Aqueon Heaters

[bendeng]

Hello all, just looking for opinions or similar experiences. I have gone through several Aqueon heaters in the past couple years and they are frequently failing. The thermostat will either stop reading temp in water to adjust on it's own or the heater itself will crack/shatter. On more than one occasion I have found a crack in the body, one time fish were unfortunately electrocuted. Have been using in freshwater and saltwater and we have replaced the ones that have broken/failed.

Is this common with Aqueon heaters? I've considered manufacturer warranty replacement but with how often their products have failed, I'm considering different brands instead.

Thanks!

 

[cloak]

I'm not sure if this is a common occurrence with Aqueon heaters or not, but regardless of brand there's always going to be some bad apples out there. Maybe this was just a string of bad luck. FWIW I've had the best results with the Aquaclear/Hagen heaters, but the Eheim Jager ones seem to be pretty popular around here. GL.

 

[bendeng]

Bought them from Petsmart or Petco Usually buy them when there is a sale and I'll stack on my rewards discount.

 

[Scorpius]

I like my titanium heating element plugged into a Ranco controller. I know I don't have a secondary failsafe if the Ranco poops out, but I trust it more than the internal thermostats on cheap heaters.

 

[bendeng]

Yes, thankfully our Apex has saved the tank from dropping temp way too many times. We began switching to other brands of heaters but I wanted to see if others had the same or similar experiences. [emoji5]

 

[Pongo]

I've been using the Aqueon Pro heater for 8 months without problems but I don't let the heater's internal thermostat control the temp.

I set the heater to 78 F.
I set the Apex control of the heater to:
If Tmp < 75.1 Then ON
If Tmp > 75.7 Then OFF

That way the heater's internal thermostat never cycles. If the Apex fails I'm counting on the heater to shut off at 78.
I'm planning to switch out for a new one at 1 yr.

 

[furam28]

Which aqueon heaters did you go through. I have several of the Aqueon Pro heaters and they are definitely one of the best. They are made in Germany. Not being made of glass is a big help, if you are paronoid about shattered glass and electrocution of your fishes!

 

[bendeng]

Which aqueon heaters did you go through. I have several of the Aqueon Pro heaters and they are definitely one of the best. They are made in Germany. Not being made of glass is a big help, if you are paronoid about shattered glass and electrocution of your fishes!

The last 4 we have bought and used are Pro heaters. The heater tube body showed visible cracks in 2 of them [emoji17]. We used one that was glass and that's when our freshwater tank electrocuted some fish. I have since only gone with the non-glass versions yet we still get frequent failures. Thankfully our Apex was able to alert us when it stopped working and 2 showed physical damage, the others just stopped heating up.

 

[Katrina71]

Recently had 2 Aqueon tank bottoms bust. Wouldn't even return my call with/ customer service. Will never purchase an Aqueon product again.

 

[Reef man 89]

All heaters are junk they will all fail at one point or another. IMO if I had a couple fail with in a certain amount of time I would try out somthing different.

 

[40B Knasty]

I have a 3 year old glass one, but waned to avoid the glass breaking. Looked up a ton of reviews. Aqueon Pro seemed to be the best one. After 4 months I haven't had a problem and has been standing tall at the same temp of 78.6. Just make sure you are not under equipping your tank. Always better to go a little bit higher watt so during run times when it kicks on is not straining. Think of it like putting a 4 cylinder in a 2 ton truck. Yeah it will work but a V8 will be less wear and tear.

 

[furam28]

The last 4 we have bought and used are Pro heaters. The heater tube body showed visible cracks in 2 of them [emoji17]. We used one that was glass and that's when our freshwater tank electrocuted some fish. I have since only gone with the non-glass versions yet we still get frequent failures. Thankfully our Apex was able to alert us when it stopped working and 2 showed physical damage, the others just stopped heating up.

Interesting. I didnt expect the pro to have such high failure. Is your heater placed in an area with good flow?

 

[bendeng]

Interesting. I didnt expect the pro to have such high failure. Is your heater placed in an area with good flow?

Originally we had it in the sump. We placed a replacement in the display next to the powerless and that one failed as well. Both were Pro. The current heater is Eheim now. No issues with it running for 3 months now.

 

[bendeng]

Originally we had it in the sump. We placed a replacement in the display next to the powerless and that one failed as well. Both were Pro. The current heater is Eheim now. No issues with it running for 3 months now.

Next to the *powerhead

 

[40B Knasty]

Originally we had it in the sump. We placed a replacement in the display next to the powerless and that one failed as well. Both were Pro. The current heater is Eheim now. No issues with it running for 3 months now.

What is your TOTAL water volume between your sump and tank?
What watt Aqueon Pro heater did you use?

 

[bendeng]

What is your TOTAL water volume between your sump and tank?
What watt Aqueon Pro heater did you use?

Its a 125g display with a 55g sump, at one point we had 2 heaters running in the beginning, one was 350w (a different brand) if I remember correctly in the display and the Pro 250w in the sump as a backup. Both times the Pro heater would fail.

Other situation was a 250w Pro in our 90g Freshwater. Has failed twice in that tank as well.

The one that actually shattered and electrocuted the fish was a regular glass Aqueon but it was in the 90g FW and was a 300w. We had then switched to the Pro and had multiple failures.

I'm going to get a different branded heater for my 20g. Bought a 150w Pro, haven't used it but just to be safe, I'm gonna return it and get a different brand.

What is your TOTAL water volume between your sump and tank?
What watt Aqueon Pro heater did you use?

 

[40B Knasty]

Cool. I will keep an eye on my 150w in my 40B SW. Also the 50w in the 13g brackish.

 

[Fishnut]

My Aqueon heater just failed after two years. I noticed that my corals were looking poorly and put my hand in the tank to feed the fish and noticed the temp was way too high. I could see the heater light was still on and the tank temp was at 84 degrees. Close call. I lost a few SPS and a large green monti has lost it’s color, also lost a few heads on a hammer coral, but all fish survived. I will never buy another one of those heaters again.