Best Saltwater Aquarium Heater? You choose!

Bouncingsoul39

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How do you have that set up? My Eheim and Ink Bird has a couple degree swings throughout the day and I can not seem to get it dialed in...
The minimum variance is 1 degree. My tank stays at 77-78. Do you have that setting to 1? If you do, then it maybe that your heater cannot keep up with the heating requirements with the lights off? Maybe need higher wattage.
Without the controller in front of me, it's hard to visualize the settings but there is an option in it that lets you choose what the variance is IIRC.
 

JBKReef

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The minimum variance is 1 degree. My tank stays at 77-78. Do you have that setting to 1? If you do, then it maybe that your heater cannot keep up with the heating requirements with the lights off? Maybe need higher wattage.
Without the controller in front of me, it's hard to visualize the settings but there is an option in it that lets you choose what the variance is IIRC.

Yeah I have the deviation set to 1 degree as well, I have two heaters plugged into the Ink Bird a 150Watt Eheim Jager and a 500Watt Titanium Finnex both are individually rated for over 100 gallons.

Thanks for the info!
 

Bouncingsoul39

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A 150w heater will not heat a 100 gallon tank efficiently or at all depending on the ambient room temp. Eheims ratings are funky and too low IME. We always run heaters at 3-5 watts per 5 gallons so even on the low end it would be 300w. The 500w is an appropriate size. I would try a couple experiments, one, unplug your inkbird and plug it back in after 10 seconds. Next, I'd try to run only the 500w for 48 hours and see what happens. Also, calibrate the inkbird to a thermometer making sure it's the same temp reading.
 

Joseph Wright

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Have had many problems with ehiem Jager. I’d never use them again. You should never have to calibrate any heater in my opinion. Learned the hard way these heaters are junk. Cost me my whole tank. Except for zoas and four fish(the inexpensive ones) . Never use them again.
 

JBKReef

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A 150w heater will not heat a 100 gallon tank efficiently or at all depending on the ambient room temp. Eheims ratings are funky and too low IME. We always run heaters at 3-5 watts per 5 gallons so even on the low end it would be 300w. The 500w is an appropriate size. I would try a couple experiments, one, unplug your inkbird and plug it back in after 10 seconds. Next, I'd try to run only the 500w for 48 hours and see what happens. Also, calibrate the inkbird to a thermometer making sure it's the same temp reading.

Thanks I'll play around with it some. I have used three thermometers (Apex Temp Probe, cheap digital tank thermometer, kitchen thermometer) outside of the ink bird probe and they all were within .5 degrees of each other so I'm confident its accurate enough.

I will run the finnex through the inkbird alone and and see if the variance closes.

Thanks!
 

[Cameron]

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Eheim Jager. Every inexpensive heater with its own thermometer has a large variance in their accuracy. Most get lucky if theirs is "dead on balls" accurate. The Jager addresses this issue by allowing users to dial it in.

Heaters and controllers fail. It is only a matter of time before a probe goes kaput, a controller board malfunctions or a heaters coil fails. It might be 1 month or 10 years but it eventually happens.

We ran two that were 2w per gallon each, one set to 78 the other to 77 after being dialed in. Those were both put on their own Ink bird temperature controller set to 80 that is also dialed in (silicone the probes first). Prior to this setup we used an aquarium controller as a backup to the heaters thermostat. Unfortunately a Neptune controller failed to startup properly post power outage on a fellow reefer and his heaters never powered up. After that we started using two "dumb" temp controllers on two heaters. Cheap, effective and nearly foolproof.
 
U

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COBALT NeoTherm or COBALT Brand name. Superior construction and unmatched durability, and most importantly an iron-clad warranty that they don’t try to find some excuse to wiggle out of. I have personal experience with two types of their heaters, tempered glass 250watt and NeoTherm 200watt. Just had to replace my heater which broke because I left it out of the water and it overheated. The new ones have a dummy switch that shuts off before overheating.

I was looking at these heaters actually but they are limited in their range so wasn't sure how many I would need for my 240 gallon. Of course that wouldn't be the total water volume so maybe a pair of their 200 Watts would be fine. They look good although I caught their note for Apex users using plug 4 or 8. I'll have to read instructions and see what those ports are and why special.
 

FLSharkvictim

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I run 2 200(w) Cobalt Aquatics Electronic Neo-Therm Submersible Aquarium Heaters in my 120 mixed reef and absolutely love them. In my opinion what separates them from the rest, is they have a super flat design with an easy to set "one touch" control system. The advanced electronic thermostat is accurate to ±0.5° and includes a LED that displays both the Set Temp and Tank Temp simultaneously and has a Set temperature range from 66° up to 96°. For ultimate safety and reliability, integrated thermal protection circuitry shut the heater down before it can overheat and its shatterproof outer casing make the Neo-Therms virtually indestructible. and they fit perfect in my sump with my @reef Octopus Regal Intl Protein Skimmer.

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Blue Spot Octopus

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^^^^ I take it they have fixed the problems with the 200 watt unit. Are you using and independent controller with it as well?
I was lucky to find a new old BNIB Via Aqua Titanium heater with the manual dial on it.. I also found a old BNIB the Ebo Jager 300 watt heater that was for a fresh water tank, it is green with a flat green wire to it.
 

Bayareareefer18

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^^^^ I take it they have fixed the problems with the 200 watt unit. Are you using and independent controller with it as well?
I was lucky to find a new old BNIB Via Aqua Titanium heater with the manual dial on it.. I also found a old BNIB the Ebo Jager 300 watt heater that was for a fresh water tank, it is green with a flat green wire to it.
I am running two 150s with my new build after seeing BRS rave about them. On another forum I read of many failures, not just isolated to the 200s, so but if mixed signals. I have a 300w jager also but it's huge so that stays in mixing barrel
 

11f150

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For anyone that maybe looking for a new heater. My JBJ 1000w titanium just died on me today. Just a hair over a year old...probably wont be buying another one. Now have to find something more dependable.
 

Bruno516

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Ehiem Jager by far. If I had to pick a second, I would say Finnex. a little work is needed in getting them calibrated, but once done they are spot on and long lasting
 

Genomecop

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I am running two 150s with my new build after seeing BRS rave about them. On another forum I read of many failures, not just isolated to the 200s, so but if mixed signals. I have a 300w jager also but it's huge so that stays in mixing barrel

Even on the BRS store site the reviews are mixed with some reporting the case 'explodes' and leaks.
 

tastyfish

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Mirroring above comments on always having two working heaters and running with a controller!

I switched from glass to Schego titanium heaters and haven't looked back since. Temperature swings used to be between 0.5-0.7C with glass, they are now 0.1C
 

Pbh-reef

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I'm planning a nuvo 20 fusion, probably the peninsula version. I won't be buying a controller like apex or reef keeper for now, was wondering what people would recommend in terms of heaters - 2 cobalts (what wattage?) attached to an ink bird? Would one cobalt be ok? Is there another heater controller people prefer to the ink bird other than a real aquarium controller?
 
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jasonrusso

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I'm planning a nuvo 20 fusion, probably the peninsula version. I won't be buying a controller like apex or reef keeper for now, was wondering if people what people would recommend in terms of heaters - 2 cobalts (what wattage?) attached to an ink bird? Would one cobalt be ok? Is there another heater controller people prefer to the ink bird other than a real aquarium controller?
I have an Aqueon pro heater. A 20 gallon only needs a 100w or maybe 150w depending on room temperature.

Aqueon Pro has a lifetime warranty. I think it is titanium. I know that it isn't glass.
 

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