Best Heater?

[Woodstock]

I am in the market for a new heater. It will be a back up to my current 250 watt Ebo-jager which I have had for many, many years. I was tempted just to stick with Ebo again, but thought I'd get a few opinons first. I have a 90 gal with a small sump, so I guess the 250 watter will do fine.... but i might go with 350 watts?? I really like the Pro Heat Titanium but my ballast is under my tank and I am afraid it will interfere with its operation . Here is its Product Review .


What is your favorite heater and why?

[ScottT1980]

I have two pro-heats 250W and a gen-x 400W (somehow they just accumulate, I will never understand). Check out inreef.com (our sponser), he usually has great deals on the gen-x heaters. To be honest, I like the heaters where the thermostat is separate from the plug, as is the case with the Gen-x. I just get a bit scared when I have wet hands adjusting a thermostat that is right next to an outlet (I could always dry my hands, but that requires more effort).

Neither have really caused a problem. However, it is crucial that you keep the temp sensor underwater (sounds obvious, but I have yet to find one with a good suction cup that lasts). My tank got up to the mid 90s because of a probe coming out of the water. Bleached a few SPS, took out a toadstool, and pretty much POed my tank for a few weeks.

Take er easy
Scott T.

[mkpaulson]

Rule of thumb for heaters are 2to3 watts per gallon,
I believe your better off going with two small heaters instead of one big one, in case one of the smaller heaters fails to shut down it won't overheat the water as quick.
I heard of a lot of complaints about the titanium heaters melting in shorting out.

[DaveK]

There is sure a lot to be said for titaniim heaters. First, the will not break like glass ones. Second, they are grounded, so you get the added advantage of the heater acting like a grounding probe.

While I'm not saying it can't happen, I am at a loss to see how a a ballast, either coil and core or electronic one would interfere with the heater, even if the thermostat part was all electronic.

I would agree that two smaller heaters are prefered, and that 3 w per gal is plenty, unless you have some very unusual requirements.

[Woodstock]

In the PRODUCT REVIEW section there are several comments regarding the Titanium Pro heater.

Reefer Addict wrote:

The Won Pro-Heat heater is a great product, but suffers from one serious problem... it needs better Electro-Magnetic Interference shielding. If you're going to use the built-in temperature controller, you have to keep your magnetic lighting ballasts far away from this heater, or it will stick 'on'... a very bad thing. I had my metal halide ballast sitting beside my stand on the floor, and it caused this problem... it's no fun waking up to a tank that's 86 degrees and climbing, with the heater going full-blast.
I've used my Pro-Heat 350w heater on my 55g reef for about a year now, and once I moved the ballast into the crawl space under the house, where it doesnt' interfere with the heater operation, the heater has been really reliable.

[Witfull]

ive used ebo-jagers and just replaced it with a visi-therm. i too have heard many a story of Won heaters sticking,,,therefore,,my tank is a non-won reef

[Woodstock]

After a bit more research, I have decided to stick to the tried-n-true EBO-JAGER

Thanks to those who posted! Karma to ya~~~

[mps9506]

Not to sound harsh on any particular product, but I have had HORRIBLE luck with tiitanium heaters. In addition to that my Won Brothers Titanium that I took apart with intentions of turning it into a ground probe after it leaked, wasn't even grounded. The ground wire on the power cord wasn't connected to a dern thing in the heater, it was just cut short without anything to connect to!

Stick with the Ebo Jagers. They have been around for a long time without much report of problems. I still recomend using a seperate temperature controller however. Better safe than sorry.

[BoomerD]

I've had crappy luck with titanium heaters. 2 of the Won bros. failed in less than a year, and the big tank crash I had last March was caused by a Gen-X heater frying internally and tripping the GFCI while I was down sick...No more. Ebo-Jager and Visi-therm have served me well for years.

[Witfull]

as for the visi-therm. if they work as well as maxi jets,,i wont need a heater for many moons!!

[mps9506]

lol wit...I use visitherms at the store. I've gone through a lot, but considering how many I use I don't think my rate of failure with them is as bad. My heaters at work get abused pretty bad so I have no probs recomending them as a good economical heater.
But I still use Ebo Jagers on my tank at home.

[tommyp]

I have two via-aqua titaniums. They have been serving me very well. I haven't seen many reviews on them but the ones I did were positive. I was looking for a titanium heater that worked.

Ebo jagers are tried and true but some people have been having more trouble with the newer editions. I never had a problem with my ebos that wasn't related to me dropping something on them. hence the titaniums.

I have a 75 watt ebo that works fine. It has avoided all my attempts to break it I am a big proponent of having a few smaller heaters than one big one that could cook the tank. Also let it cool down a lot if it failed.