Comparing different submersible heaters

[flower81]

I'm trying to figure out what the big differences are between the different brands of "stealth" heaters. (Pros/ Cons). Just to name a few...
Marineland visi-therm deluxe stealth
Marineland visi-therm stealth
Aquarium Systems stealth
Aquarium Systems Visi-therm
Tetras
Jagers
renas..........
What do you use? Why?

[Pearl]

Good question.

I've been using the heaters that came with my tanks. Believe it or not, in the last year, people have given me a 29 gallon tank, a 40 gallon tank and a 75 gallon tank, as well as hoods, lights, heaters, two stands and two filters. That's how I got into keeping fish. That said, I've recently noticed erratic temperature spikes in two of my tanks, so I plan on shopping for new heaters soon. In the meantime, I'm constantly doing finger checks on the water temperature in my tanks.

[Lycanthropic]

ATM, I am using a jager heater, a random heater that I think is something like Aqua tech and a big als heater. I have had problems with the jager heating up too much, so I put in another heater to help with the big load of water and turned the temp wayy down. Seems to keep it at a stable temp.

[RodInCALIFORNIA]

no help here i only keep large goldfish in all my tanks so no need for heaters :) one less problem to have to deal with.

[SubRosa]

My tanks are currently unheated, but I have a bunch of different types around, Marinelands, Renas, a couple of Sera units, etc. But nothing beats a Jaeger. I have a couple that I'm sure are older than alot of the people posting here and they still work perfectly.

[lookit]

I have three Marineland stealths and haven't had any problems with any of them. However, I've only been using Marineland exclusively for about six months. When I inherited / commandeered my 29-gallon, it had some other kind of heater -- a glass one -- that had lasted about 4 years or so and finally cracked. Not sure why and don't care. Replaced it with a Marineland stealth for no other reason than that's what I was using in the other tanks and hadn't had any problems. I'm interested in seeing what other people use and why.

[PsyKick]

I am extremely partial to the Marineland Visi-therm stealths.

I have 3 of them in various sizes and I have never had a problem with overheating, breaking, fluctuations or failures of any kind.

The reason I went with the Marineland stealths in the first place was because their design seems to make more sense to me, here are the specs that I think gives them the edge over other heaters:

Aluminum body covering the heating element - This is good for two reasons: 1 it wont shatter, no matter what, and 2, related to the first reason, you will never have to replace your substrate because there is glass in it.

Auto-Shutoff - This is great for those large water changes, if the heating section is no longer submerged it will shut off automatically, this means no more replacing heaters because you accidentally burned yours out while doing a big water change.

Accuracy - Guaranteed accurate to 1 degree. Says it on the box, and from my experience it is true.

Fully Submersible - You just stick the whole thing in the water, dont need another hole in your hood.

They do have their Cons though:

No light - There is no way to tell if it is on or off, I learned to live without this. It does make an audible click when it turns on/off which scared the crud out of my until I figured out what it was

It can break your tank - since it is aluminium, if it drops onto your tank floor, or smacks against the glass it will probably break the tank if you hit hard enough, however if you just make sure not to swing it around inside your tank you should be fine....

Cost - These are more expensive than most heaters. I cringe every time I buy one for a new tank, however, I have also never had to replace one, and I have come to learn with fish-keeping that usually its cheaper in the long run to spend more for a quality product.

Hope this helps!

[Star_Rider]

I am back to testing heaters. for a long time I was a fan of the marineland Visi therm stealth..but in the last few months I have had 3 newer ones fail.

[CWO4GUNNER]

no help here i only keep large goldfish in all my tanks so no need for heaters :) one less problem to have to deal with.

And all this time I thought you must have variety in those 17 tanks, but then again there is huge amount of variety in gold fish and koi and can be just as hard to maintain, I also have no heater on my Koi tank.

(Flower81) But of the heaters I do use for my other tropicals my favorite it the steal with th unbreakable black plastic. But becasue they are pricey unless on sale and especially in the larger 200-300 watt range my secoung best favorite is the Visiterm heater made of tempered glass easier to adjust and more reasonably priced when on sale. Just bought a 300W new for $21.

[jackiomy]

Petmountain.com is having an amazing sale on their heaters and their Nova Extreme lights!

[jpappy789]

I've used various stealths over the last couple of years and probably will continue to. They're very durable and have the automatic shutoff when out of the water. Only problem is theres no indication when it is on or off.

[sushiray]

I have 2 300w visitherm deluxes about 2yrs old in 72gal BF discus tank. to save a few buck vs the stealth auto shut-off I just unplug when I do my major w/c. they have been so accurate (great it has temp read out so you can precisely set it) - thermometer reads exactly what I set the heaters to.

but as you have read some have had some probs with defective stealth units, even that person's LFS. so I say go with the deluxes.

try

www.kensfish.com & www.bigalsonline.com, great prices & shipping doesn't cost you a lot.

[flower81]

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[247Plants]

visitherm stealth all the way for me. Although Im using a hydor theo in my 20 and it does ok too.

[flower81]

?

[krytan]

I like the hydor in-line heaters, the less equipment in the tank the better.

[flower81]

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[sushiray]

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Aquarium Systems Visi-therm deluxes

[flower81]

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[sushiray]

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!!
U

[flower81]

I thought most people used a heater in there aquariums. Anyone have an opinion about their heater?

[krytan]

I thought most people used a heater in there aquariums. Anyone have an opinion about their heater?
No i like my heaters out of my aquarium.

[sapphire384]

i use a jager in my tank. i bought it because the one the tank came with, an aqueon, rattled whenever i handled it. so i bought the jaeger for the simple reason it ws made in germany. works great, never needs to be adjusted and is made real solidly. it has been running for roughly 9 months withut a problem.

my girl has one running she says for over 3 years without any trouble or adjustment.

[flower81]

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[krytan]

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^
I going to have to ask but what do these posts mean?
Are they just bumps?

[flower81]

No one answered in a while, so I just typed something in to get the question back into circulation. Is there a better way to do it?

[krytan]

No one answered in a while, so I just typed something in to get the question back into circulation. Is there a better way to do it?
bump


(people know what bump means)

[JamieB]

I have 2 Aquatic Gardens heaters I bought from Petco 2 years ago and have had good luck so far.

[flower81]

bump

[dundadundun]

i like to keep mine out of my tank too.

i have no idea if mine is a brand name or a diy deal though. i bought it used and it looks like a fire hydrant. i'm thinking it's from the 60's maybe, idk. if i ever have to replace it i think the only in line one on the market is hydor so i might not have a choice.

oh, and bump means bring up my post if you were wondering. there's also ttt (to the top).

[sushiray]

I like visitherm's deluxes submersibles - great prices at www.kensfish.com & www.bigalsonline.com + they don't kill ya on shipping. also great food pricing & AC's & med's/prime at ken's.