Eheim In-line heater

[rburrowes]

Hey Guys,

Does anyone have information/experience on in-line heaters. I'm liking the idea of connecting it to a Eheim 2217 so it hidden from the tank.

Cheers

Rob

[BobbyBruce]

Hi Rob,

Don't know about the in-line heaters. Last time up I purchased a thermo-heater and I have to say it saves a lot of trouble as well as de-cluttering the tank.

Regards,

Bob

[swampy1972]

Why not DIY one Rob? I recently did one and have to say it's one of the easiest DIY projects you'll ever do..

Here's mine to the left of the plumbing setup http://www.aquariumlife.com.au/showthread.php/34303-5ft-Planted-Display/page7

You can buy the water proof collet that holds the heater and seals the unit from most electrical supply places. Other than that, there's no special hardware required. Just some PVC pipe and irrigation fittings and plumbers glue from bunnings.

My 300w heater keeps my 5x2x2 open top tank at 27C pretty comfortably.

[rburrowes]

Thanks guys, hadnt really thought about a DIY, I'll have a look at your article swampy and see how I go. I'll keep you updated.

Cheers
Rob

[ILLUSN]

they work ok but they dont have the surface area of a jager so a 300w hydor inline is only really good enough for a 300L tank. you could insulate the hose from the heater to the tank if you like to save some loss from the tube to the air but i think your better off with a heater in the tank itself (less wasted heat).

[brad_v]

I had to return 2 out of 2 hydor inline heaters. Might have been a bad batch?

[swifto]

U could get a ehiem 2180 thermo,but it will cost $$$,as well as a bit of sweetening up the misses for her ok. :lol:

[swampy1972]

they work ok but they dont have the surface area of a jager so a 300w hydor inline is only really good enough for a 300L tank. you could insulate the hose from the heater to the tank if you like to save some loss from the tube to the air but i think your better off with a heater in the tank itself (less wasted heat).

Have to disagree with you there ILLUSN.

Mine is built using a Jager 300w, so heats my tank (500L) very well. The housing can also be made with a larger diameter, causing the flow to slow within it and thereby absorbing more heat due to the increased contact time.

Bringing the outlet pipe diameter back down to it's normal size will then give you back the normal flow if you require current in the tank.

[ILLUSN]

LOL Swampy your DIY inline heater FAR exceed the performence of the hydors! hats off mate very neat job. when your redy for an upgrade i have a spare shego or 2 around I'd love to see you DIY an inline housing for them.

[swampy1972]

LOL Swampy your DIY inline heater FAR exceed the performence of the hydors! hats off mate very neat job. when your redy for an upgrade i have a spare shego or 2 around I'd love to see you DIY an inline housing for them.

Thanks mate :wink:

Please excuse my ignorance, but what's a "shego" :?:

[ILLUSN]

Eheim = Mercedes Benz
Shego = rolls Royce / Maybach

[swampy1972]

Do you have a link to them so I could see one?

Feel free to post one down. I'm sure I'll be able to fashion something :wink: :D

[LEG-IT]

http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=5632

http://www.sewatec.de/heaters/schego/

quite popular amongst SW enthusiasts

[swampy1972]

Geez!! No wonder I haven't seen one of these before. I can't afford to look at the advertisement let alone buy one!! :P

I guess ILLUSN won't be giving me one to experiment with :wink:

[ILLUSN]

Lol they arnt cheap but they are awesome they pick up where the Jager's leave off and I've never had a shego thermo controller drift. Duran is great but titanium is just a different class. These don't break even when you drop them onto concrete.

[Stingray]

Lol they arnt cheap but they are awesome they pick up where the Jager's leave off and I've never had a shego thermo controller drift. Duran is great but titanium is just a different class. These don't break even when you drop them onto concrete.

What are the benefits of the schego's ? Mainly interested from a power efficiency standpoint. I run a few Eheim Thermo filters these days. Do the schego's have any benefits over the Eheim thermo's ?
I can't say this with certainty, but in my experience the dupla heating were very efficient. Perhaps more efficient than a Jeager or an Eheim thermo in overall power consumption.

[ILLUSN]

bassicly any haeter is a resitor, it converts electrical energy into heat via resistance.

that being said any heater will convert 1w of energy into 1w of heat, eheims come into their own due the larger surafce area and the superior materials (duran vs glass).

shego i like beacuse they are titanium, no cracks no leaks and you can drop them without worry.
They have superior external thermostats that dont seem to drift (unlike eheims which seem to need correction atleast once every 9 months) and if ever i did want to bump a system up a degree or 2 i wouldn't have to get my hands wet.
They have higher wattage so they can heat tanks faster, most of my systems (700L) need 2 300w jagers due to the outside winter temp getting so low (-3C my fish room is insulated but external and with 1 heater the tanks can crash down to 20C at night). I can make do with 1 600w shego instead of 2 jagers.

if you want to concider efficent heating look into using an inverter reverse cycle airconditioner, that way 1w of electricity can generate 4w of heat. I'm installing one on my fish room now to see if next winters bill stays below $2000

[Stingray]

Thanks ILLUSN, you are always full of wisdom. My Eheim thermos are the filters 2180, 2324 and 2173 with the integrated heating system. One of these days I will do a heating comparison between an Eheim 2180, dupla heating cables 250w and a 300w jaeger. Run each for a week during winter and see which one uses the most power at 25deg as measured by my power metre. I might even do a 4th week with a 300w via aqua heater to see if the jaeger 300w really is more energy efficient than the 300w via aqua, as claimed by Eheim/Jaeger.