Heater Recommendations

[FishGuest5123]

Use to be able to buy cheap heaters online and they’d be fine. Last couple I bought didn’t last a month. What heater do you recommend? This one needed now is specifically for a 10G betta tank. Looking for reliable, long lasting with adjustable temps. What do you recommend?

 

[howard_hopkinson]

I assume you're looking for a 50watt heater? If so the Aqueon Pro seems to get good reviews. As do Fluval heaters, but Fluval are quite expensive in comparison.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I just read a review on the Aqueon Pro and was looking at them. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Fishmanic]

Good heater. i have 2 aqueon pro heaters.. one failed after about 4 years... they come with a lifetime warranty.. I just had to show them a receipt and they sent out a replacement. Save your receipt.

 

[Colin_T]

don't buy low wattage heaters, they are crap and always have problems.

100watt heater is the lowest wattage I recommend. Look for a Rena or Eheim/ Jager or Hagen.

 

[howard_hopkinson]

Hi Colin_T I have some questions about your statement assuming one would use the correct wattage heater for the volume of water in the tank.
Why should a low wattage heater from a good manufacturer be any less reliable than a higher wattage heater from the same manufacturer?
Is there a correlation between wattage and reliability and if so, what is it?
Does your statement only apply to heaters, or for example would light bulbs also suffer from the same wattage problem?

 

[Colin_T]

I have no idea why lower wattage heaters have problems, but we used to get heaps of 25, 50 and 75 watt heaters returned because they stopped working or they cooked everything, but the 100, 150, 200 and 300 watt heaters hardly ever got returned. They were all the same brand, but for some reason, the lower wattage ones always had problems.

According to the suppliers, they all used the same thermostat and the only difference was in the length of the heating coil and the amount of power they used.

In the end we stopped carrying 25, 50 & 75watt heaters and only had 100+ watt heaters.

We tried a few different brands too and the lower wattage ones always had issues.

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Fluorescent light bulbs are fine regardless of wattage.

 

[howard_hopkinson]

Fair enough Colin_T, your personal experience does indeed suggest there is an issue with low wattage aquarium heaters, though I'm definitely struggling to understand why that should be the case.

 

[FishGuest5123]

I have no idea why lower wattage heaters have problems, but we used to get heaps of 25, 50 and 75 watt heaters returned because they stopped working or they cooked everything, but the 100, 150, 200 and 300 watt heaters hardly ever got returned. They were all the same brand, but for some reason, the lower wattage ones always had problems.

According to the suppliers, they all used the same thermostat and the only difference was in the length of the heating coil and the amount of power they used.

In the end we stopped carrying 25, 50 & 75watt heaters and only had 100+ watt heaters.

We tried a few different brands too and the lower wattage ones always had issues.

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Fluorescent light bulbs are fine regardless of wattage.

It’s the 50 watt ones I’m having problems with. Interesting!

 

[Colin_T]

We could never work out why the shorter lower wattage heaters malfunctioned. For all intents and purposes, they looked the same and the only difference was the length of the heater and the length of the heating coil. The lower wattage heaters were shorter in length.

All we could think of was the heat from the heating coil was closer to the thermostat and that caused the thermostat to malfunction. In the higher wattage heaters, the heating coil is longer and the hot part was slightly further away from the thermostat.

There could be another reason too but I have no idea what.

 

[Retired Viking]

I also have Aqueon heater 300w for my 55 gallon and have had no issues. My other heaters are Nuoc Hong heaters which I have had for about 6 months with no problems with any of them.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

My friend has Aqueon heaters in his 10g tanks. He says they are really good and reliable.