# Heater Recommendations



## PitBully (Apr 14, 2009)

Hello All. Another question for you guys/gals. I have a 90 gallon tank that I'm currently cycling. I have yet to purchase a heater because I'm not sure which wattage and brand/model to go with. Please give me the names of good brands for heaters. I want one that is dependable and wont break down on me a month from now.

Thank you in advance


----------



## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

I would go with 2 150 watt visitherm stealth heaters. This is more than enough but won't cook your tank quick if one fails.


----------



## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

Have you seen the Reviews icon?
Definitely your best option for equipment information.
------> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/reviews/ca ... ?CatID=701


----------



## PitBully (Apr 14, 2009)

Thanks, I'm new to the site. Thanks for pointing that out.


----------



## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

id go with a stealth all the way :thumb:


----------



## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

No problem *PitBully* , welcome to the forum.
Usually the best way to go is to check out which heaters get the best ratings and reviews.
Then take into account the value and you can narrow that down a bit.

If you still are undecided between one or the other, you could ask for input from the members here on the boards.
You can also create a poll type thread and get some solid input that way.


----------



## PitBully (Apr 14, 2009)

Thanks SmellsFishy, Brant and Under Control!

I just read some reviews and looks like the Visi Stealth is the way to go.

Thanks again!


----------



## jhunbj (May 16, 2005)

I have both the Visi -Stealth and Ebo Jager and would highly recommend either one.


----------



## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

PitBully said:


> Thanks, I'm new to the site. Thanks for pointing that out.


I am not new, and I don't fine the reviews helpful, so I don't think your missing out on much.

The reason I don't find the reviews helpful is that they are often misleading and can become out of date. Responses to new threads are often more informative, interactive, and up to date.

Do a search on this forum for Visitherm and you will find that there are a significant group of people that don't like them.

Personally, if money is not the only factor, I highly recommend taking a look at the Hydor ETH in-line heaters. The Hydors are so much better than the Visitherms... sooo much better. In a 90 the 300W would probably be recommended but I think you could get away with the 200W model no problem. I would also do a search on this forum for hydor eth to see what people have to say about them as well.


----------



## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

I would tend to agree that the reviews often are of little help. What I look for are a number of 
current negative reviews. Kind of like looking for complaints against a company with the BBB, or 
lots of negative recent feedback on an Aquabid or eBay seller. Only problem with checking the 
posts is that you only get input from the few that saw and responded to a post. That can be 
misleading too. I wish there was an independent testing group for aquarium products. I think we 
could get a lot of garbage products and useless stuff off the market. I've used both visitherm and 
ebo jaeger and had problems with both. Most are fine, but you can get some lemons too.



> Personally, if money is not the only factor, I highly recommend taking a look at the Hydor ETH in-line heaters. The Hydors are so much better than the Visitherms... sooo much better.


What about the other Hydor heaters that aren't the inline type?


----------



## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

*boredatwork*, I disagree.
I just randomly checked a few products and reviews have all been made for them within the last 1-2 months.
I wouldn't call that outdated.
Sure some of the reviews go back some years but I would like to know if a product was good then and still good now?

I do understand that not all individual reviews are helpful.
However, as a body of work the compilation of reviews is a nice tool that can prevent the production of endless amounts of threads about the same thing.


----------



## Bwelte01 (Sep 1, 2007)

PitBully said:


> Hello All. Another question for you guys/gals. I have a 90 gallon tank that I'm currently cycling. I have yet to purchase a heater because I'm not sure which wattage and brand/model to go with. Please give me the names of good brands for heaters. I want one that is dependable and wont break down on me a month from now.
> 
> Thank you in advance


Hey PitBully, I agree with Boredatwork. The hydor ETH inline models are awesome. I was a little sceptical but I bought one for my 55g and it keeps the temp. rock solid. I use a stick on the glass thermometer and a old-school model to ensure the temp. readings are correct and both read a constant 78. They are a little spendy, but they are well worth it.


----------



## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

prov356 said:


> What about the other Hydor heaters that aren't the inline type?


I am not sure if that is a suggestion for the OP or a question to me. I will pretend its a question to me.

I have not used any of the other Hydor products. I actually think I have read bad reviews on them in the past.

Personally I had two Visiterm 250W heaters in my 125g and I could never get them to consistently keep the water temperature where I wanted it. I still use one of them to heat water in a plastic tub to maintain temperatures in a fermentation tub and I still have the same issue. I have also seen this complaint several times. After a while I just assumed that this is how heaters are and you just have to live with it.

