What Is Your Favorite Heater?

[corrado007]

I'm curious what brand of heater everyone prefers and I couldn't find a poll on this topic yet. I am trying to decide on a 100W heater for a JBJ 28 gal LED Nano Cube that I will be setting up shortly.

I have done quite a bit of research and have found that some suggest there is no need for a heater at all but with LED lighting and cool California winters I plan to get one just in case.

I've also read of suggestions to use 2 smaller heaters rather than 1 standard size one for redundancy sake.

Another huge point that seems to be agreed upon is the need for a heater controller as no heater can be trusted to be accurate and reliable (I'll be hooking mine up to my Aqua Controller Jr.).

I've read that titanium heaters are the most durable, glass may crack or break but can be fine, and Stealth plastic heaters are good but have a reputation for exploding although that may have just been a bad batch or something that happens to all heaters but it's heard about more with stealth due to their really high number of units sold.

As far as I can tell from Marine Depot and AquaCave reviews, the Jager glass heater(although better when it was the older green model) and the ViaAqua titanium heaters are some of the more popular and higher rated units.

So, please share your favorite brand of heater, experiences, words of wisdom, etc...
Thanks.

 

[tnwillia]

I've been running the 300W ViaAqua titanium in my 250 for almost 2 years now, super happy with it. I had a 100W Stealth run away and fry my BC-29 tank last month. I've replaced it with the same but run DA controllers on both as a safety back up to prevent the heater ever killing my tank again.

 

[corrado007]

I had a titanium ViaAqua a few years back and it worked well also. It lasted several years and finally pooped out. It just stopped working in the off position and I caught it in time so no harm done. As for the stealth, I also had one of those, the older style without the green/red LED, and it cracked and tripped a circuit breaker. Luckily it was just in my Brute salt mixing container so no harm was done there either. I have read way to many bad things about the stealth heaters to trust them, not worth the risk IMHO.

By the way, I just ran across this Marine Depot blog on general heater info so I thought I'd share it since the info seems useful for those shopping for a heater.

 

[Reefmack]

No matter what heater is used, a basic controller is cheap insurance against a heater sticking on and cooking a tank - I've see too much of that happening. Stealth Pro has always been my favorite, but they continue to have problems with heaters that stick on.

 

[corrado007]

I suppose it's still early to tell but it looks like the Marineland stealth heater's are fairly popular. Which ones were known for blowing up, the older ones with the solid red knob or the newer ones with the LED (red/green) knob?
Was it just a bad batch or what's the deal? I have 1 LED knob one and 2 solid red knob ones and I'm a bit concerned about them after reading some threads on exploding heaters.
Thanks

 

[Reefmack]

I think it was only the new version Stealth with the lighted knob that are the ones that have had problems.

 

[corrado007]

Talk about a random coincidence, I just went out to my garage to get some premixed salt water for a water change and I when I checked the temp I saw that it was really low. It seems that BOTH of my Marineland Stealth heaters are out. Perhaps one has been out for some time and I never noticed because the other has been working. These are the older ones with the red (non LED) knob. Oh well, at least they didn't explode on me.

 

[Reefmack]

I had the older model Stealth stop heating after about 3 years. Thank goodness it didn't stick on.

 

[seafansar]

I had a few stealths in different tanks, but got rid of them when one fried my tank (have a controller now). I bought hydor ones to replace it and so far they seem to work fine with the controllers monitoring them.

 

[Reefmack]

I had a Hydor heater once and it wouldn't shut off right out of the box. I scratched them off my list quickly! That was before I got a controller. Hydor had a heater recall several months ago too.

 

[silva218]

I used my old red knob stealth heater for a year and a half before I had problems with it. It stopped working one day, a quick vinegar bath fixed that. works fine now...

 

[TylerHaworth]

I use ViaAqua Titanium in my tanks... In my experience, I find they have been the most consistent/accurate heaters even when used without a secondary controller.

 

[corrado007]

I used my old red knob stealth heater for a year and a half before I had problems with it. It stopped working one day, a quick vinegar bath fixed that. works fine now...

Interesting, I wouldn't have guessed that would fix it so that's good to know. I just threw 2 stealths away yesterday because they weren't working, wonder if that would have fixed them.

 

[Reefmack]

I use ViaAqua Titanium in my tanks... In my experience, I find they have been the most consistent/accurate heaters even when used without a secondary controller.

A secondary controller isn't used to just increase accuracy - it's used as a safeguard when the thermostat on a heater sticks on. Too many cooked tanks lately to take a chance in my opinion.

 

[TylerHaworth]

A secondary controller isn't used to just increase accuracy - it's used as a safeguard when the thermostat on a heater sticks on. Too many cooked tanks lately to take a chance in my opinion.

