Eheim Jaeger wipeout. Drop me heater thoughts.

[Mark_C]

Been using E-Jags for years, alongside some of the Cobalts.

A few weeks back I started a 120. Transferred equipment including a truetemp Jaeger. All was well. I went to visit my Mom this weekend and returned to a 90F tank with the Jaeger still hot under the surface, red light on, even though set at 79F.

I'm two fathead anthias and a midas blenny down, a tomini and gem tang stressed (they're juveniles to be moved in future) with the gem flaring white for the past 24 hours.
I removed the heater, put three fans on the tank, ran a 15g (cooler) water change, upped the house AC and were back down to 80F about 24 hours later.

Now have a stand-alone temp controller (heater shut off) and am picking up a chiller.

Advice please.
System was running well till this heater threw everything into disarray.
Still trust the Cobalts atm, but the Eheim's are now on my paranoia list.

Is there any heater you trust beyond others?
Advice and experience appreciated.

 

[seahorse_man]

My new fav are the Hygger heaters, seem to have the best reviews overall. https://www.amazon.com/Hygger-Submersible-Thermostat-Controller-Thermometer/dp/B07H31LG15/

 

[sam.veilleux30]

Sorry for your loss, i'm running a cobalt dual 300w on my 100 g since 2 years with good results so far.
I have a 1/8 hp chiller to take care of the summer heatwave and to serve as a safeguard on defect heaters yearlong.
The heater i use for my wc (eheim) is now always on, so no more of that brand in my display for me.

 

[Firemanreefkeeper]

How old was the heater? For 30$ I put it on a list of disposable items and replace it once a year. I am sorry for your lose though. As a back up I have the auto aqua sensor for my heater. If it goes above 84 it shuts off and alarms. It doesn't turn it back on once it gets back below 84 but at that point the waters hot anyway and somebody in my house will be around the tank every 12 hours or so.

 

[Orion1885]

I only use jagers and have never had an issue; I do run mine through a controller though. Sorry for your loss

 

[Mark_C]

My new fav are the Hygger heaters

Appreciate the info. Will look into and probably order one for a smaller tank as a tester. I get a bit weird about single heaters that hook up to a control box with a single monitor. It doesn't seem much different to me than a heater with a built in monitor, which is what I'm wary of now.

Sorry for your loss, i'm running a cobalt dual 300w on my 100 g since 2 years with good results so far.
I have a 1/8 hp chiller to take care of the summer heatwave and to serve as a safeguard on defect heaters yearlong.
The heater i use for my wc (eheim) is now always on, so no more of that brand in my display for me.

I haven't had any concern with Cobalts over the years and I'm leaning towards them for the future along with a small chiller in the works, seems we're on the same page.

How old was the heater? For 30$ I put it on a list of disposable items and replace it once a year. I am sorry for your lose though. As a back up I have the auto aqua sensor for my heater. If it goes above 84 it shuts off and alarms. It doesn't turn it back on once it gets back below 84 but at that point the waters hot anyway and somebody in my house will be around the tank every 12 hours or so.

Yeah, the EJ was about a year old, but well within what I expected on durability. A temp controller is en route.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Run your heater on a Ranco temp controller.

 

[SeaJay]

The only heater related failures I’ve had in my short foray into this hobby have been a jaeger and an inkbird. Both on different systems. Fortunately the jaeger was on an unoccupied QT. I’m running finnex Titaniums with the remote controllers. They’re fantastic.

 

[seahorse_man]

Appreciate the info. Will look into and probably order one for a smaller tank as a tester. I get a bit weird about single heaters that hook up to a control box with a single monitor. It doesn't seem much different to me than a heater with a built in monitor, which is what I'm wary of now.

There is a big difference in that it's reading the temp away from the heater itself, and generally more reliable. Also, get two smaller heaters. That way if one gets stuck on it's not going to raise your temp too much. Would take both getting stuck on at the same time to cause a major issue.

 

[EmdeReef]

There’s a big difference between the cheapest thermostat built into most heaters and even a $30 controller. I’ve run inkbird controllers in my QTs for years now and when I check against a thermostat they’re spot on.

You don’t read many posts about controllers cooking tanks, but you can sure find many about heaters without controllers...

 

[SeaJay]

There’s a big difference between the cheapest thermostat built into most heaters and even a $30 controller. I’ve run inkbird controllers in my QTs for years now and when I check against a thermostat they’re spot on.

You don’t read many posts about controllers cooking tanks, but you can sure find many about heaters without controllers...

This was my reasoning behind running an inkbird. It failed, but it failed off and I haven’t replaced it. So it’s kind of a trade off. Adding another device increases the likelihood of a failure, but does decrease the risk of failing on. Sooner than later I’ll be running an apex, so I don’t see another inkbird in my future.

 

[Reefer_Rob]

Ive read sooo much on here and have seen heater failures across ALL brands. Any heater can fail any time. A good temp controller does help your odds significantly. Im building my setup still but im going with 2 undersize heaters, a dedicated heater controller and eventually, much later down the road, an Apex.

 

[ca1ore]

Heater failures (either on or off) are probably the most frequent cause of non-disease-related tank problems. It is, in my opinion, unwise to trust your tank to ANY stick heater with thermostats that cost pennies. While I find some of the third party thermostats to be of only marginally better quality, running smaller redundant heaters ensures that no single failure can doom your tank. You will never be able to eliminate all failure-related risk, but you can mitigate most of it.

 

[roberthu526]

I would just get a temp controller like inkbird.

 

[jda]

It is not the heaters, you need to run them on a Ranco, or similar. All of them will fail, so redundancy is necessary. None are going to be any better than the Ehiem that you had if you don't get a reliable temp controller too.

 

[Mark_C]

Thanks all for the conversation.
When I ran smaller tanks I always had 2 small heaters to protect against an overheat fail (no controllers though, these were 20-30g tanks). I've drifted away from that.
As advised by a few folks above I plan on going back to multiple small heaters, probably 3, each running its own controller.
Seems a solid strategy, or as solid as one can be in the hobby outside an Apex or such.