Heater reccomendations?

JasonC

JasonC

Members
So this will be the first winter when I have tanks down in my basement. Problem is that it is usually down in the 50/60's down there in the winter time because of some awful drafts that I have been trying to eliminate for a couple of years now. So, to prepare for the season, I am trying to purchase some new heaters that will hopefully do a better job at keeping everything toasty in the tanks. Any recomendations on what everyone likes to use? I would definitely like something with a thermostat that I can actually set the temp I want instead of having to guess which unlabled notch on the dial I want.

Was looking at the Eheim Jager... any good? Other suggestions?

Thanks!
 
mchambers

mchambers

Former CCA member
The Eheim Jagers are good. I've been happy with my Deep Blue Heat Stiks. Do a search here on heaters and you'll find other threads with recommendations.
 
chris_todd

chris_todd

Members
I'm quickly getting to the point where the only brand of heater I'll trust is Eheim Jager. In the last two years, every other heater brand I've tried has failed at some point. Well, I do have a Fluval E series that hasn't failed yet (had it more than one year), and I like the LCD screen that displays the current temp and is either green, red, or blue, depending on how far off the temp is from the set temp. My only problem with the E series is I think they're overpriced.
 
JasonC

JasonC

Members
Chris, do you find the Eheims to be accurate out of the box, or do they need to be calibrated at all?

Thanks!

chris_todd said:
I'm quickly getting to the point where the only brand of heater I'll trust is Eheim Jager. In the last two years, every other heater brand I've tried has failed at some point. Well, I do have a Fluval E series that hasn't failed yet (had it more than one year), and I like the LCD screen that displays the current temp and is either green, red, or blue, depending on how far off the temp is from the set temp. My only problem with the E series is I think they're overpriced.
Click to expand...
 
Avatar

Avatar

Plenipotentiary-at-large
Will be happy when I can control the temperature of many tanks with one thermostat.

Deep Blue heat sticks seem reliable (a dozen so so far and no complaints/problems), as do the new Marineland series with the reflective mirror coating. Both models are unobstrusive and the silver Marinelands even tend to be sort of invisible since they reflect and basically take on the color of whatever is around them. I swapped half a dozen Stealths for them as opposed to other brands because I figured that given their experience with the Stealth that I might benefit form some corporate compensatory over-achievement. So far so good.

Have had two older Jagers out of about a dozen that wouldn't turn off when they were reinstalled last month to coincide with the cool nights. Seems like that's just going to happen with any of them until someone starts making a model with a failsafe circuit to protect against excessive temperature. Why anyone makes aquarium heaters that can basically boil water is beyond me. No experience with the really pricey models or titaniums, etc., do agree that the Fluval Es are way too expensive.
 
T

toddnbecka

Members
I have a bunch of stealth heaters, even an unused/NIB Pro kicking around I need to exchange. A couple of the older type stealths are still working alright, a couple have either cooked a tank or mysteriously leak electricity into the water. Never would have noticed the latter if it wasn't for a hangnail that stung whenever I put that hand into the tank, stopped after I unplugged the heater.
 
hydrodmg

hydrodmg

Members
I do not like heaters i think they all are a bad design lol I am building an external thermal controller for all my heaters. and i will be using all the heaters that have Stuck on in my fish room on the thermal controller
 
JasonC

JasonC

Members
Looking at the Deep Blues right now... really liking the prices on them.

One question... the Aqueon Pros rate their 50w good for up to 20gal, and the Eheim Jager rates their 75w up to 26gal... do you all find that these lower wattages are still efficient enough to get the tanks up to temp and keep them there without having to be on more than the more "standard" 100 watt heaters? What about in cooler rooms(65 degree range, trying to get appx. 82 degrees)?
 
T

toddnbecka

Members
hydrodmg said:
my fish room is in an unpartitioned basement
Click to expand...
Mine too, I recently bought a 1500 watt space heater that's supposed to be able to heat an area the size of my basement. It's been working so far, maintaining 72 degrees rather than the usual 65 or lower in cold weather, but it remains to be seen how well it will work in January. It's facing directly toward the 220, so it stays pretty warm, and the 125 (along a wall open to the weather) has a 500w titanium heater that I haven't seen come on yet.
I'm still figuring to use heaters in the tanks to maintain warmer temps, but with the basement staying at 72 they won't have to be as big or work as hard to keep the tanks warm as they would w/out the space heater. The larger tanks are pretty stable temp-wise, and even the 40 breeders stay pretty warm from the coralife lights being on 16 hours/day. The 75's and 90 with shop lights over them don't feel as warm, definitely will need heaters to keep them a bit warmer this winter.
 
rich_one

rich_one

Members
I've been slowly converting over to the Deep Blues, and have been happy so far. Been using them a little more than a year now, I'd say, give or take.

-Rich
 
FormulatedFire

FormulatedFire

Members
I've used ebo/eheim jagers for years with no issues. The reef tank I recently broke down had ebo jagers in it that I bought in back 2005 that are still working.
 
bschuhart

bschuhart

Members
The Jagars aren't what they used to be. I used to swear by them 20 years ago but no longer. I just replaced all 16 of my recalled Stealths with Jagers. 4 of them failed right out of the box, 2 more failed a few months later. Of the 10 that remain 2 have temperture drift and 3 have condesation build up on the inside of the tube.

I have titanium heaters with outside thermastats on my 2 large tanks and they have been good for over 8 years.
 
Avatar

Avatar

Plenipotentiary-at-large
Right - Fluvals not Marinelands that are mirror coated.

My mistake. Nice heaters they seem to me. Feel very tight/soiid, temperature calibration seems to be pretty good as well.
 
E

ezrk

Members
We are using Jehmco temp controllers on our big tanks now. They are running Eheim Jagers with their thermostats set to 85 or so as a back-up, but basically I trust the Jehmcos.

It is a bit pricey, but I would be very disappointed to cook my fish...
 
YSS

YSS

Members
I got a 300W Hydor external heater a couple of weeks ago. Can't vouch for its reliability, but I really like the heater so far. I like the fact it's not in the tank. I like the fact that I don't have to worry about it stcking or something happening during water changes. It's rated 48 ~ 80G depending on delta between the room temp and the tank temp. Granted that I keep my house pretty warm, I have the heater on my 256G tank and it's been keeping the tank temp at 82F on its own. I had to pull the other heater from the tank for the hospital tank and I was concerned, but no issues. Pretty surprised.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top