quality heater recommendation

[DJTank]

Also, consider redundancy. I would rather put in 3 heaters than to rely on 1. First if a 100 watt goes haywire on a 150g it likely won't boil fish before you notice. Second if it fails the other 2 will keep temp in low range so survival is likely. Third, it helps to prevent potential cold spots and warm spots or water moving past it too fast or slow. I put 1 in tank and one on each side of sump.

 

[theone]

If you need a heater I also recommend that you only use one made out of metal (I guess this means titanium). And if at all possible only submerse the section of the heater that has NO seams. Only solid metal. All seams will eventually leak and it can be catastrophic. If you decide to use a glass heater (I still have a few) make sure that you put a bunch of things around it to keep it from having ANY chance of breaking, and just like the metal heaters, make sure the seam is NOT exposed to the water.

For any and all heaters I recommend setting the internal thermostat just slightly higher than you want the tank to run, and then plug the heater into an external controller. While I used to like the fancy multiparameter controllers, over the years I've moved away from complicated equipment. I've recently been using some temp controllers I picked up on Amazon for $19. I've had no failure with these (been using just under a year for cooling). I believe you can get them for cooling or heating.

BN-LINK Digital Cooling Thermostat Controller for Cooling Device Circulation Box Fans 40-108F 8.3A 1000W

I went with an Inkbird controller. All my heaters have always been fully submerged. And I always wondered if they should be.

I had given the metal ones a look. Just have not heard too much about them.

 

[GraniteReefer]

I actually just won the Innovative Marine Helio PTC heater in a giveaway. It’s still not released and I opted to wait longer to get a dual element model so when I get it I will try to check back on initial impressions. I will be getting the 400w model with 2 200w elements. https://www.innovative-marine.com/shop/Helio-400-Watt-PTC-Smart-Heater-2-x-200W-p252780205

 

[ReefAddict]

make sure the seam is NOT exposed to the water.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "seam". Thanks.

 

[Joe Rice]

I have been using two Finnex heaters plugged into an Apex for control for the 5 years I've had my tank set up. I like that they serve as a ground probe for the tank.

Using ground probes in aquariums

Why is it that some people refuse to put a grounding probe in their aquarium? I've seen many arguments against using them, some of which are based on what I believe to be bad information. I want to make the case for why every aquarium should have a grounding probe installed. We have these...

www.reef2reef.com