Then I got a 300W Hydor ETH. The reason I bought it was to get the heaters out of the tank, since I don't have a sump. If you had asked me at the time I would have just guessed it would perform the same as the Visitherms. Well, I was wrong. I literally set it up, plugged it in, set the thermostat dial to the actual temperature I wanted, and since then the temperature of my water has been rock solid (except for last week when it went to about 80 because of the heat wave).

Honestly it has been a completely different, and much better, experience.


----------



## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

And I believe that the search function is way more valuable than the reviews section. I never use the reviews section anymore - I have never found it useful. And when I say I don't like the reviews I am referring specifically to the one on this site. I use reviews all the time for other things - I just don't find the one of this site very useful for whatever reason.


----------



## csnake (Feb 22, 2009)

I also have a 90 gallon and have been using the Rena Smartheater 300 watt heater for a while now and I'm very happy with it. The best part, if you have a canaster filter, you can hook it up to the intake tube, so your filter sucks water through the heater, which gets rid of a piece of hanging plastic in your tank!


----------



## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

boredatwork said:


> I am not sure if that is a suggestion for the OP or a question to me. I will pretend its a question to me.


It was to you. Thanks for the feedback.


----------



## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

A heater with definitely help the cycle along.

Two heaters is weird, unless used with a temp controller.... though I haven't played around with it enough.

I've had good luck with the Stealth heaters. We've got a handful of them in different flavors for different tanks. I like not seeing orange lights, and with a black background, it's hard to see unless you're looking for it.

Surprisingly, the 250w that I bought for a 75g tank a couple years ago is now keeping the 125g at a solid 80 degrees. It sits next to the inlet for the canister filter (the outlet is four feet away), so it sees good circulation... which I think is key.

-Ryan


----------



## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

RyanR said:


> A heater with definitely help the cycle along.
> 
> Two heaters is weird, unless used with a temp controller.... though I haven't played around with it enough.
> 
> ...


Using two heaters isn't weird. It is totally normal. All you have to do is set them both to the desired temp. One could be a degree lower if you wanted. No controller needed.


----------



## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> One could be a degree lower if you wanted.


If one is set lower, why would it ever come on? Is that just in case one fails?


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

prov356 said:


> > One could be a degree lower if you wanted.
> 
> 
> If one is set lower, why would it ever come on? Is that just in case one fails?


I have to agree with Prov on this one...

It is nearly impossible to set them the exact same, even setting the dials at the exact setting doesn't ensure they are calibrated the same... If one is truly set to 79* and the other at 81*... the one set to 79* will rarely if ever come on... this will give the tank owner the false impression more watts per gal is needed...

Also now there are two units in the tank that could possibly get stuck in the on position and overheat the tank...

I've always considered this an unnecessary risk with no benefit...

If both heaters could be set/calibrated to the exact same temp... then there are benefits... mainly if one gets stuck in the on position, it would be a smaller heater therefore less likely to overheat the tank to a point of causeing deaths... as well as better heat distribution (not like that's really necessary in a well circulated tank).


----------



## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

I had the ("properly" sized) stealth heaters from the 55g and 75g gallon tanks in the 125g.... both kept their respective tanks at ~78*F. Without tweaking them at all, the 125g was at like 82*F. I didn't feel like figuring it out.

Dials are an approximation and temp controllers are cheap enough, so why not?

-Ryan


----------



## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

Toby_H said:


> prov356 said:
> 
> 
> > > One could be a degree lower if you wanted.
> ...


They will in fact still turn on even if you have one set to a degree lower. Your heater allows your temp to fluctuate about a degree as it is. With mine I have calibrated(using 3 different thermometers) them so I trust the readings and settings. Having 2 smaller heaters is far less of a risk than 1 large. If the 1 smaller heater does stick on, it will take much longer than the larger heater to cook the tank. Regardless of whether they are perfectly calibrated.

I would never recommend something I haven't both tested and used in practice. Simple calibration of setting the first to the desired temp, confirming with thermometer, and then unplugging and repeating with the second would give you accurate calibration--accurate enough for aquarium purposes.


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

under_control said:


> I would never recommend something I haven't both tested and used in practice. Simple calibration of setting the first to the desired temp, confirming with thermometer, and then unplugging and repeating with the second would give you accurate calibration--accurate enough for aquarium purposes.


This is by no means to argue, and I always value user experience shared in forums... Instead it is simply to logically discuss the pros and cons of a given topic...

If we were starting with a 75 gal tank... and using two 100W heaters... and calibrating it as you suggest... we would be setting one 100 W heater in a way which serves a 75 gal tank by itself... then shutting it off... then setting the second 100W heater to serve a 75 gal tank by itself... but then when we turn on both heaters, isn't it likely that the tank would be warmer than the originally set temperature?

