Heaters

[the blur]

I've run all sorts of heaters, and track them with my digital thermometer.

Tronic's are very, very accurate, they hold temperature within 1 degree. But then they leak internally, and become inaccuarate. then stop working. (this was a few years ago, and I stopped using them)

Visitherm seem to have a hugh swing, of like 3 degrees every day.

surprems are my favorite for external.

what's yours ??

 

[anodized]

after my run of the mill glass internal heater broke i got a hydor external ... now i have one on each tank, both have worked flawlessly.

 

[Danno]

Hydor Theo heaters or Ehiem Jager heaters.

 

[Lhutch]

jagers are good but Visitherm Steal Ones are better,very realible

 

[adamgreen240]

i quite like my fluval tronic 300w heater

 

[the blur]

does anyone track there's with a digital thermometer to see how accurate they are ?

The visitherm's seem to come on when they are not suppose to, like when the tank is too hot. So I generally have to unplug mine during the summer. So when my visithem's fail, I will try one of those Hydo's !!

 

[fry_lover]

does anyone track there's with a digital thermometer to see how accurate they are ?

The visitherm's seem to come on when they are not suppose to, like when the tank is too hot. So I generally have to unplug mine during the summer. So when my visithem's fail, I will try one of those Hydo's !!

you dont need a digi thermometer, any old one will do

 

[2day]

i like my sera heater. I have had it for three years, and its still going strong.

 

[Teelie]

I prefer the submersible Visitherm "Stealth" heaters but also use Jager and Aqua-Clear as well as the old non-submersible Visitherms. So far I've been satisifed with them all though I'm still wary of non-submersibles. I hate having to keep such a close eye on them lest they slip and fall below the "do not submerge" line.

 

[SuperColey1]

I had a Fluval Tronic before I upgraded and it was very accurate as long as you knew where the dial on the top was supposed to be. i.e. if you wanted 78°C then you had to turn it to 81°C but it would always maintain thhe heat at that level so was entirely accurate, just the dial was not in the correct position!!

I upgraded to a Hydor ETH-200 external heater and it does work flawlessly but then this is a replacement of a faulty one which was a replacement of a faulty one. They can be very fragile inside.

What are supreme externals? never heard of them.

I am toying with the idea of using an undertank heating mat on my Nano project. Any comments?

Andy

 

[Jabba]

Glass heaters are old hat, intrusive, inaccurate and unreliable, expensive to run, add to that some fish are stupid an burn themselves on them if you don't guard them making them even more intrusive, I have a box of the useless things with various faults - stuck on, not heating, set at 32 but controls at 26 etc etc so not trustworthy, I wouldn't have a glass heater gift wrapped I don't care who makes it, I retain a reasonable 300W one only for emergency purposes but so far haven't needed it.

I use a Hydor Hydraset and HydroKable (under Gravel) accurate to within half a degree, uses ony 100w per 50 gallons - less if you use Renacor heating cables (my next purchase when the tank is upgraded to a 6 footer) , even and well distributed heating that is not localised to an area around a stupid glass tube so not dependent on circulation in the tank for an even temperature, cant be seen and fish can't burn themselves on it. Sized properly it is incapable of cooking the fish even if left on 24/7 with no stat (the most mine gets too is around 28 to 30 degrees, it depends on the room temperature).

The downsides - a tad expensive at first - but it looks better, works better, need to strip down the tank to install it i.e. no gravel etc.

The upsides - invisible, accurate, reliable, cheap to run, more even temperature in the tank - supposed to make plants healthier too.

Only surprise is that more people don't use this kind of heating.

 

[SuperColey1]

I originally wanted to get equipment out of the tank which is why I went for an inlune hydor heater.

I didn't go for substrate heater cables because I didn't want another wire going into the tank (Mine has only glass feeding into the tank and no cables)

With the heater mat it should do the same as a substrate cable just outside of the tank itself (If it is compatible. lol)

Andy

 

[Chri$]

Hydor ETH External Heater.

I find it to be very accurate wih the added bonus of it being on the outside of the tank and not cluttering up the inside.

 

[BINKSY]

I also use a hydor external 300 watt heater, for the same reasons as above equipment out of the tank, very pleased with it, only had it since Christmas but is pretty accurate.

Cheers Gordon

 

[KimA]

Hydor 300 external's on both tanks for me too - no problems to date