MARINELAND HEATERS

[Fern]

I had posted in the "TANK, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLY" section a thread "Heater malfunction" on 10/05/07 my first loss of Discus. It just happened to me again and lost 3 new discus due to heater jamming. Believe it or not, it happen to me twice with 2 different Marineland heaters. I do not recommend these heater, they are cheap and unreliable.

Fernando

[guille2007]

I had posted in the "TANK, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLY" section a thread "Heater malfunction" on 10/05/07 my first loss of Discus. It just happened to me again and lost 3 new discus due to heater jamming. Believe it or not, it happen to me twice with 2 different Marineland heaters. I do not recommend these heater, they are cheap and unreliable.

Fernando


It happens with any brand, I have a 50W visitherm de luxe that does not stop so Im using it to warm stored water for WC, it had killed my fish if I had not detect that bug. The 200 W one seems to be safer.

[fishmama]

That's terrible..sorry to hear that Fernando.

[Fern]

I am having some serious heater issues. I recently purchase this WonBrother heater 250W and guess what just happened. The end of the quartz pop off. It appears that there was an electric shortage inside and so it produced pressure gases creating enough pressure that it snapped end of the quartz. I am happy tho, did not loose any fish. Did not want to start a new thread under Wonbrother beacuse i just realized how unrealiable heater can be.

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/fernando91568/img_0241.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/fernando91568/img_0240.jpg

http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g291/fernando91568/img_0239.jpg

[alxjss]

yes, i hate heaters. I can't find any that work good either. i have the hydor in line heater for my main tank. That works great so far, but the others, i check them often just in case....so much about quality huh?

[jczz1232]

Try the ehiem heaters Fern. They might work better.

John

[Kindredspirit]

And make sure what you get can bump up to 92 degrees and is shatterproof;)

[wolvy]

Just to add myself never had a problem with the visi-therm stealth heaters in all 8 of my tanks.I really like the safety shut off if it does get dry,just my 2 cents well 1.8 US lol

[discus bob]

It happens with any brand, I have a 50W visitherm de luxe that does not stop so Im using it to warm stored water for WC, it had killed my fish if I had not detect that bug. The 200 W one seems to be safer.

I had the exact same heater, Visi-therm 50watt set to 75 degrees. It froze on and sent my 15 gallon Cherry shrimp tank into overdrive. I noticed it at 85 degrees and shut it down. No heater at all now in the tank, stays at 72 - 74. I wouldn't buy this one again any way, the cone shape of the control knob is impossible to grab underwater.

[alpine]

I am just ordering ten new visi-therm stealth heaters from fosters ..I am replacing my High Tech digital controler - titanium heaters.Have had a very bad experience with them .
I will be using two lower power heaters per tank from now on.

roberto.

[Fern]

The day I found the end piece broken I decided to contact WONBROTHERS. I forwarded an email with the same thread pictures. Today I followed by calling their customer service since I have not received any reply. I spoke to a lady and she told me she did not receive my initial email. I forwarded a second to her then called a few hours later to confirm receipt. I was happy to hear that they would be sending me a new heater along with instructions as to how to use it. I also received an Email with the details.

Now, I am glad that the replacement heater is not costing me a penny. But, they are under the impression that I broke the heater by not shutting it off while doing w/c. What I do not like is the fact that they think I broke it and the answer is no. I did not do any w/c that day or the day before. The girlfriend was in the kitchen and heard a poping sound minutes before i notice the broken heater, so bitter sweet.:rolleyes:

[Green Country Discus]

I do not like any from the past and do not trust any I now own. I have tried most and use quite a few different ones now and hate the fact that one can not buy a quality heater! (...period!). Controllers do eliminate some of the problems.

[alpine]

Andrew, what are those problems in your opinion controlers eliminate ?

roberto.

[fredox]

Touch wood I've never had a problem with the standard Visitherms. I've only ever bought the 300W heaters as I've always planned on getting bigger tanks and never had. I'm fairly sure I've still got my original one from 7 or 8 years ago and as far as heaters go it's had a fairly had life with at least 3 years of traveling to uni and back where it was left in the drained tank and put on the back seat of the car for the journey.

[namasgt]

why dont you buy a jager i have one thats made in 1990 and it still works awsome, sthealts are good heaters too.

[subcooler]

Unfortunately I found you get what you pay for!
When I started getting back into fish(2007) I bought a few TopFin heaters(Petsmart store brand).They were relatively cheap(under 20$)I found more than one that in first week would not hold 84-86, they rode into 90's:angry:.They were sized properly for tank & unreliable even in storage barrell!
Quality heaters(visatherm, Jager) are expensive @LFS-but under 20$ online.Prefer Jager here-easier to set temp. Just my opinion!
Rob

[alxjss]

Let me tell u guys something. I have only been keeping discus since May of 07. i have went thru 13 heaters so far. Once or twice, at the most, might have been my fault. But NO more than that. I have tried almost every brand and cannot find a reliable heater. I have spent quite a bit of denero($) on these f*#!n things. The one and only heater that has kept steady temps, don't have to worry about unplugging when doing a w/c, and is a "set it and forget it" type heater is my hydor in line heater. I absolutely LOVE this heater. Noooo probs and I have had it up and running for about 3 mo. I can't get a in the tank heater to last that long. Do u think the high temps may have something to do w/it?

[phidelt85]

Knock on wood!! I have had no issues thus far and hope not to have any with my Visitherm Stealths. I take that back, I had one issue where it would not come on; granted it was a couple years old, but I took it back to P-mart and they gave me a new one.

I just picked up a controller for my storage tank, and am very pleased with it's performance. I will eventually get one for each of my 100+ tanks. You can hear when it kicks on and off and holds the temp within the range you desire. Definitely the way to go.

[alxjss]

How does the controller work? Does it help the heater? Give me more info jose, please:confused:

[phidelt85]

Eileen, you plug the heater into the controller with the heater knob turned all the way up. You then set the temperature you want to hold on the controller and how much the temperature can drop before it turns the heater back on. The controller has it's own thermocouple to read the temp of the tank. For example, I have mine set to hold 85 degrees with a deviation of 1 degree (may bump it up to 2*). When the temp of the holding tank drops 1 degree to 84 it turns the heaters on turns them off when it reaches 85. This will prevent the heaters themselves from overheating the water beyond what you want.

[Gillsie]

I have had ebo jager heaters for decades. I have stored some for as long as 10 years when I did not have many tanks and all of them keep performing flawlessly. So, all my heaters are great, but I do not know if EJ is still making them as good as they did 30 and 40 years ago.

[katt-ja]

how many min. watts should i have for a 55?

[Gillsie]

how many min. watts should i have for a 55?

In a discus tank, because you need to keep the heat high, you need at least 250 watts. Best to do it with two heaters, one on each end of the tank.

[MSD]

I am now, after failures from other heaters, using the Marineland Stealth heaters at 250 watts. These seem to be the most reliable of any others I've tried, even expensive titanium ones. I will just replace them at 1 or 2 year intervals and hope for the best.