Newb seeking help about heaters

[DeadEnd]

Hey,

I am new to the hobbie and I have been investigating and reading about heaters the entire day but I can't make up my mind to which heater brand to buy. Everytime I search for a heater / controller brand I stumble on an horror story of how someone lost their tank...

I am planning to buy 2x300 watts heaters each with its own controller for my 150 gallon tank (my room temperature ranges from 70 to 74).

But now the the hard part... Which heater brand should I buy? I have read about Inkbird, Hygger, Helio Universal and PTC (haven't found any good or bad comments about their universal controller), etc.

Anyone wanna help me with this hard choice? (for me)

Thanks

 

[Jekyl]

Eheim and ink bird. You only need 1 controller for 2 heaters. Just make sure they will fit in the area you want, they're pretty long. I recommend buying 3 of them. The last you'll use for water changes and as a spare. My tank is 5 years in on same controller and 1 heater replacement.

 

[EricR]

Budget?

You're already planning on two heaters so that covers redundancy for one failing OFF.

Worse would be one failing ON so just make sure you have a secondary shut off if temp gets HIGH.

I'm cheap so I do this but not what I'd call best possible:
- 2x Eheim Jager TruTemp heaters -- pretty cheap and I just let them regulate the temperature
- InkBird ITC-306T to monitor temperature and just shut OFF the heaters if temp gets high (((cheapest InkBird at about $25-$30)))

 

[DeadEnd]

Budget?

You're already planning on two heaters so that covers redundancy for one failing OFF.

Worse would be one failing ON so just make sure you have a secondary shut off if temp gets HIGH.

I'm cheap so I do this but not what I'd call best possible:
- 2x Eheim Jager TruTemp heaters -- pretty cheap and I just let them regulate the temperature
- InkBird ITC-306T to monitor temperature and just shut OFF the heaters if temp gets high (((cheapest InkBird at about $25-$30)))

I was planning to spend like 300.

I was thinking on getting titanium heaters but I see why you went with the Eheim, having the internal temp control and the inkbird it's a great option.

Eheim and ink bird. You only need 1 controller for 2 heaters. Just make sure they will fit in the area you want, they're pretty long. I recommend buying 3 of them. The last you'll use for water changes and as a spare. My tank is 5 years in on same controller and 1 heater replacement.

I would absolutely need to check if they fit in my sump. It's a solid recommendation with a great failsafe. Thanks!


So if I wanted to buy titanium heaters what would the recommendation be?

 

[ABQ_CHRIS]

Titanium, I would probably buy BRS and plan on replacing them annually.

 

[Jekyl]

Eheim would be just shy of 20" long.

 

[BrotatoSalad]

If you hook them up to a temp controller brand doesn't matter too much on the heater. Just check and see if the majority have luck with them. Every heater brand/model has failed someone so you'll find a story on all of them. Controllers take a lot of worry out of the equation. I'm using an aqueon pro heater I bought like, 5 years ago on a controller and it's still chugging along. Can't say I'd recommend that though lol.

Big thing, have a controller. I use the inkbird and don't have complaints really.

 

[EricR]

Yeah -- Eheim glass heaters are LONG for their wattage,,, so check that.

My only other complaint would be that their adjustability (for dialing in temp) is really ROUGH -- you gotta play with it quite a bit to get it where you want but eventually, you work it out and they do hold temp well once you get it figured out.

Edit -- Eheim heaters have like a 3 year warranty or something and my local PetSmart has just been replacing them, no questions asked, at least so far.

 

[BetterJake]

Hey,

I am new to the hobbie and I have been investigating and reading about heaters the entire day but I can't make up my mind to which heater brand to buy. Everytime I search for a heater / controller brand I stumble on an horror story of how someone lost their tank...

I am planning to buy 2x300 watts heaters each with its own controller for my 150 gallon tank (my room temperature ranges from 70 to 74).

But now the the hard part... Which heater brand should I buy? I have read about Inkbird, Hygger, Helio Universal and PTC (haven't found any good or bad comments about their universal controller), etc.

Anyone wanna help me with this hard choice? (for me)

Thanks

I went with the titanium heaters from BRS. No issues here, I bought two and connected them to my inkbird controller.

Titanium Heater Element

A Reliable Long-Term Heating Element! We have been on the hunt for a reliable heating element that solves a lot of the issues we currently have with other heaters in the hobby. We have always had issues with heaters that have built-in controllers and segregating the controller out from the...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Lps_lover12]

I have the InkBird controller (wifi version) with two eheim 200W and no complaints on either, would recommend but like other people have said the eheim are long. I wanted higher wattage heaters but 200 was the max I could get so I’m thinking of getting titanium as well just not sure yet

 

[vetteguy53081]

For YEARS IVE BEEN USING TITANIUM UNITS TROUBLE FREE - finnex is good, also via-aqua brands

 

[CincyReefer07]

I’m running a pair of Eheim Jager heaters and they are connected to Aqua Logic temp controllers. More expensive than inkbird but they are by far the best on the market. They are the same thing as Ranco temp controllers, just rebranded.

 

[DeadEnd]

I’m running a pair of Eheim Jager heaters and they are connected to Aqua Logic temp controllers. More expensive than inkbird but they are by far the best on the market. They are the same thing as Ranco temp controllers, just rebranded.

Yes, I was also contemplating the Aqua Logic temp controller with two BRS titanium heaters but I couldn't find the wattage that the controller can handle. I guess 600 watts should be fine.

For YEARS IVE BEEN USING TITANIUM UNITS TROUBLE FREE - finnex is good, also via-aqua brands

I didn't check finned or the via-aqua. I will make a quick research on those too lol

 

[Salty_Dreamer]

Yes, I was also contemplating the Aqua Logic temp controller with two BRS titanium heaters but I couldn't find the wattage that the controller can handle. I guess 600 watts should be fine.


I didn't check finned or the via-aqua. I will make a quick research on those too lol

So what did you decide on? I am currently looking for a replacement and am researching options.

 

[DeadEnd]

So what did you decide on? I am currently looking for a replacement and am researching options.

I went with the Helios PTC 700 Watts (2x350 watts). They just reduced their price from 399 to 250+-. And for a backup I got an inkbird and will get 2xBRS titanium heaters.

 

[stevolough]

I went with the Helios PTC 700 Watts (2x350 watts). They just reduced their price from 399 to 250+-. And for a backup I got an inkbird and will get 2xBRS titanium heaters.

I went with the same. A 200 watt with controller and a extra 350 watt element for my 425. Holds temp to within .1 degree. Room temp was 65 all weekend and tank temp was 77.

 

[Salty_Dreamer]

I went with the Helios PTC 700 Watts (2x350 watts). They just reduced their price from 399 to 250+-. And for a backup I got an inkbird and will get 2xBRS titanium heaters.

I am debating on the Helios system as well for my 150 gallon worh sump. Tetering back and forth between that and the inkbird and 2 eheims.
How do you like the helios?

 

[Salty_Dreamer]

I went with the same. A 200 watt with controller and a extra 350 watt element for my 425. Holds temp to within .1 degree. Room temp was 65 all weekend and tank temp was 77.

How do you like the helios?

 

[stevolough]

How do you like the helios?

Only been a week but so far so good. Nice long cords is a big plus. Temp stays within .1 degree. I purchased them from their website right before the price went down and they refunded me the different. The magnet holders are a great feature as well

 

[stevolough]

You can use different size heater elements up to 1000 watts as well. The two 200 watt ones weren’t enough and I didn’t want one 500 that’s why I went with the 200 watt with controller and a separate 350 element.