they will fail, but when.

[Jason]

hehe Jeff has been watching those mobster movies again :P

[lesley]

Just a thought as to whether or not the titatinium is cheap...

I often think that price is dictated not so much by "quality" but what the market can be forced to pay.

Jason, your marketer would know that you have either no or limited other choice. My husband is currently hiring a "mask" to help with sleep apnea. It consists of two plastic valve inserts, two flexible tubes, running into a single tube which connects to a machine. To buy, and surprise, surprise, you can only hire for a few weeks, then you have to buy, they want 250A$ for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, maybe quality comes into it, maybe not...

[OEG]

I think they work good, the only thing i really hate is that the stainless steel heaters that i use grow this slime on the rubber ends that resembles fungus, i mean it grows to a thickness of atleast 1/4" and when i clean it off it comes back a few days later. On my titanium heaters that doesnt happen, yes it grows some stuff but not near as much as the stainless steel.
Oscar

[Jason]

AH HA!

thanks Oscar!

if Mat is the anti cbw guy, I wanna be the anti metal in the fishtank guy!

[daninthesand]

Well in that case Jason, have you changed all your copper water lines in your house to pvc yet? LOL!

Daniel

[Jason]

pretty damn close! as much as code will allow.