what heater do you use?

[fungia]

i need a new heater, any recommendations?

 

[Anonymous]

Won titanium but I do not use their thermostat - I use a Ranco Dual stage controller to control the heater.

 

[Unarce]

Visi-Therm Stealth. Aquarium Systems' heaters have been just as reliable for me as their powerheads, which says a lot :wink:

 

[Anonymous]

I use the Won Pro titanium. I do use their thermostat, I will probably pay dearly for that one day.

 

[Anonymous]

I use the Won Pro titanium. I do use their thermostat, I will probably pay dearly for that one day.

 

[Anonymous]

I use the Won Pro titanium. I do use their thermostat, I will probably pay dearly for that one day.

I did thats why I got the controller.

 

[Anonymous]

Visi_therm as well, they have a lifetime warranty

 

[Len]

Rob, I'd use the controller as a safety measure. Set it to something like 86 degrees so that if your other controller should malfunction or suffer user error, the heater won't keep chugging away uncontrolled. This is how I boiled my tank.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes that is what I do. The heaters thremstat is set for 81 the Ranco is set for 79.

sfsuphysics - It does not matter about the warranty when the tank is boiling because the cheap thermostat fails.

 

[Anonymous]

Well I wasn't thinking so much a boiling tank, I was thinking more along the lines of a fault where you get zapped when you put a finger with a slight cut on it in the water.

A big issue is lots of people give advice to get larger heaters because they won't have to work as much, the problem is if they malfunction you get boiling water syndrome, if you properly size your heaters they won't have the capability of raising your tank temp too long, that and they really will not work that much more if any.

 

[SnowManSnow]

I use via aqua titanium heater

b

 

[ufotofu]

I use a Hydor Theo in my sump. It seems to keep the tank right where I set it. I like the Visa-Therm Stealth, though.

 

[bleedingthought]

I use a visitherm but I'm not sure if it ever needs to be on.

 

[MartinE]

I use Ebo Jager heaters I have not had any problems with them yet.

 

[mr_X]

i'd like to add another question to this thread: along with what heater, how much wattage do you use?
do you follow a watts per gallon rule, or feel that overkill is good, like in the case of skimmers?
i was using visi-therm stealth, until i got quite the shock, so i have recently switched to Rena Cal Top Light Excel Heaters.
i have 450 watts between sump and display. (about 180 gallons TV).

 

[Anonymous]

I have a ton of various heaters though I am going to try the new aqua medic ones next.

I also have a bunch of the wons and I have to say IME they are garbage. Every single one I have malfunctioned. Every single one I sold malfunctioned. They were replaced quickly by won, but each of those soon malfunctioned as well. This was both the I and II models.

 

[Anonymous]

Dang, I have Wons that are years old, I probably own six of them, and have not once had one malfunction. I guess I have ticking time bombs 8O

 

[Anonymous]

Hey, I'm only one small fraction of the population using them. Gotta look at the bigger picture. I'm only relaying my first hand experiences. Besides, of all the ones I had or sold, they only lasted a few months each time.

 

[ChrisRD]

Although I've never had much trouble with glass Visitherms or Ebos, I prefer not relying on the built-in thermostats too. I like titanium heaters, but I don't trust most of the commonly available ones. I'm currently using a bare Finnex titanium (no thermostat) on a Ranco controller which is working well.

I had a Won titanium, but the temp controller died after less than a year of use (stopped making heat). I cut the controller off and wired the element directly to a plug - works fine on the Ranco.

 

[bleedingthought]

Although I've never had much trouble with glass Visitherms or Ebos, I prefer not relying on the built-in thermostats too. I like titanium heaters, but I don't trust most of the commonly available ones. I'm currently using a bare Finnex titanium (no thermostat) on a Ranco controller which is working well.

I had a Won titanium, but the temp controller died after less than a year of use (stopped making heat). I cut the controller off and wired the element directly to a plug - works fine on the Ranco.

Chris, you have tank update pictures?