Heater Recommendation?

[DREUTZ]

I've been reading a lot lately of people's heaters malfunctioning and frying the tank, freezing the tank (by shutting off), and poisoning the tank (by leaking chemicals). The heater I have was from a friend and is probably almost 2 years old. I'm thinking I should take a preventative step and just get a new heater now before anything happens.

So what is a good reliable internal heater that would be ideal for a 29 gallon Biocube?

I'm not sure what wattage would be good for my tank. I also don't want to purchase a lemon haha.

 

[motortrendz]

get a titanium.. i had my glass heater crack and fry everything while i was on vacation.. lost everything but a few star polyps and a couple crabs snails..

 

[JimmyR1rider]

I've been reading a lot lately of people's heaters malfunctioning and frying the tank, freezing the tank (by shutting off), and poisoning the tank (by leaking chemicals). The heater I have was from a friend and is probably almost 2 years old. I'm thinking I should take a preventative step and just get a new heater now before anything happens.

So what is a good reliable internal heater that would be ideal for a 29 gallon Biocube?

I'm not sure what wattage would be good for my tank. I also don't want to purchase a lemon haha.

In my 29G biocube I used the marineland visitherm stealth black- is actually still working just fine. In my 65 I am using viaaqua titanium- was using the glass viaaqua but was happy to get away from the possibility of breaking the glass or it shattering without my help and zapping everything.

 

[ChickenKing]

As a add-on question....can you control the heater with your RKL by way of the temp probe?

+1 on the Stealth

 

[SevTT]

I've been reading a lot lately of people's heaters malfunctioning and frying the tank, freezing the tank (by shutting off), and poisoning the tank (by leaking chemicals). The heater I have was from a friend and is probably almost 2 years old. I'm thinking I should take a preventative step and just get a new heater now before anything happens.

So what is a good reliable internal heater that would be ideal for a 29 gallon Biocube?

I'm not sure what wattage would be good for my tank. I also don't want to purchase a lemon haha.

THERE IS NO GOOD, TRUST-YOUR-TANK-WITH-IT-RELIABLE HEATER. They pretty much all have problems with thermostats failing, eventually. The best thing that you can do is to get a temperature controller to link it to in the event of a failure. Then the worst that will happen is that it'll fail open and the tank will cool, which is significantly better than cooking the tank. (I accidently unplugged the heater on my 65 for a day, and the temp had only dropped to about 76. About 24 hours went by without a heater.) This is why it's best to use two heaters of a smaller size than one big heater; if one does fail closed, then the other one will still be going to minimize the temp drop.

Think of an aquarium heater like a fluorescent light bulb used to light a room. They may last a really long while, but odds are it'll die on you eventually.

I used, I think, a 250 or 300 watt heater in my 29 system with a 20-gallon sump, but I run T5s and have a room that can get to the high 50s in the dead of winter. I think most normal people would be fine with about 150W.

 

[SevTT]

As a add-on question....can you control the heater with your RKL by way of the temp probe?

+1 on the Stealth

Absolutely.

 

[DREUTZ]

This is why it's best to use two heaters of a smaller size than one big heater; if one does fail closed, then the other one will still be going to minimize the temp drop.

When you were talking about using 2 heaters would you recommend both heater being 150W (enough to singly heat the tank) or 2 75W heaters?

I would like to link the heater to my RKL, but I need more outlets!!!

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Yeah with the RKL the setpoint and hysteris <- bad spelling? lol is what controls the temp. Doesnt matter what the heaters set at the rkl will turn it off when it gets to the temp range you set the unit at. same way itll control your cooling fans or chiller when cooling down after the photo cycle for the day. Yes if using 2 heaters you have the 2 of them add up to the wattage you need otherwise youd have twice the wattage you needed and would definately cook the tank if they fail in the on position.

 

[motortrendz]

i actually think you should do 2 the same wattage as the single one you would heat your tank with bc if one fails on itll over heat your tank weather its half or 100% of you primary but if it fails off your backup is 100% capable of heating your tank w/o any ill effects also when they both cycle on and off together the cycle time will be shorter...

sevtt, what do you think?