I agree, I do run a controller on my main tank, but in my QT systems and water mixing stations I don't.

 

[corrado007]

I'm just amazed at how many people use the stealth heaters, especially with the issues they have or had.
I guess I really should have put the two Jager heaters in one category when creating the poll.
Thanks for all the votes everyone.

 

[oakleyx]

I use Aqueon heaters.

No problems what so ever.
http://www.aqueonproducts.com/products/submersible-heater.htm

I have had problems with red sea heaters.

 

[corrado007]

I got this email a few weeks back and thought I'd share it since so many people seem to like these heaters. I'm sure many of you got the same email but I still thought it was relevant info for this thread so here it is:

February 15, 2011
Dear JUSTIN,

We're contacting you with important news about your Marineland Stealth PRO Heater. Marineland is investigating quality issues involving the Stealth PRO Submersible Heater line, and out of an abundance of caution, they have stopped selling 100, 150, 200, 250 and 300 watt models. If you have questions about this stop sale or to return these heaters under your Marineland warrantees, please call Marineland Customer Service at 800-338-4896.

Please stop using it immediately and take the following steps:

Unplug the heater from the wall to stop the flow of electricity
Let the heater cool for 15 minutes
Remove the heater from the tank
As a valued customer, your satisfaction is our priority and we would like to offer a replacement or refund for the heater you purchased from us.
Our team of Aquatic Specialists recommends the Marineland Visi-Therm Heaters or Fluval M Submersible Heaters as appropriate substitutes

Please contact Foster & Smith Aquatics Customer Service at 1-800-443-1160 at your earliest convenience to arrange the proper return and exchange/refund of your Marineland Stealth PRO Submersible Heater.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please let us help you continue to enjoy your favorite hobby for many years to come!

Sincerely,
Customer Care Team,
Foster and Smith Aquatics
1-800-443-1160
CustomerService@FosterAndSmithAquatics.com

 

[t2000kw]

Just joined this forum. I hope to have a reef tank someday, but there's some overlap between saltwater and freshwater aquariums, like this discussion on heaters.

I've had several brands of heaters, and all of them have failed within 3 years, except one Theo Hydor and a Visitherm Stealth. I'm not a big fan of the Hydor, mind you, but this particular one has given me good service, and is in my goldfish 100 gal tank.

Rena has a heater that uses silver plated contacts on the thermostat, so I thought it would be resistant to sticking on. Wrong! I lost a whole 55 gal tank of wild caught Peruvian neon tetras (much prettier than the ones you see in the stores).

I have a Visitherm Stealth heater that still works after three years, but I pulled it to return it under the recall.

Your I had a regular Visitherm heater go bad, and the store replaced it for me. I have another one that is not able to heat above 72 degrees. and a few other no-name heaters that do the same.

I've used a few of the Pro-Heat (analog and digital ones) and they've all failed, too. I am still using one of those analog dial type Pro-Heat heaters in my 5 gal guppy aquarium.

I used a Finnex HPS 200 watt heater, the ones with the digital display and separate temp sensor that runs off the heater tube, and my first one failed within 3 months. It failed by not heating. One good thing about these is that they have an overtemp sensor and will shut off if it goes above 90 deg F, I believe (it might be a lower temp, not sure). I am returning it for a replacement and am going to give it another try in my angelfish tank. I bought another one and will have the warranty replacement as a backup heater.

I think you're going to find a bad heater every now and then, even in the best brands. Visitherm has a great guarantee. Finnex has a rather short guarantee. I've found that length of warranty doesn't seem to relate to quality.

I haven't tried Eheim, Ebo-Jaeger, or the cheap Won glass tube heaters. Tetra brand seems to leak after a while. I don't remember having one stop working, though. And there are a lot more brands available today than there were 10 years ago.

I've ordered temperature alarms for all 3 active tanks in my home. They will sound an alarm if the temperature goes above or below programmed set points. I think this will give me adequate time to react since someone is home nearly all the time.

A better approach would be to have another temperature controller as a backup, but it would only be able to prevent cooking, not a heater that stopped heating. But paired with another heater it might be a near-perfect solution, just an expensive one.

If I do add a backup controller, I will still keep the temperature alarms as a backup to the backup.

Donald

 

[t2000kw]

I just noticed that the poll shows that the Marineland Stealth Pro has the greatest number of votes. If this is the one that was recalled, it shows that they had a good product overall but missed something important to safety in the design. I don't understand how you can have plastic and a hot heater close together like that, but the one I have worked until I pulled it from service to get a replacement (it's in the works).

Donald