Best heater?

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

I know the co ops heater just came out and I’d love to get it but I’m in Canada. So I was wondering what the next best most reliable heater is? Something that would last a really long time and have less of a chance of malfunctioning? Cause I know a lot of the ones that used to last a long time were discontinued 😞

[ange]

The best heater depends on what your needs are. When I'm looking for heaters I try to minimize the number of on-off cycles that I go through because that reduces the risk of failure and I've loved the Fluval heaters. The only brand that I've had fail on me was Aqueon and that was two different failures. The first failure was your typical "gets stuck in the 'on' position" and the second was due to decor shifting and putting a pressure point on the heater and cracking it, which I can't fault the manufacturer for. Heater guards exist for a reason!

If you have a fish room I would highly advise looking into heating the room rather than heating individual tanks. It's far more energy efficient and it also virtually eliminates the risk of cooking fish. It's also easier to set up a power backup for a space heater (make sure it's rated for indoor use) than it is for aquariums in event of an outage. This is where I'm at in my hobby and the only tanks that still have heaters are my GBRs, which like it warmer than the rest of my fish, and my one tank that's not in the heated room.

General tips for making the most of your heater, regardless of brand:

• Minimize your on-off cycles by purchasing the lowest wattage required for your tank. Water has a high specific heat so the amount of time required for a thermometer to cycle (point of low tolerance = heater kicks on and gradually raises temperature, reaching the "goal" temperature = heater turns off and the temperature will gradually fall) is much longer. This is more energy efficient and also better for the lifespan of the heater.
• Building off of that point, pinpoint accuracy isn't a feature that is required on a heater and is largely marketing.
• Calibrate your heater against a reliable tool at least once. I keep my GBRs at 29 degrees and their first heater had to be set at 27 because it wasn't accurate when tested against my calibrated tools. It was an Aqueon heater but Aqueon is certainly not the only brand to have this issue.
• When setting up any heater, determine your acceptable range and base your settings around that to maximize the time between cycles.
  • In tanks with heaters I tend to treat the "goal" temp as the highest tolerated temperature.
• Wrapping tanks in thermal cling (look into window film for this) will help to reduce the number of on-off cycles and prolong the life of almost any heater. I use black thermal wrap because it doubles as a background. Not all sides get the treatment but it's better than nothing and has the added benefit of helping you out in the event of a power failure.
• If it gets warm enough, judge if it's worthwhile to unplug your heaters during the warmer months. I live in an area where even before the heated room, I was able to unplug heaters in the spring and summer and keep my tanks around 25 degrees (closer to 27 during the summer).

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

Thanks for the in depth reply this has really helped! The thermal cling tip is also great I’ve never heard of that. Are the fluval heaters you were talking about the E series ones with the led screen? And do you know if the Ehime jager heaters are good?

[unexplorednorth]

hey Jacob, I can personally speak on Eheim Jager heaters, I have been in the hobby for about 16 or 17 years, the best part i like about these heaters is that they are submersible, you can run them in a sump and get rid of clutter in your show tank. if you do have it in your tank you don't need to worry about the top portion being above water so it makes it a bit easier for hiding if you don't like seeing the heater. in my experience they have always kept my tanks very stable with very little to no fluctuation in temperature. they also have a newer feature on the heater where you can correct the temp dial. for example if you have it set to 75f but your tank is only running at 72f, you can actually manipulate the dial on top so that it shows its set at 72f. also just to add i have and do run this heater on everything 10 gallon up to 120 gallon. same performance regaurdless of size, I hope this helps

[ange]

On 5/1/2022 at 6:25 PM, Jacob Hill said:

Thanks for the in depth reply this has really helped! The thermal cling tip is also great I’ve never heard of that. Are the fluval heaters you were talking about the E series ones with the led screen? And do you know if the Ehime jager heaters are good?

I haven't personally used Eheim and I probably never will because I've found my happy place of heating the room and having my 50w heaters for the two tanks that need them. The Fluval heaters that I run are the M series.

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

On 5/1/2022 at 7:33 PM, unexplorednorth said:

hey Jacob, I can personally speak on Eheim Jager heaters, I have been in the hobby for about 16 or 17 years, the best part i like about these heaters is that they are submersible, you can run them in a sump and get rid of clutter in your show tank. if you do have it in your tank you don't need to worry about the top portion being above water so it makes it a bit easier for hiding if you don't like seeing the heater. in my experience they have always kept my tanks very stable with very little to no fluctuation in temperature. they also have a newer feature on the heater where you can correct the temp dial. for example if you have it set to 75f but your tank is only running at 72f, you can actually manipulate the dial on top so that it shows its set at 72f. also just to add i have and do run this heater on everything 10 gallon up to 120 gallon. same performance regaurdless of size, I hope this helps

Thanks for the great reply I just saw a YouTube video from prime time Aquatics talking about how great the Ehimes are and since you’ve been using them for 16 years I got to try them. Also Would you follow the 5 watts per gallon rule?

