straight skinny on rena cal please!!!

[prissy]

just got new rena cal 300wt. for 50 gal. tank.now I,m hearing rena cals are not good. please give me some input.

[JSchmidt]

I'm not a fan of them. The brands that you'll most rarely hear negatives about are Ebo Jager and Tronic. My Rena heater almost turned a 30g tank into fish soup when it stuck in the 'on' position.

Jim

[beviking]

The Rena Cal Top Light Excel?
I have no experience with them (only Ebo and Visitherm) but we recently received some for our brine shrimp incubators and they seem like a decent heater.

Jim, was your Rena a newer heater? It wasn't an older model was it? I'm curious too b/c they look like a good heater, solid, easy to read and adjust. I love my Ebo but that bright blue top is hard to hide.

Bill

[JSchmidt]

Mine was the newer type with the light on top.


Jim

[chefkeith]

I ordered 2 of 200W Rena Cal Top Lights just a few days ago. I thought I'd like it more than an Ebo Jager because its fully submersable. Now I read that one stuck in the on position? Great.

I thought sticking would be impossible on Rena's since I read that "a 500-micron solid-silver contact thermostat eliminates contact welding that causes overheating". Are you absolutely sure its stuck?

Even Ebo Jager's can seem to be stuck sometimes if you don't dial down 3-4 degrees then up to the desired temperature.

Man, this is killing me since I just ordered them. I love the Rena products I have- the Filstar XP3 and the Rena Air 400, so I thought I'd give the heaters a try.

[JSchmidt]

I don't believe any heater is immune to sticking. I had a Tronic, supposedly immune to that problem, that stuck on. I think some heaters are made better and are less likely to have that problem. Renas, from my experience and what I've read here, aren't in that cateory. Ebos are, as are Tronics....

Sorry...

Jim

[chefkeith]

Thanks. These 2 - 200W Rena's I'm getting will both be in a new 90g tank. I just hope they both don't stick at the same time. I'll test them out for about 6 weeks before any fish go in. I could of saved a few bucks by just going with the Ebo's. Rena Cal Top lights are the most expensive heaters at Big Al's, so I thought they'd be the best.

Now as I think about it, I couldn't of used an ebo Jagar heater anyway, my 90 g tank is only 12" high (72lx24wx12h), has a 2" wide lip at the top, and the 200w ebo is 15 " long... had to go with a fully submersable.

[JSchmidt]

Ummmm... Ebo Jagers (and Tronics, for that matter) are fully submersible. Most heaters are, these days...

Jim

[chefkeith]

My ebo jager has a water level line on the top of it and printed above it in English it says "Do not Immerse beyond water level". Then there's something written in French.

I've been reading on other forums that the Ebo is fully submersible and that This water level line means nothing or it is a minimal water level line on some Ebo's.

Thank goodness for the internet or I'd be totaly lost. I do believe the Ebo's are fully submersible, they sure are built well.