External Heaters Your opinion Needed.

[nicholas76]

Hi all,

Those with experiences please post up..


External heaters is the topic!


Pros / Cons Are you happy with yours if so why / if not why etc etc

[Ben]

Hi Nick,
i have 1 hydor 300 watt external heater, it is running on a 6x14x18 tank.


Pros:

*heater is not visible within the tank.
*keeps and even temp through out the whole tank
*easy to install

Cons:
*must be connected to an external cannister filter
*cannister filter must be a moderate flow and not too high
*if the cannister stops pumping water i have heard they can over heat and cook the element rendering it useless

overall i give them 8.5 out of 10

HTH

Ben

[chrissyoscar]

I agree with Ben except I'm pretty sure the external Hydors have an auto cut out if the cannister fails and the temp starts to rise to high on the heater.

[Ben]

Yes you are right Oscar! they will switch themselves off if the water flow stops passing through the unit.

cheers
Ben

[apalsson]

Another con is that the connection is normally only for 16mm hose diameter or so, making them unsuitable for larger filters with 20mm or 24mm hose diameter

[revkev]

I have a hydor external heater connected to a aquaone 2400 ltr/hr canister filter just use a tepiece with the same size as the canister hose and the side piece same size as the heater hose problem solved.
Revkev

[G-1000]

External heaters are awesome.

I got a 200w hydor, on a 3 foot - and it does the trick really well.

If you have a canister and you want a nice heater - go get one.

G

[spencer]

Hi Nick
I have a Hydor 300 watt external on my 4x2x2 and it is very stable
I would recommend it
Cheers Max

[Dee]

Hi All,

Anyone know the minimal and maximum flow rate of the 300w model ? I can't find any info anywhere :?

Cheers,

Dee.

[dreamer]

i dont think there is min/max rate for it. should be fine with most canisters if not all

[DiscusMad]

your in luck I still have the box

i'll scan the box and try to post it

[DiscusMad]

I think this is the info you are after I just love mine

aorry have a new scanner that I trying to figure to scan to post grrr

going to get that hammer soon :?

[DiscusMad]

OK OK OK I'll go read the manual

[DiscusMad]

try try again lol

and yes i had a look at the book :roll:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c286/discusmad/img007.jpg

I hope u can make that out

[dreamer]

why dont you just read and tell what is the recommended min/max flow rate instead of posting 'hard to read' image? wouldnt that be just easier?

[Merrilyn]

LOL good try discusmad, but it's still a bit difficult to read. I can't quite make out the details.

[weird]

Hydor :thumb

[DiscusMad]

why dont you just read and tell what is the recommended min/max flow rate instead of posting 'hard to read' image? wouldnt that be just easier?

well I am sorry but I am trying to learn to do this stuff its like trying to learn stuff you never have done before with very new equipment

[Ben]

No problems DiscusMad,
i know how tricky computers and there equipment can be!
When you have it worked out that would be great! as i would be interested to know some more about them. :thumb

cheers
Ben

[DiscusMad]

on the back of the box it says
Strong shock-resistant components. If there is no water flow through the ETH, the PTC system will avoid temperature increase. The ETH system avoids temperature variations caused by bad water circulation

[DiscusMad]

http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0SQCmAmYVkBnyWKaV26Ru4NOIkpiG03uBtBkTHQLp27ltTMKza GLVylhdRBAn3bo4b!4m087*0qdaTbl6VPGMBym8Sn0X*JaRFjJ sJCdVrN3EXk4JY4p36Q/img000.bmp?dc=4675547880935119189

gave up posting on another site and doing it that way :roll:

[DiscusMad]

did it work?

cause i give up

[Dee]

Heya DiscusMad :D

apreciate the trouble you went too mate ! :D :D :D

just thought I would ask again, but there must be a max flow rate on these ???

cheers,

Dee.

[chrissyoscar]

I don't think the flow rate makes a difference. If you think about it the faster the flow rate the more times the water is turned over and the slower the flow rate the less times the tank water is turned over. The water still should get heated equally no matter if it's a slow or fast flow rate cannister.
I have one of these hydors which I no loner use but when it was used I had it heating a 4x14x18 tank. That tank was in the garage with a 1200lph cannister and it kept the temp up nicely except on the very cold winter nights as the garage had no insulation.

[nicholas76]

excellent stuff!

Thanks everyone.

happy to see there arent to many negative issues with the item.

[DiscusMad]

I have heard that if there is a problem with it it will show within the first 3 weeks so you can get a replacment one if it happens

[oscar]

I don't think the flow rate makes a difference. If you think about it the faster the flow rate the more times the water is turned over and the slower the flow rate the less times the tank water is turned over. The water still should get heated equally no matter if it's a slow or fast flow rate cannister.


This is not true. There will be an optimum flow rate for the heater. But at the risk of getting too technical, it will depend on the temperature difference between your tank and the surrounding air, so it will vary constantly.

Chrissyoscar, the reason your heater switches on and off is because the tank gives some of its higher heat value off to the atmosphere with lower heat. If the tank is releasing more joules of energy per second (watts) than your heater can transfer into the water as it flows through, you'll never get anywhere, or if the ratio is too small, then the heater will be very inefficient. I knwo what the automatic assumption will be here, and it is not as simple as using the 300W rating of the heater to run your calcs.

My only suggestion would be to post the query on other forums and see what it turns over.

[Dee]

Hey All,

Just thought I would post that I have had one of the 300W InLine Hydor's running on a 1050lph Eheim for about 3 weeks now on my 4x18x18 and it's been as solid as a rock with a stable temp. I would highly recommend these unite to any one wanting to use one. :thumb

Cheers,

Dee :)