 

[JimmyR1rider]

Yeah but Mike if it fails off youll notice and can replace- if it fails open AND the other is on already it will cook the s#$% out of your tank. The general practice is to do 2 to equal the watts you want- if you want 300w and you have 2 300's I hope to god they dont both go stuck on lets say if both thermostats fail youll heat your tank with 600w of heater or if the RKL malfunctions and their ports both stay on. Would rather deal with 3 degrees under than 10 degrees+ over.

 

[motortrendz]

but the other will go off bc of the temp hike.. they both wont fail at the same time.. i dont know just a thought.. i use one titanium heater 300w and a 150w backup thats set at a lower temp so it wont go on unless the main one goes out.. i was just thinking out loud.. lol

 

[ecvernon]

i believe there is no safe heater. i had a stealth heater fail on me. while submerged the plastic began to changes shape and exposed the interior . it seems there was a very small crack which made it vulnerable.

one of the safest heaters is a titanium heater with a controller monitoring it.

 

[JimmyR1rider]

i believe there is no safe heater. i had a stealth heater fail on me. while submerged the plastic began to changes shape and exposed the interior . it seems there was a very small crack which made it vulnerable.

one of the safest heaters is a titanium heater with a controller monitoring it.

+1 is what I switched to a while ago

 

[motortrendz]

thats my next step.. just got my RKL to run my heater..

 

[KathyC]

Any heater should be used in conjunction with a controller.
If you want 200W of heat, best to use 2 100W heaters
That way neither can incinerate the tank or make it too chilly if one fails.

 

[duke62]

ive had the same viaaquaria titanium heater in my tank going on 2 1/2 years.i most likely will be switching it out next fall for a new 1

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

100 watt heater will probably suffice I use a 150w on my 45 cichlid tank I showed you at the swap and never had a problem it is actually a stealth..great heater I got it used and have been using it 3 years without a problem. I even forgot to shut it off 1 time when I was doing a water change and ran it dry for several hours it melted a can of cichlid buffer lol but still works perfectly..go with the stealth

 

[UnknownWaters]

+1 Viaaqua titanium heater in my 65g and knock on wood no problems yet 1.5 years amd goin strong

 

[SevTT]

When you were talking about using 2 heaters would you recommend both heater being 150W (enough to singly heat the tank) or 2 75W heaters?

I would like to link the heater to my RKL, but I need more outlets!!!

Two 75s should be fine, really, not to mention putting less stress on your electrical system. You could go with two 150Ws if you have them anyway, but it's likely not necessary.

And, yeah, that's the problem with the RKL. I've got an Apex and I just bought another power bar. Stand-alone temp controllers are pretty cheap, though.

 

[SevTT]

Yeah but Mike if it fails off youll notice and can replace- if it fails open AND the other is on already it will cook the s#$% out of your tank. The general practice is to do 2 to equal the watts you want- if you want 300w and you have 2 300's I hope to god they dont both go stuck on lets say if both thermostats fail youll heat your tank with 600w of heater or if the RKL malfunctions and their ports both stay on. Would rather deal with 3 degrees under than 10 degrees+ over.

Yeah. However, that's why I always recommend that your heater be temperature-controlled by another device. Then it takes two or more equipment failures to lead to a catastrophe, and it's highly unlikely that a (properly designed, with fail-open relays) controller would fail in a way that would still lead to it supplying power to the heaters. Unless you somehow pulled the thermometer out of the tank. Of course, since the heaters have thermostats on them too, those should save you in the unlikely event that your controller fails in such a way. (Don't use known-bad heaters, even with a controller, in anything less than an emergency situation. Then you've reduced the number of failures to catastrophe to 1 again, though it's still probably safer than using an OK heater without a controller. You should also test your heaters to ensure that their thermostats do work properly every 6 months or year.)