Per Ryan's experience noted above this would be the case... I've also had similar experiences that would suggest this would happen...

The reason I believe is behind this... the water cools off... the heater(s) turn on... when the water reaches the desired temp, the heater turns off... although the heating element remains warm (residual heat)... thus continuing to warm the water beyond the desired temp...

If the heater warmed up to the set temp and no warmer and stayed on all the time, this would not be the case. But since our aquarium heaters heat up well beyond the set temperature and have a separate thermometer monitoring water temp to turn the heating element offâ€¦ residual heat in the element becomes a concernâ€¦

This happening with two heaters will obviously heat the water a little more than this happening with one heater... The effect will only be a degree or two, which isn't the end of the world but can create a less stable temp... in the same way using too large of a heater can cause an unstable temp...

Again, not arguing, just theorizing and sharing thoughts/experiences...


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

I would also like to check... since we are wondering a bit off topic here...

PitBull... has your original inquiry been fully answered? I don't want to support your thread wondering off course if you still have questions.


----------



## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

It's an interesting discussion and It's also got me thinking through how this would work without a 
controller. You'd need two heaters that were sized so that they weren't able to raise the temp on their 
own. So, even when heater 'A' kicked on the temp continued to drop so heater 'B' kicked on as well. 
Then together they raised the temp until one reached max and shut off. Then the other would 
continue on, but the temp would drop until the second one kicked on again. So, you'd end up with 
one on all the time and the second one going on and off. You'd just have to test and be sure that one 
couldn't maintain temp on it's own.

-Or- the 'min' points for each would have to be set exactly, and very precisely the same. That requires 
more precision than an aquarium thermometer would allow you to do. And probably even more 
than the heater was designed to allow.

-Or- the temp in different areas of the tank would need to fluctuate a bit due to the circulation in the tank, 
so the water temp by one heater was different by about a degree than the temp by the other. You'd 
see them both coming on and off, but a bit erratically.

Another thought, how well do they stay calibrated? Probably varies, but I could see having to re-cal them 
occasionally.

So, I'd agree that a controller isn't 'needed', but could make things easier if you go with multiple 
heaters.


----------



## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

Toby_H said:


> under_control said:
> 
> 
> > I would never recommend something I haven't both tested and used in practice. Simple calibration of setting the first to the desired temp, confirming with thermometer, and then unplugging and repeating with the second would give you accurate calibration--accurate enough for aquarium purposes.
> ...


You are setting the heaters thermostatic shut off. Nothing more. The heater is a much simpler device than you elude to. Set it to a temp, calibrate it, and you are adjusting the thermostat, not the wattage. The wattage is constant at say, 100 watts.

Thus, you get it to shut of at 77 degrees. It will always shut off at 77 degrees unless it fails.


----------



## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

Although just occurred to me that if neither heater is able to raise the tank temp to the desired temp, you
couldn't calibrate them. Oh well, forget that idea. I really can't explain how they'd work together 
considering how they're designed to work except for variances in the tank temps or the min/max 
points of the different heaters.

Seems to me also that if one is able to raise the temp on it's own in order to calibrate, why not just use 
that one heater? Why even add the second one?


----------



## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

Toby_H said:


> under_control said:
> 
> 
> > Per Ryan's experience noted above this would be the case... I've also had similar experiences that would suggest this would happen...
> ...


I think the fist likely culprit is lack of calibrating in the first place. If I set my visitherm to 80 degrees, I get 83. Constant 83, but certainly not 80.

Even the Hydor ETH I have does not go to where I set it.

My 75 gallon tank running on two visitherm 100 watt heaters has been a constant 79 degrees for 14 months. My 90 with a 300 watt visitherm tends to have more fluctuations(enough that I switched the thermometers to see if I was crazy). This could be attributed to several things--tank placement, water circulation, or even heater age or size, but I certainly do notice a difference.

My 29g tank with 1, 100 watt heater stays within 1 degree, year round.


----------



## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

prov356 said:


> Seems to me also that if one is able to raise the temp on it's own in order to calibrate, why not just use
> that one heater? Why even add the second one?


Because there is a tipping point to a heaters efficiency vs heater life.

A heater that is too small will run more, use more energy, and likely fail earlier. A heater that is too large will run less, but switch on more, causing it likely to run through the life of the thermostat.

Two heaters that are "just" barely inadequate on their own will infact run (in my experience) about 1/3 less than one that is too small, but about 1/3 more than one that is too big. I spent more money(and time) than I care to admit testing different configurations on my latest 75 g tank.

