Dtackett
Valuable Member
So im sure ill catch some heat for this post and im ok with that. but this is about my personal experience.
My family has been in the fish keeping hobby since the 70's and weve used everything you can imagine. weve spent big bucks on the latest and greatest, and weve bought the cheapest we could get our hands on. and I don't mean this in just heaters, weve used cheap and expensive equipment in every aspect.
no specifically heaters...
I have used the 10 buck ebay heaters, finnex heaters, neotherm, walmart, and even a couple that had no name on them I found in my granddads old equipment boxes. ive used controllers, diy controllers, and used without external controllers. Ive only had 1 fail on me in the last 10 years. This is because I used way too small of a heater for the tank.
The main reason ive had such great success is because I follow what my granddad taught me. Always use 2 equal sized heaters, don't rely on the internal thermostat, use oversized heaters, place the heaters in areas of decent flow, place the heaters in areas where nothing will fall on them and damage them.
Basically, use common sense and the heaters last. personally, ive never seen the point in buying expensive heaters or expensive controllers. don't get me wrong, a controller is a nice way to not lose sleep at night and I use them now even though ive never had a need for them. Now all I use is cheap ebay heaters in high flow areas that are protected.
Edit: What I mean by not relying on the internal thermostat is just because its set to 78, doesn't mean its actually going to be 78. you gotta find the sweet spot. run each heater independently until you find the sweet spot on each, then turn them both on and observe over the next few days
My family has been in the fish keeping hobby since the 70's and weve used everything you can imagine. weve spent big bucks on the latest and greatest, and weve bought the cheapest we could get our hands on. and I don't mean this in just heaters, weve used cheap and expensive equipment in every aspect.
no specifically heaters...
I have used the 10 buck ebay heaters, finnex heaters, neotherm, walmart, and even a couple that had no name on them I found in my granddads old equipment boxes. ive used controllers, diy controllers, and used without external controllers. Ive only had 1 fail on me in the last 10 years. This is because I used way too small of a heater for the tank.
The main reason ive had such great success is because I follow what my granddad taught me. Always use 2 equal sized heaters, don't rely on the internal thermostat, use oversized heaters, place the heaters in areas of decent flow, place the heaters in areas where nothing will fall on them and damage them.
Basically, use common sense and the heaters last. personally, ive never seen the point in buying expensive heaters or expensive controllers. don't get me wrong, a controller is a nice way to not lose sleep at night and I use them now even though ive never had a need for them. Now all I use is cheap ebay heaters in high flow areas that are protected.
Edit: What I mean by not relying on the internal thermostat is just because its set to 78, doesn't mean its actually going to be 78. you gotta find the sweet spot. run each heater independently until you find the sweet spot on each, then turn them both on and observe over the next few days
