my new 50W Stealth Pro is minus four degrees off. I returned a 200w Stealth Pro to Dr F&S and upgraded to a Fluval E-series, which is dead accurate. The returned Stealth Pro was a piece of junk,would not maintain settings even when +4 degrees was factored into settings and the $9.00 return shipping loss besides.Will never purchase another Marineland heater.
UPDATE: New Marineland VisiTherm Heaters Failing
- Thread starter pinkertd
- Start date
It was because of the earlier thread that I decided not to go with another Marineland heater. The older one I have in one tank is a champ, but I simply do not trust "made in China" quality - too many risks. So instead I bought a Rena smartheater that will serve as the intake for an XP2 filter.
Dang. That would be horrifying to come home to simmering pets.
mg:
Dang. That would be horrifying to come home to simmering pets.
mg:Why, if I had one of the marineland heaters fail would I return it at my expense; especially if they have a no return policy. Seems to me if they really want to properly track the performance of their equipment they would change the policy to get the failed heaters back and actually try to do something to correct the problems, if they have any. FWIW I use the Via Aqua that was shown earlier and have no problems. Good luck.
Just to let you, F&S waves the shipping if you return and item and order another. Just ask them.
There is a good explanation for this. You cannot wait for 2-3 weeks to get a new heater if the one you are using is trashed. Also, not everyone is willing to pay the 10 dollars shipping for a twenty-30 dollar heater.
And in all due respect, I think marineland is playing down the issue quite a bit, as your response was somewhat different then mine. If I may quote a small piece of the reply they sent me:
I lost five discus as a result of a marineland heater failure. Why on Earth would I want to have the heater replaced at the risk of it happening again?
Fortunety my LFS replaced the heater (it was less than a week old) with a Fluval. That did little to replace the $ lot on the Discus (not a cheap fish).
To Marineland's credit, they did send me a new 48" LED light fixture in exchange for the lost discus. Their customer service is actually pretty good, pity that there heaters not so much.
While a lifetime gurantee is nice, I cannot afford to lose another batch of fish like this again, and for that reason will never use another marineland heater again.
Fool me once, shame on you........Fool me twice..........
Sorry for your discus loss nc0gnet0. I'd be heartbroken if that happened to my discus. I am constantly looking at my tank temps now, especially since I have 6 new heaters. I spent a few hours researching heaters and reviews last night before choosing the replacements. The heaters I liked the most were JBJ True Temp Heating System w/Controller and Titanium Heating Element but the cost for a 500W heater is $160.....a bit out of my price range. I finally decided on German made jagers and placed my order for 4 of the 250W.
I have decided that in mission critical situations, your better of with an external controller and not the cheap ones found in so many heaters. Also, two heaters is better than one in such a scenario.
Dr F&S is a great place to purchase supplies. they always have given me 100% satisfaction. They did replace the defective heater with another brand w/ free shipping. but i did pay shipping on the original order and again pay to return it as defective.=$18.00 after leaving the post office I realized that it was not worth the $9.00 return shipping expense for a $20.00 heater. =live and learn I guess it was my lesson of the day!:wall:
Deb,
keep us posted on the ebo jeager heaters. I have one that came with a 29 I bought from a breeder. I have had to 2 years and it works pretty good.
I may be replacing my older heaters with these
keep us posted on the ebo jeager heaters. I have one that came with a 29 I bought from a breeder. I have had to 2 years and it works pretty good.
I may be replacing my older heaters with these
I did not read this whole tread, but I wanted to add that I also had a Marineland Stealth VisiTherm Heaters fail at almost exactly 12 months. I asked PetCo about it, they said I needed to take it up with manufacturer, which I never did. I replaced it with a Pro model, which is going fine for 4 months. It's my own fault it never contacted Marineland, but it's interesting there are so many reported issues.
My own symptoms were as follows:
(1) Heater stopped working, noticed the thermometer was reading 65 degrees one day in DEC, instead of normal 79 F. I stuck my hand in, and it was freezing.
(2) I turned the knob up and down and felt the heater come back on while heater was underwater by lightly clutching in my palm. Water was so cold I could definitely tell it kicked on, even though these heaters never get 'hot' to the touch in my experience.
(3) Assumed all was well, and checked it after an hour or two, and it was back to around 79F. I left it alone again, assuming all was well. I think I set it at 81 to get it to 79.
(4) Next day, checked again, this time it was like 85F! Unplugged and pulled heater out of tank. This thing was all over the map, and unable to either tell when it has come up to temp, or when it was time to turn on. I think I was pushing it too hard with Maine winters, and having to keep tank 20 degree F above room temp. Went to Petco and bought a Pro model, which in hindsight should probably have been a different brand.
(5) Never followed up because I didn’t realize there are many known issues with this heater. But here I am now adding a voice to the discussion in hopes they figure out what the hell is going on.
P.s. NO fish died as a result of going from 65-85 in the course of 24 hours. Or at least nothing died for another week+.
My own symptoms were as follows:
(1) Heater stopped working, noticed the thermometer was reading 65 degrees one day in DEC, instead of normal 79 F. I stuck my hand in, and it was freezing.
(2) I turned the knob up and down and felt the heater come back on while heater was underwater by lightly clutching in my palm. Water was so cold I could definitely tell it kicked on, even though these heaters never get 'hot' to the touch in my experience.
(3) Assumed all was well, and checked it after an hour or two, and it was back to around 79F. I left it alone again, assuming all was well. I think I set it at 81 to get it to 79.
(4) Next day, checked again, this time it was like 85F! Unplugged and pulled heater out of tank. This thing was all over the map, and unable to either tell when it has come up to temp, or when it was time to turn on. I think I was pushing it too hard with Maine winters, and having to keep tank 20 degree F above room temp. Went to Petco and bought a Pro model, which in hindsight should probably have been a different brand.
(5) Never followed up because I didn’t realize there are many known issues with this heater. But here I am now adding a voice to the discussion in hopes they figure out what the hell is going on.
P.s. NO fish died as a result of going from 65-85 in the course of 24 hours. Or at least nothing died for another week+.