My testing indicated to me that the heater(s) that ran in the middle 1/3 length of time provided ME with the most stable temps throughout my tank.

God I hope the OP got the answer to his question now that we have sufficiently derailed this bad boy...


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

UC, thanks for taking my questioning in stride... I've also spent more time 'investigating' such things than I care to publicly admit. I also understand that there are a ton of variables that influence our "experiments" and justify the differences in our results...



under_control said:


> You are setting the heaters thermostatic shut off. Nothing more. The heater is a much simpler device than you elude to. Set it to a temp, calibrate it, and you are adjusting the thermostat, not the wattage. The wattage is constant at say, 100 watts.
> 
> Thus, you get it to shut of at 77 degrees. It will always shut off at 77 degrees unless it fails.


I get the heaters lack of complexity... it has two parts... the thermostat and the heating element... the thermostate monitors temp, and when the temp drops below X, it turns the heating element on... and when the temp reaches Y it turns the element off... but the element remains warm due to residual heat...

Since the heating element heats up considerably warmer than the temp the thermometer is set to (element heats up to whatever 100W of electricity results in)... the heating element will continue to warm the water after the thermostat turns off, until it cools down to the temp of the water...

Thus having two heating elements in the tank that are still warmer than the water will cause the overall temp of the tank to get warmer after the thermostats turn the heating elements off...

Thus (theoretically) if the heaters turns on at 78*... and turns off at 80*... but the residual heat continues heating the water to 81*... Naturally these numbers aren't actual, simply to offer an idea of what I'm suggesting "will probably' happen...

Beyond this entire conern... I feel that water movement / circulation has a huge impact on heating needs. If a tank has a very high overall turnover rate then water temp is more likely to be stable throughout the tank... if it has low turnover the water nearest the heater is likely to be warmer than the water on the far side of the tank.

Therefore... with a lower overall turnover rate there is a stronger arguement for two heaters that are placed on opposite ends of the tank... but thee is less potential benefit to tanks with higher overall turnover rates...

Again, I'm not arguing nor challenging your/anyones results/ideas... just fellow fish geeks sharing the results of thinking of our tanks way too much


----------



## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Toby_H said:


> Again, I'm not arguing nor challenging your/anyones results/ideas... just fellow fish geeks sharing the results of thinking of our tanks way too much


Same here. I've been racking my head over this myself. Sometimes I wonder if it's the fish I'm entirely interested in.... or the child-like fascination with water. :lol:

-Ryan


----------



## boredatwork (Sep 14, 2007)

Just a few comments.

I would disagree that temperature controllers are cheap. The cheapest reliable temperature controllers I have seen are in the $80+ range. For a $15 heater, the cost of a controller seems a bit silly. I would prefer a better performing heater.

Personally, to hear people talk about calibration issues, and heaters that are set to one temperature but heat to another, I really recommend finding a better heater. I used to think things like that were normal, but I really feel, from my experience so far, that the Hydor ETH heater is in a class of its own. As someone mentioned, heaters are functionally quite simple. How is it that we put up with a device that cannot perform a simple task? I would also suggest "you get what you pay for"? Maybe because the visitherms are so cheap, there should not be any expectation for them to perform well.


----------



## under_control (Jan 9, 2008)

boredatwork said:


> Just a few comments.
> 
> I would disagree that temperature controllers are cheap. The cheapest reliable temperature controllers I have seen are in the $80+ range. For a $15 heater, the cost of a controller seems a bit silly. I would prefer a better performing heater.
> 
> Personally, to hear people talk about calibration issues, and heaters that are set to one temperature but heat to another, I really recommend finding a better heater. I used to think things like that were normal, but I really feel, from my experience so far, that the Hydor ETH heater is in a class of its own. As someone mentioned, heaters are functionally quite simple. How is it that we put up with a device that cannot perform a simple task? I would also suggest "you get what you pay for"? Maybe because the visitherms are so cheap, there should not be any expectation for them to perform well.


My ETH does NOT put out the temp at which it is set to. I do not think the quality of components in my ETH is any superior to that of my visitherms. You are paying for the housing. My consistency with my ETH is no greater than my consistency with 2 visitherm stealths. The advantage to my ETH is it gets the **** equipment out of the tank.

I will agree, reliable controllers are NOT cheap.


----------



## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

RyanR said:


> Same here. I've been racking my head over this myself. Sometimes I wonder if it's the fish I'm entirely interested in.... or the child-like fascination with water. :lol:
> 
> -Ryan


I completely confess I love DIY projects of both lumber and plumbing... add to that the fact I'm a math geek and it all starts to make sense...


----------

