Best heating options?

[cbellm]

Need some options and opinions,


I am downsizing from a 360 gallon (total 500 gal) to a 120 Total (150). I wanted to know my best option for heating the tank. I have an Apex running my heaters. My sump is a trigger 44 so 15 inches seems to be the max length with the cord. Is an inkbird truly redundant and worth it? I have about 6 extra ehiem Jaers sitting round ranging from 100-300w... I was running 4 300W heaters on my old tank. I am interested in going to a titanium heater but want to hear some experiences.

 

[lapin]

2 ea JBJ True temps in my 600G / Apex controlled

 

[Biglew11]

I would go with a Ranco or an Aqualogic (rebranded Ranco) controller. these are industrial grade controllers. Ive been using my aqualogic for over 10 years now zero problems. my Finex 300 watt heater is around 4 years old. i have these plugged into the apex.

 

[homer1475]

+1 on the finnex...

Best titanium heating rod on the market. The one I just replaced was 5 years old. Only replaced it because of age, but it still worked perfectly.

Only downside to heating rods, they need an external heating controller.

 

[lapin]

I wonder how many ti heating/exchange rod manufactures there are.

 

[cbellm]

Thanks for the advice. Has anyone tried out these BRS titanium heaters? The finnex have been out a long time and are pretty tried and true

 

[Speaker]

I use the finnex titanium heaters with an inkbird.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I would STRONLY caution against the finnex rods. I used to love them, I own about 6 or 7 of them total. I don't know what happened to their quality control but I had one start shorting out..like, electrocuting me. Then another. then ANOTHER! I was like.. am I doing something wrong, what is going on with these things. As it turns out there are several reviews that talk about this same problem. they are not sealed well and they are failing. I recently replaced one with the BRS heating probe and it is working very well. Seems like robust construction.

Again, used to be a huge fan of finnex, now I avoid like the plaugue.

 

[Brett S]

Thanks for the advice. Has anyone tried out these BRS titanium heaters? The finnex have been out a long time and are pretty tried and true

I have two of the 200W BRS heaters in my 220G tank (300G system). They are only controlled by my apex (plugged into different energy bars that are plugged into different circuits) and I have been quite happy with them. They seem very well built.

 

[saltcats]

Those of you using the finnex, do you use/trust the finnex controllers too? Or would you recommend just the heating element, and using a different controller with it?

 

[Thetankdoctor]

I use 4 finne to heaters with inkbirds. To be honest just started with the inkbirds. Bit so far so good. And I for one have not had any issues with my finnex heaters. Not saying there is not an issue just saying I have not had an issue

 

[cbellm]

I have heard a lot of gripes from inkbird users lately. A number of members have said they are having problems getting them to read the correct temp. Are you able to calibrate the inkbird?

 

[Thetankdoctor]

It seems my apex and the inkbirds read a little different. So I use the apex temp reading for reference and set the inkbird accordingly. The calibrated apex temp is closer than the inkbird whick is off maybe .75 degrees

 

[jdiefenbaugh]

Need some options and opinions,


I am downsizing from a 360 gallon (total 500 gal) to a 120 Total (150). I wanted to know my best option for heating the tank. I have an Apex running my heaters. My sump is a trigger 44 so 15 inches seems to be the max length with the cord. Is an inkbird truly redundant and worth it? I have about 6 extra ehiem Jaers sitting round ranging from 100-300w... I was running 4 300W heaters on my old tank. I am interested in going to a titanium heater but want to hear some experiences.

+1 for the BRS titanium heaters

 

[cbellm]

I am currently running the 2x 200w Jaegers on the 120. They were from a prior QT system being controlled by my apex. I used a few thermometers around the house all of them were reading with in a degree of one another so my apex was calibrated based on multiple other thermometers. I am currently running the tank at 78.5 degrees and it has been swinging between 78.4 and 79.1 with the heaters being staggered to keep them from switching to frequently. I dont like the fact that I have to run the heaters into the overflow box through a small hole (they are to long and had to be set in a horizontal direction). I think that when they start to fail I will switch to the BRS or another titanium heater unless I hear any bad reviews in the mean time. I have heard from BRS that the inkbird is a better option to control the heating elements with the apex being a backup, but have read so many bad reviews on the bird that I am a bit worried about using one.

 

[Biglew11]

I am currently running the 2x 200w Jaegers on the 120. They were from a prior QT system being controlled by my apex. I used a few thermometers around the house all of them were reading with in a degree of one another so my apex was calibrated based on multiple other thermometers. I am currently running the tank at 78.5 degrees and it has been swinging between 78.4 and 79.1 with the heaters being staggered to keep them from switching to frequently. I dont like the fact that I have to run the heaters into the overflow box through a small hole (they are to long and had to be set in a horizontal direction). I think that when they start to fail I will switch to the BRS or another titanium heater unless I hear any bad reviews in the mean time. I have heard from BRS that the inkbird is a better option to control the heating elements with the apex being a backup, but have read so many bad reviews on the bird that I am a bit worried about using one.

Ranco or a rebranded Ranco like Aqualogic, is the way to go. They may cost quite a bit more than an Inkbird but they are industrial controllers. I've been using mine for over 10 years straight.