[unexplorednorth]

On 5/1/2022 at 5:50 PM, Jacob Hill said:

Thanks for the great reply I just saw a YouTube video from prime time Aquatics talking about how great the Ehimes are and since you’ve been using them for 16 years I got to try them. Also Would you follow the 5 watts per gallon rule?

so my 10 gallon tanks are currently using the 50W heater and keeps them perfect even after a water change, I can't really say I have ever followed the 5 watts per gallon rule to closely, when I was running my 120 gallon tank I'm pretty sure I was using the 250W heater. it might of been to large for the tank technically but I have run tanks with the heater being a little big for the time being if I needed to until I could get the appropriate sized heater. going to big never caused me any issues, just makes the heater not work as hard to keep temps where they need to be. what size tank are you trying to heat? 

oh also, I have run tanks with lids and no lids, haven't had issues with the heater in either set up

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

On 5/1/2022 at 8:12 PM, unexplorednorth said:

so my 10 gallon tanks are currently using the 50W heater and keeps them perfect even after a water change, I can't really say I have ever followed the 5 watts per gallon rule to closely, when I was running my 120 gallon tank I'm pretty sure I was using the 250W heater. it might of been to large for the tank technically but I have run tanks with the heater being a little big for the time being if I needed to until I could get the appropriate sized heater. going to big never caused me any issues, just makes the heater not work as hard to keep temps where they need to be. what size tank are you trying to heat? 

oh also, I have run tanks with lids and no lids, haven't had issues with the heater in either set up

Good to know the tank I’m going to be heating is a 29 gallon with a lid.

[Tihshho]

This is such a controvertial subject because of how technology/manufacturing has changed overtime. Brandwise, I would say stick to the bigger name brand and skip the rebranded China alternatives. IME glass or titanium heaters have been the most reliable for me over polymer coated heaters (specifically had issues with Aqueon heaters and Cobalt heaters in the past.) I would have recommended the ACO heater, but I see that the issue is based on you being in Canada. Being that the item isn't regulated, can it not be shipped? Or are there issues with heavy additional import taxes etc? 

 

[unexplorednorth]

On 5/1/2022 at 6:43 PM, Jacob Hill said:

Good to know the tank I’m going to be heating is a 29 gallon with a lid.

awesome, yah so I'd look at either the 75w or the 100w, if the room the tank is in doesn't get to cold stays a decent room temp then the 75w should work well as its rated up to like a 27 gallon roughly if I remember right. personally I'd just get the 100w. won't have to work as hard when you're doing water changes. 

[Hoi Polloi]

On 5/1/2022 at 6:35 PM, Jacob Hill said:

co ops heater just came out

Just ordered it! Thanks for the info.
As for the others, currently I have three Eheim Jager heaters, so far so good. 
I've had the LFS recommend the Eheim Jager heaters and the Aqueon heaters (although others seem to not like much). I have the Aqueon in a quarantine tank - which I have yet to experience any problems.  

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

On 5/1/2022 at 9:10 PM, Tihshho said:

This is such a controvertial subject because of how technology/manufacturing has changed overtime. Brandwise, I would say stick to the bigger name brand and skip the rebranded China alternatives. IME glass or titanium heaters have been the most reliable for me over polymer coated heaters (specifically had issues with Aqueon heaters and Cobalt heaters in the past.) I would have recommended the ACO heater, but I see that the issue is based on you being in Canada. Being that the item isn't regulated, can it not be shipped? Or are there issues with heavy additional import taxes etc? 

 

Yeah I don’t think it ships to Canada that’s the problem I have with a lot of aquarium products, that you can’t ship to Canada and the ones you can it cost so much.

On 5/1/2022 at 9:21 PM, unexplorednorth said:

awesome, yah so I'd look at either the 75w or the 100w, if the room the tank is in doesn't get to cold stays a decent room temp then the 75w should work well as its rated up to like a 27 gallon roughly if I remember right. personally I'd just get the 100w. won't have to work as hard when you're doing water changes. 

Thanks so much for all the great info on the Ehime heaters I’ll probably go with the 100w one.