Your heater experience..

[Jewlz]

Hi all!
Our tank is being delivered in the next hour and we purchased a Marineland VisaTherm 400watt heater..I plan to purchase a back up heater or may actually make the VisaTherm the back up..

Whats your personal experience with your past and present heater? What would you recommend?

Thanks for you input!
Julie :)

[ILLUSN]

the only heaters i've used in recent years that have decent reliability have been jager's. to be honest i still prefer the old style "green" type to the new versions.

[Hollowman]

I use a 500w titanium heater on my system, reliable, unbreakable. I cant remember the make right now doh!!

[Mickey C]

One heater I've been disappointed with is a new Fluval - it seems to want to run a lot cooler compared to my old Rena heater (both 200W). A little scary you have to have a brand new heater near maximum to maintain a temperature my old heater could do on less than half for over 5 years...

My jager heater is the best of the bunch though, except it isn't shipped with a cage (which my Rena was). I've also seen many Aqua One heaters go for a very long time with minimal maintence - usually in the scummiest tank you can imagine.

[Mr Wild]

I have all jagers in the fish room but my display tank in the lounge has the hydor external heaters - LOVE them too.
Keep the temp right on the button - external so you have nothing in the aquarium and they have never missed a beat!

[taksan]

I no longer have any in tank heaters ...I use Eheim thermofilters exclusively

[Karen A]

HI

what a great idea, what is the price range and who stocks them

Thanks
Karen

[Ghoti]

Another Jager lover here. Twice the price of fleabay cheapos, but easily 4 times better!

Cheers,
Scott

[Jewlz]

Thanks for everyones input!

I bought a Jager, less wattage than the VisaTherm? I bought a 250w Jager for up to 159 gallons, currently using a 400w Marineland VisaTherm for up to 120 gallons...hmmm does that seem strange?

[Ghoti]

Thanks for everyones input!

I bought a Jager, less wattage than the VisaTherm? I bought a 250w Jager for up to 159 gallons, currently using a 400w Marineland VisaTherm for up to 120 gallons...hmmm does that seem strange?

I was a little hesitant at first. . .but they are significantly longer than cheapo heaters designed for the same water volume therefore having greater surface area for the heat transfer to take place.

Makes sense when you think about it 8-)

Cheers,
Scott

[AHC]

Only used jagermiesters and the hydor external heaters. I Loved the hydor more then the jager.

[Hassles]

FWIW

I consider the large Jagers to be pretty good but am less impressed with the smaller (lower wattage) units. I have come to use lots of Aquarworld units which I am also impressed with but....newer purchases (eg recent models) have ridiculously short cables which are simply terrible. Water circulation is also an important consideration, a great heater will struggle with "temperature control" if the water ain't moving. My brief experiences with the Rena $martheater have thus far been positive but I can't justify the expense - perhaps time will alter that opinion.