Internal Heaters.

[magical trevor]

Good evening folks,

Not been on the forum in a while but I need some advice. I did have a 246L aquarium. I have now upgraded to a lovely slightly larger aquarium from Maidenhead Aquatics, A beautifully made solid oak stand and lid and a more substantial 380L capacity.

ATM I'm running an Eheim ProII and a small Rena Xp2 which isn't my ideal set up, today that has all changed thanks to my awesome wife. I have the Fluval FX6 in my spare room ready to fit.

Now onto my heating question.

Basically I'm running a Hydor Inline 300W and a Sera 200W internal. Now I don't really like internal heaters but I can't run my Hydor anymore as the FX6 pipework is a biggar diameter than what I have ATM. I had thought about buying another Sera heater as I've had no issues with it and IMHO its a good heater. Honestly though if I have to have an internal I would actually like just one. After a quick search I can only find up to 300W Sera heater. I'm looking for an internal around 500w anyone got any suggestions where I could get a decent powerful internal heater thats not cheap eBay chinese rubbish as I don want it to fail and cook my fish.

Sorry for the wall of text but I feel description is always better if it contains everything.

Cheers

M.T

 

[ShinySideUp]

Why would you need a 500W heater? I run my 640 litre tank on one 300W jobby although it has to be said the tank is in a living room where a multifuel stove runs all year round, but even so 500W seems a lot.

 

[magical trevor]

The way I look at it I may be wrong but if the heaters more powerful it'll warm up the surrounding water quicker so in turn spend less time on and it wont be constantly on like a smaller less powerful heater. And I have my tank in a cold corner of the living room. But if a smaller heater would keep it at a steady temp then fair enough what would you recommend for a new heater?

 

[Ch4rlie]

A 400w heater will do the job nicely if that makes things easier, otherwise would go with your plan of using 2 x 200w ones.
 
My rule of thumb tends to be 1w per litre.
 
And you're absolutely correct in that larger heater will warm up more volume of water more efficiently than smaller heaters as smaller heaters have to work much harder to maintain tank tempertaures so are more likely to fail sooner rather than later.

 

[magical trevor]

Ok thanks for the reply. I really only want one heater in the tank as I feel personally they look a bit unsightly hence why I bought the hydro in the first place. Would u recommend any particular 400w as the only bigger heaters tend to be cheap chinese rubbish.

Cheers

 

[Ch4rlie]

In an ideal world inline heater would be your answer but as already mentioned, it wont work with the F6

 
Are you UK or USA based?
 
Edit - thats assuming if you are from UK or USA, sorry if this is wrong.

 

[magical trevor]

UK based. I had looked at the "super fish ultra safe" line of heaters according g to PKF THE 400w version would heat tanks in the 400L to 600L range so a 300w would be perfect but it's a company I've never heard of and there's only two reviews on the PKF site it does get a good review.
Here's the heater.
http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=6217

 

[Ch4rlie]

Heaters do seem to be changing and becoming more powerful in last year or two.
 
Have had a quick look at Eheim Jager Heaters who have a good rep, and their 300w heater apparently heats 600 - 1000 litre tanks. Not sure if this is marketing hype or is realistic.
 
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eheim-Jager-300w-Aquarium-Heater-Thermostat-Fish-Tank-Tropical-Water-Heater-/320838593299?_trksid=p2054897.l4275
 
And even the 200w from Eheim jager says has a 300 to 400 litre capacity. Though at the lowest I would go personally IF their stats are accurate and anything to go by, would be 250w and that apparently says 400 - 600 litres
 
http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Eheim-Jager-Aquarium-Thermostat-Heater-250W-/230729881951?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item35b892995f
 
 
My two cents worth anyway.
 
I hope someone who has any of these ehem heaters will comment if these are anywhere near accurate as they say.

 

[ShinySideUp]

In the six footer (actual water volume 600 litres) mentioned above i use an Eheim Jager 300W heater in one corner but in a flow of water from my FX5. It works fine and is easy to set up to temperature however the least that must be submersed is 18" and they say it should be mounted vertically. Mine is almost completely submerged but my tank is two feet deep. While it probably should not be horizontal because of the way the coils are wound I would think it is not an absolute that it is completely upright.

 

[magical trevor]

Eheim Hager it will be I've borrowed a heater for now. My aquarium is 2 ft deep and just under 4ft long. Got the fx6 set up and I must say I am impressed. Worth the extra IMHO. Thanks for the info folks.

 

[nortonmad213]

i dont suppose you'd feel like selling the hydor by any chance?
i cant vouch  for the ehiem heaters. had mine for a little over 2 years and never a problem.

 

[magical trevor]

I may sell yes. It is full working order. It's a 300w. PM me. And we can work out a price.