Most reliable heater for a 65 gallon tank

Jordan Stone · May 4, 2020

So I've had a Cobalt Neo-therm heater for my Nuvo 40, which hasn't given me any issues. However, when I read about the 200W and the horror stories, it's making me second guess opting to buy it again for the new upgrade. Does anyone have any suggestions for a reliable 200W heater for a 65 gallon tank?

Hydrored · May 4, 2020

BRS Titanium has been great, I have 4 in my house and all have worked well.

Uncle99 · May 4, 2020

I have the Fluval A773 E Series 200 watt on my 65g below.
Amazon delivered.
Two years on this heater so far, simply love the temp setting and visual displays, keeps my 65g within .5 degrees flux, have it on an Inkbird so I get double overheat protection.

Jordan Stone · May 4, 2020

Thank you guys! Appreciate it.

sarcophytonIndy · May 4, 2020

I have two Aqueon 200W heaters on my 125. Not necessarily a great brand, but I'm using my Apex as a temperature controller, and it has been flawless for the last 18 months.

andrewey · May 4, 2020

I used to research heaters and look for the most trustworthy- I've seen brands rise and fall and to be honest, I haven't seen a single brand of heater that doesn't have a horror story. For me, I simply buy really cheap heaters that aren't prone to explode and hook them up with a controller to monitor them in case they get stuck on or to monitor their wattage in case they fail (and I always run two smaller heaters where one heater couldn't cook the tank if the controller failed). I check them every 2 months and donate every year like clockwork. I'm a believer that it's not a matter of if a heater will fail, but when. Most of my heater failures were around the two-four year range, so I find replacing regularly seems to reduce my chances of failure and I haven't seen a rise in the failure rate of the cheap heaters within the first year.

Jordan Stone · May 4, 2020

The problem online is that all these heaters have mixed reviews lol!

sarcophytonIndy · May 4, 2020

I use two underpowered heaters so that even if one of them fails, there won't be any disastrous results. Of course, the controller (Apex in my case) doubly ensures there won't be any disasters.