Orca Heaters

[ashley]

Hi Everyone'

Has anybody had experience with Orca heaters, I recently purchased a 300 watt on Ebay and it wont reach temperature, not happy. I guess it was cheap so I get what I deserve. I have it wound up to max on its dial, and it is only reaching 24c in my 4ft. it should reach at least 32c, I would have thought.

Any comments?

Ashley :x

[Ben]

Hi Ashley,

I have not used the "Orca" brand before but one thing i should mention just be very careful and if possible avoid using the cheaper brands in your Aquarium.

I have and use some other cheaper brands but i will only use them in my 200 litre water aging barrels. So if the heater goes "pear shaped" there will be no harm done. And in the last year i several have hit the bin!

When buying an aquarium heater try and go for the one with the longest warranty eg. 2 years.

Cheers
Ben

[ashley]

Hey Ben,

What do you use, and what would you recommend? Should I look at a 400 watt or stay with a 300 in a better know brand.

Ashley

[Proteus]

Not cheap but I swear by Eheim - Jager heaters

They are one of the few heaters that you can self calibrate (not that it is necessary though).

They arent the smallest heaters, but they will heat a much larger tank capacity than others of the same wattage, i.e. a 250w Jager will adequately heat a 600L tank, aside from this being the manufacturers claim, I have tried this myself and it is true.

[Ben]

I have used many aquarium heaters.

The ones, which have worked very well for me, are

* Fluval tronic heaters
* Hydor internal and external heaters
* Aqua one glass and stainless steel heaters.

I have never had a heater stay on and "cook" the fish but have had them simply stop working and the water goes cold.
As a back up, some good quality thermometers have an alarm function where they will "beep" if the set temperature goes too high or drops.

I am not sure what the volume of your tank is. but if it is under 300 litres a single good quality 300 or 400 watt heater would be fine. As we are both in Melbourne, come winter time the air temparature can be extremely cold if in a non heated room.

Cheers
Ben

[ashley]

Thanks Ben & Proteus for your recomendations.

The tank is 285 ltr, I have a suspision that it has been calibrated incorrectly at the factory, this is why it isnt reaching temperature.

It is also a sealed unit so i cant attempt to calibrate myself. This is a warning to other beginners that trying to get out of things cheap isnt always the way to go.

Ashley

[marg]

Ben,

Where do you purchase the Thermometers with the Alarm Feature?

They sound like a really good Investment.,

Regards,

Marg.

[Ben]

Hi Marg,

i actually bought these from Oscar on this forum.
if i remember correctly they cost around $40ea.
I will ask him for more infomation.

I took a photo (a bad one :oops:) of one to give you an idea what it looks like.

they have an internal tank temp reading as well as a room temp reading.

Cheers
Ben

[marg]

Ben,

i really like the idea of the Alarm - and the price sounds reasonable too - would be interested tyo hear more after you contact Oscar.,

Regards,

Marg.

[jim from sydney]

i am interested too..... :idea: :idea: