Hydor External Heater

[jagz]

hi everyone right im thinking of getting one of the hydor external heaters for my rio 400 i would be getting the 300w model, but i need to know can i connect this to my fluval fx5 and will it be a tight fit, ie no leaking

all help would be great including the performance of this heater

cheers

jagz

 

[arobinson1984]

I have the 300w model and it requires 16mm tubing.

What size pipes does the fluval use?

Andy

 

[jagz]

thats stuffed that then it is about 25mm it is also the ribbed pipe so i was wondering aswell if that would make a difference

cheers for your response

jagz

 

[Geoff1991]

You can get reducers/enlargers like this you know...

 

[saz326]

You could always splice on another type of hose on using hose clips to secure them - as long as the hoseclip has something relatively hard to press against.

Im wondering tho - the FX5 has that diameter hosing for a reason - to get the waterflow it needs. If you did fit a narrower section of piping or reduce the piping so that you could install the heater - you wouldnt achieve the same flowrate, so the filter output would be decreased.

 

[arobinson1984]

You can get reducers like geoff mentioned but I wouldn't advise it. Narrowing the pipe by 9mm won't do the filter any good as it is trying to circulate 2500l an hour

Andy

 

[jagz]

thank you for all the advice guys im going to leave it i think as you make a good point about reducing the pipe and it doing no favours for the filter i will have to suffer having the heaters in the tank me thinks

cheers

jagz

 

[sianuk]

thank you for all the advice guys im going to leave it i think as you make a good point about reducing the pipe and it doing no favours for the filter i will have to suffer having the heaters in the tank me thinks

cheers

jagz

Hi jagz
I have just fitted the 300w Hydor to my fluval 305 that also has the ribbed tubing and i had no problems at all in fact its nice fit when you run the union type nut on the heater down on to it, i did use a small amount of aquarium sealer for good measure . Just for your info in the instructions they suggest that the heater is fitted in the vertical position hope this helps good luck

 

[jagz]

thank you sian but i cant run one on my fx5 because the pipe is 25mm and the heater requires a 16mm pipe i think , so my pipe is far to big thank you any way

jagz

 

[zesty]

By fitting the heater you will be restricting the water flow from your filter regardless of any hose reducers you decide to fit as the heater itself only has 16mm fittings.
As an option could you not get yourself a water pump and fit the heater to this instead? You can get pond pumps that will take 16mm hoses and you could fit the heater inline to that instead. I bought one off ebay for about £17.00 delivered and it can be used in or out the tank inline. I use it for my water changes and have fitted 16mm hose to it.

 

[Geoff1991]

By fitting the heater you will be restricting the water flow from your filter regardless of any hose reducers you decide to fit as the heater itself only has 16mm fittings.
As an option could you not get yourself a water pump and fit the heater to this instead? You can get pond pumps that will take 16mm hoses and you could fit the heater inline to that instead. I bought one off ebay for about £17.00 delivered and it can be used in or out the tank inline. I use it for my water changes and have fitted 16mm hose to it.

That is a very good idea.

Youve got my thinking now, if you pumped your new water through an external heater when doing a water change. Would it not heat it to a perfect temperature. Or would it not be in contact long enough to heat the water to the right temperature?

 

[jmkgreen]

No-where near enough contact time with the heater.

I have a 2075 with an ETH300 - took about 12 hours to heat the water to the desired temperature. That's many tankfuls of water.

 

[shrimply]

No-where near enough contact time with the heater.

I have a 2075 with an ETH300 - took about 12 hours to heat the water to the desired temperature. That's many tankfuls of water.

Yup, second that. When I first got mine, I did a 50% water change on my 120l. And thought ach I'll just top it up with cold water instead of running between the tap and the tank trying to make sure the water isn't too hot or cold. It took ages to get warm luckily the fish didn't seem too bothered. Makes me wonder if I worry too much about water changes.


But it is a brilliant bit of kit, although I had a lot of bother trying to squeeze the tubes from my eheim 2213 over the 300w model. I love it never have to worry about knocking the heater off of knocking the dial when doing water changes, and the filter and heater can be left running through the whole process.

 

[Geoff1991]

I just turn the flow down slightly when doing water changes. For some reason when the water line drops below my spray bar it manages to shoot water over the front of the tank and onto a very confused looking fishkeeper...

Its happened a couple of times Until i got into the habit of turning the flow down a bit

Edit:

Some people do cold water changes anyway, i shall when i get fish. Most fish love it, mimics in the wild when it rains and stuff. And encourages some fish to spawn.

 

[zesty]

I agree that using a pump with a heater would be no good for pre-heating your water changes as the water has no time with the heater but it should be fine to use as per my original suggestion.