Art Vandelay Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Hi, first time poster here. I'm looking to get back into the hobby after a 25 year break. So, I've scoured the internet, only to find that EVERY single brand of heater, even the expensive brands, have one horror story after another in the reviews. Examples: doa/only last a short time, not reliable, frying fish, shocking fish, etc. Seems like I've exhausted my options here. What are the best brands these days that won't break the bank, at least not too much so? BTW, I wouldn't trust a thermostat, I plan to have a thermometer for insurance. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiclid addict Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 In my opinion it is the fluval e series i have never had a bad experience with one and there relatively cheap I’ve recommended them to friends to and they’ve said the same I tried to put a link to one but I wouldn’t let me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Vandelay Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 Thank You! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 There have been several heater threads like this one: My strategy is to use an inexpensive, under powered heater. If the heater fails it cannot overheat the aquarium because of its small size. Another strategy is to run the heater off of a heater controller (like an Inkbird) which is far less likely to fail in the on position. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 agree with the above. when i run a heater, it is undersized for the tank. much better the fish get cold than boil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbit Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 In my large tank I run two underpowered heaters for the same reason @Daniel stated. I use eheim jager heaters and they’ve seemed good so far (I’ve had them for about a year). But the temperature-setting dials aren’t great—they run hotter than whatever I set them to. So changing the temp after I set it is an all day process of trial and error. 😛 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coronal Mass Ejection Carl Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 (edited) I've heard the Inkbird controllers have drift/accuracy issues. Ranco and Johnson Controls controllers have issues as well. Cheap heaters increase the chance of a leak. Multiple underpowered heaters decrease the chance of freezing or cooking your fish but increase the chance of a leak. Heaters with electronic thermostats decrease the risk of failing on though I've heard of some Cobalt Neotherms doing just that and I think they have electronic thermostats. A quality titanium heating element such as the one made by Schego decreases the risk of leaking but there's no satisfactory controller to pair it with. A thermometer with temperature alarms reduces the risk of freezing/cooking fish but does nothing for leaks. I don't think there's a perfect option yet. Right now I use a thermometer with alarms and Fluval E heaters. Together, they almost completely eliminate the possibility of freezing/cooking fish but the Fluval Es can still leak. I could mount it so the top is above the waterline though. The other possibility is to find/build a better temperature controller and use it with a Schego heating element. Edited January 2, 2021 by Coronal Mass Ejection Carl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 All my tanks have Inkbird heater controllers. Plug the heater into the controller set a min/max temperature range and the controller then runs the heater. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epona01 Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I'm having a heater problem for first time and was wondering same thing. I guess mine went out temp was 70 yesterday so I added a small extra one I had. Last night it got to 71.5 which I was fine with was going to turn it up another degree today and it was down to 69 degrees. I just turned it up and came on here to see which one I should order. I do have another old one in a box I guess I'll pull out and see if it works. I just dont want temp to raise to fast or too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorbidFinch Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 I still have good luck with the Eheim Jager heaters. I've never had one fail and keep a really consistent temperature once you get them dialed in. These are what I used to use 10 years ago, and now that I'm back into the hobby they are still my favorite. I really like the new Fluval E series too, but I find them under-powered and over-expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coronal Mass Ejection Carl Posted January 3, 2021 Share Posted January 3, 2021 1 hour ago, MorbidFinch said: I still have good luck with the Eheim Jager heaters. I've never had one fail and keep a really consistent temperature once you get them dialed in. These are what I used to use 10 years ago, and now that I'm back into the hobby they are still my favorite. I really like the new Fluval E series too, but I find them under-powered and over-expensive. The Fluval Es are expensive but they do have dual electronic thermostats which should make it unlikely for them to fail on. I find they heat fine once you take the plastic guard off. I've measured the 300W ones consuming 295W. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorbidFinch Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 2 hours ago, Coronal Mass Ejection Carl said: The Fluval Es are expensive but they do have dual electronic thermostats which should make it unlikely for them to fail on. I find they heat fine once you take the plastic guard off. I've measured the 300W ones consuming 295W. Take the plastic guard off? Didn't realize that was an option. I'll have to look into that because the 100w I have on a 20 long struggles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Vandelay Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 (edited) 10 minutes ago, MorbidFinch said: Take the plastic guard off? Didn't realize that was an option. I'll have to look into that because the 100w I have on a 20 long struggles. Yeah, Cory did a nice review of this one on youtube, and took it apart. It's made so you can open and clean it when it gets gunk in there? Edited January 4, 2021 by Art Vandelay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 Others have already mentioned it, but Eheim Jager heaters work well for us. We sometimes struggle with thermostats sticking on lots of other cheaper brand heaters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coronal Mass Ejection Carl Posted January 4, 2021 Share Posted January 4, 2021 10 minutes ago, MorbidFinch said: Take the plastic guard off? Didn't realize that was an option. I'll have to look into that because the 100w I have on a 20 long struggles. This is exactly how my first Fluval E 200W behaved. "Low flow" errors and not heating. The instruction book tells you how to pop the whole guard off. That solved all my problems. The downside is that the suction cups are attached to the upper section of the plastic guard so you can't stick it anywhere unless you borrow the bracket from another heater. Or you can just remove the lower sections of the guard (I haven't personally tried this so I don't know how well this works). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Art Vandelay Posted January 4, 2021 Author Share Posted January 4, 2021 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Coronal Mass Ejection Carl said: This is exactly how my first Fluval E 200W behaved. "Low flow" errors and not heating. The instruction book tells you how to pop the whole guard off. That solved all my problems. The downside is that the suction cups are attached to the upper section of the plastic guard so you can't stick it anywhere unless you borrow the bracket from another heater. Or you can just remove the lower sections of the guard (I haven't personally tried this so I don't know how well this works). Check out Cory's review on youtube. He gives ton of info/thoughts on this Fluval E heater. Apparently if you place it diagonally or horizontally, it can fix the LF issue as well because the heat isn't rising straight up into the top of the heater. Edited January 4, 2021 by Art Vandelay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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