heater recomendations?

[dartfrog]

So I need to get a new heater for my tank...total water volume is about 150gal. I've heard too many horror stories about heaters failing so I want to get a good one. What brands are the most trusted? How many watts should I get? It will be plugged into an Apex controller if that makes a difference.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[rolo65]

IMO they're all good and all bad....it mostly depends on the batch from what I've noticed....I've had stealth heaters and never had a problem but have heard bad things about them....had hydor heaters and did...have a finnex now and haven't yet...heard bad and good about almost all of them....so far I'm liking the finnex though....heard the Won brothers heaters were pretty good though....no personal experience with those tho

 

[gnashty]

whatever you go with get 2 - say you need a 400w heater, get 2 200w for redundancy. Mostly the problems are them failing or sticking on. if you have 2 then if one fails you still have the other. if one gets stuck on then you have the controller to shut it off...

Heaters are most dangerous in an uncontrolled environment or depending solely on the thermostat installed in the heater itself.

 

[jef4y]

gnashty;578549 wrote: whatever you go with get 2 - say you need a 400w heater, get 2 200w for redundancy. Mostly the problems are them failing or sticking on. if you have 2 then if one fails you still have the other. if one gets stuck on then you have the controller to shut it off...

Heaters are most dangerous in an uncontrolled environment or depending solely on the thermostat installed in the heater itself.

Tattoo this on someone.

You have the controller, which is the biggest part. Now separate the load to 2 heaters. Set both heater thermostats slightly above your cut-off point and you've significantly limited your exposure to most common heater malfunctions/failures.

IMHO, every heater WILL fail. It's a matter of when.

 

[enderg60]

if he is using it with a controller there is little to no danger.

Since you are using a controller go with a bare element titanium heater, either titanium brand, or finnex or blueline.

 

[jef4y]

EnderG60;578553 wrote: if he is using it with a controller there is little to no danger.

Since you are using a controller go with a bare element titanium heater, either titanium brand, or finnex or blueline.

There's still danger of one heater malfunctioning and not coming on. If you have 2 small heaters at least you'll get some heat while you sort out the problem instead of waking up to a 68 degree tank.

 

[gnashty]

JeF4y;578610 wrote: There's still danger of one heater malfunctioning and not coming on. If you have 2 small heaters at least you'll get some heat while you sort out the problem instead of waking up to a 68 degree tank.

or even throwing voltage

 

[rbredding]

Dartfrog;578534 wrote: So I need to get a new heater for my tank...total water volume is about 150gal. I've heard too many horror stories about heaters failing so I want to get a good one. What brands are the most trusted? How many watts should I get? It will be plugged into an Apex controller if that makes a difference.

Thanks,
Kevin

if you've got a controller....

pick up a titanium heating element like a WAN Brothers or Blue Line titanium heating element (I think that Marine Designs has a 200W in stock) and use your controller to run it. first of all, you don't need redundancy in a titanium strip heater, it's stupid, plug it in, it's hot, unplug it, it cools down.

the biggest thing that you've got going for you is that you can set it to fallback OFF, then if for any reason your controller isn't working, it won't cook your tank..

I've NEVER heard about anyone freaking out because their heater didn't come on and their tank is cold... it's ALWAYS... "help, my tank is 90*"..


no need to split up the wattage (between two heating elements) either..





IF, for some silly reason you're still worried about your heater getting stuck in the OFF position, then set your Metal Halide (or T5's) to come on if your temps drop under 76*

 

[rbredding]

what'd you decide to do?

 

[dartfrog]

Thanks to everyone for the advice...i'm probably going to get just one heater,and i'm thinking the simpler the better, since i've got the controller. I haven't had a chance to look at the brands y'all recommended, but i'll do that tonight. Thanks again.