what kind of heater is the best?

[kvmn]

i have like 5 heater in hand but none of them last for 3month,,,i been buying new,,,from 50dlr finnes brand to 15$ from wallmart and pro heater 39$ from petsolution,,,none of them last over 5 or 6 month for me,,,is there any brand name of heater out there you guy using that last long time,,,winter right around corner here so i should worry about heater now,,,thanks

[GVR-4579]

could it be that the heaters you buy are too small and have to work too hard to keep up with the tank it is in? A heater running at 25% capacity will far outlast one running at 100% capacity.

[David Grigor]

Ebo-Jager pretty much sets the standard for glass ones.

I've use the Won Bros. analog ( not the digital ) titaniums ones for about 5 years now. Never had a problem with any of them.

Having said that, all heaters should be on a seperate temperature control. Putting all your trust in the cheapy built-in ones is an accident waiting to happen.

[kvmn]

I got titanium 500watt from finnex brand with digital temp on it about 5month old ,,the temp meter alway going up to max 99degree (automaticly)
i also have titaniums 300w from proheater brand still don't work after a few month,( heater never turn on ,i even try to turn temp up to 90degree light still not on)
, now i got 2 x100w from walmarts but i don't trust it ,,
i will check on Won bros then, any other input?

[gogregerson]

I think the key is multipal heaters on a controller so that one heater isn't supporting the load like JVR said. I buy the cheap stealth heaters from petco because they are plastic and I run two 400Ws in a 150gal tank. No problem for 2 years now.

[mtfatwork]

I use a finnex titanium without the controller on my aquacontroller for the big tank and a jalli run off the reefkeeper on the frag tank. Both have run flawlessly for the last year :)

[David Grigor]

I got titanium 500watt from finnex brand

I have heard issues with the 500w ones. But the lower wattage ones seem to have a much better track record. So you would be better off using multiple smaller wattage ones vs. the 500w.

And reminder to always use a temp controller in addition to the heater. It's worth it's weight in gold if the heater stick on.

[capman]

And reminder to always use a temp controller in addition to the heater. It's worth it's weight in gold if the heater stick on.

David is absolutely correct on this. I don't even want to talk about what I have experienced with heaters sticking on. Have only had losses due to heaters sticking on about 2 or 3 times in about 40 years of fishkeeping (though I have had more heaters than this fail), but the last time it happened a year or two ago the result was just devastating! This disaster involved a large Ebo Jager and some large marine fish I had had for quite a few years.

Stupidly, my heaters are still not all properly set up with temperature controllers, though I have all the equipment to do this correctly sitting here at the moment.

If you keep aquaria long enough, your equipment will get old, and even though the heater or pump you were using at the start might have been very reliable then, all your equipment will age, and sooner or later a critical heater or pump will fail. I have learned the hard way, after long stretches with no serious problems whatsoever, that if you do not adequately and thoroughly analyze your system for possible weaknesses and shortcomings in its design, and correct those problems with redundancy and other safegaurds, at some point something critical will fail when you are not around to fix it quickly, and you will likely be very sad by the outcome! Long term success with your tank is not measured in months or years....think in terms of a decade or more.

Careful system planning prevented most disasters on my first main reef system for quite a few years, despite equipment failures that occurred even in the first years. But my second large system was put together initially more with spare parts, donated old equipment, and a lot less planning, and it was much more vulnerable to disasters (things are different now though!)



I'd better stop hanging out on this forum and go take care of my heaters........

[clownnut]

I use a finnex titanium without the controller on my aquacontroller for the big tank and a jalli run off the reefkeeper on the frag tank. Both have run flawlessly for the last year :)

+1
always run them on controller,not the one they came with, single stage or aquacontroller or reefkeeper. they always stuck on when they fail...
and switch them out every 1.5 years, they are the less expensive equipment and they can do the most harm.

[aka_BigRed]

I've got 2 Won Bros Titanium and love them. I run them off their built-in external controllers but my setup monitors my temp and will kick on a fan and email me if it gets over a pre-set temp. I also have a couple smaller heaters instead of one monster in case one were to stick on it couldn't cook the tank all by itself.

The only glass is an Ebo Jager which I use only as a supplemental heater in the winter. I had an off-brand Petco special explode in my mixing bin once, and that was enough to persuade me to spend a few bucks more and get a decent heater. I would hate to have cleaned it up out of my main tank, and was lucky I could just dump the water and clean the mixing bin fairly easily.