Heaters

[jess1111]

What specifics do people look for when making a purchase for an Aquarium Heater?! As colder days are quickly approaching!

[power boat jim]

Number of watts.

[Wryknow]

Ebo-jager / # of watts / price

[schatzi]

Usually 2-3 watts per gallon. Jager seems to get the most love on here, I have a few and they work just great.

[sharkboy99999]

5-10 watts for other heaters ( other than jäger) and just look on the box

[phillrodrigo]

I have 2 of them in my 75. A 200 and a 250. Time to get ready for a freezing winter. My fish will be warm but I'll be freezing. My pellet stove broke was planning on fixing it but my cars tranny just went. So I just plan to use the 2 heaters to keep them at 78. I'm in the basement so no heat other than the pellet stove.

[uncleof6]

Save energy and drop them down to 75 - 76.

[itzonlithai]

I went with a Eheim Jager for my tank. They seem to have a good following here on RC.

[woodnaquanut]

As others have said, EJs are great heaters.

Other considerations...

Will it fit in the space you have? EJs are unusually long for the wattage.

Best to have two under wattage heaters so if one sticks on (Not unheard of), it won't fry, steam or boil the tank. This also helps fit the heaters in the space you have since lower wattage heaters are usually shorter.

It's also a great idea to have an independent thermostat. Heaters don't have the most robust thermostats built in. I have an Apex so that's my thermostat. If you don't have a controller, consider a Ranco thermostat.

[CapnReefer]

The Fluval E series heaters contains 2 temp sensors. The only other method of this I've seen is an external controller. Have a couple of the Fluval heaters myself, longest running one is 6 years old, haven't had one problem.

[Lavoisier]

I would recommend using a Ranco controller with any heater you purchase. A little more expense ($50) but you will significantly decrease the risk of a heater malfunction causing a catastrophic tank failure...also what Uncle said!

[BeanAnimal]

Originally Posted by sharkboy99999

5-10 watts for other heaters ( other than jäger) and just look on the box

That is like saying 4 inches if you use a ruler and 8 inches if you use a measuring tape...

a WATT is a fixed unit of energy, no more, no less.

100W pumped into an "Eheim Jager" heater imparts EXACTLY the amount of energy (HEAT) into an aquarium as a 100W "Bobs Your Uncle" brand heater...

[phillrodrigo]

Originally Posted by BeanAnimal

That is like saying 4 inches if you use a ruler and 8 inches if you use a measuring tape...

a WATT is a fixed unit of energy, no more, no less.

100W pumped into an "Eheim Jager" heater imparts EXACTLY the amount of energy (HEAT) into an aquarium as a 100W "Bobs Your Uncle" brand heater...

Im not sure if this is entirely true. My fluval 300 watt heater wouldn't keep up so I bought a Jagger 200 and it kept up alot better. I would think the internal components used would also effect efficiency. Maybe I'm wrong but using a old hobby of mine car audio 500 watts being put to my jl audio wouldn't be the same as 500 watts to a Sony sub woofer. I could be absolutely wrong on the heaters but I would think they aren't exactly the same

[Khemul]

Originally Posted by phillrodrigo

Im not sure if this is entirely true.

Assuming the heater runs at the advertised wattage, it is entirely true.

And if we assume it isn't running at the advertised wattage, well then we probably don't want to use that product since there is something seriously wrong there.

[uncleof6]

Laws of physics: A watt is a watt, is a watt is a watt. A watt is the product of voltage x current.

Since an audio signal is a sinusoidal wave (AC) the calculation is a triangle, there is a difference between apparent power (volt/amps) and true power. Inductors are used, so input power will be higher than what actually gets to the speakers. (power factor, the angle between true power and apparent power.) Apparent power is the hypotenues of the triangle. True power is the base. However, the device(s) will dissapate *exactly* what goes into the device(s.) A watt is a watt, watts ultimately are converted to heat. What does not make it to the speakers is dissipated as heat in the amplifier.

A heater is a resistive load. If 500 watts of power (120 x 4.1666667, resistance is 28.8 ohms) goes in, 500 watts of power will be dissipated, same as the audio stuff. If you have low line voltage, however, (resistance remains constant @ 28.8 ohms) say 115VAC, you won't get 500 watts out of the heater, because 500 watts won't go in. But what dissipates as heat will *equal* what goes in. A watt is a watt.

The reason the fluval could not keep up is because the temperature sensing circuitry is junk, or the heater is not capable of the listed wattage, because the resistance is too high to achieve that wattage @ 120VAC. (E.G. they overrated the heater.) The "watts" going in can be calculated by checking the line voltage, and multiplying it by the current. The current can be determined using an inductive amp meter ("clamp on.") If the heater is rated for 300 watts, and only 200 watts are going in, the heater wil only put 200 watts as heat, into the water. The difference is going to be the resistance of the heating element, or low line voltage.

These heaters have pretty cheap circuitry in them, and it is obvious that none of them are going to be dead on ba*** accurate to begin with, in terms of temp control. However, a UL listed heater is going to have to meet certain standards, so it is relatively safe to say a 100W brand x is going to equal a 100W brand y in terms of heat output, all else being equal. Variations or failure to "keep up" can be blamed on the control circuitry. Getting precision temperature control is rather expensive...

The statement: "100W pumped into an "Eheim Jager" heater imparts EXACTLY the amount of energy (HEAT) into an aquarium as a 100W "Bobs Your Uncle" brand heater..." is absolutely true, so long as 100W is pumped into "Bobs Your Uncle" brand heater.

[hllywd]

I just went with two new Aqueon 250W Pro Heaters. I based the decision mostly on three things; 1.) I currently have 2x 250W heaters that normally keep my system within a couple tenths of the set-points as defined by my Apex, 2.) Decent price and fast, inexpensive overnight shipping with Amazon Prime, and 3.) Almost all good product reviews.