Best Saltwater Aquarium Heater? You choose!

[Jesterrace]

For the money, Eheim Jager. I did a review of mine here:

 

[HollidayReefer]

Best heater imo is the neotherm heater. If you have a misshap on a water change or something and it comes out of the water it wont bust inside your tank when it touches the water agai.

 

[427HISS]

Best heater imo is the neotherm heater. If you have a misshap on a water change or something and it comes out of the water it wont bust inside your tank when it touches the water agai.

I've had one for four years now in a 29g Biocube, with no issues, the problem is their cost. I'm in the process of setting up a 125g, so I want two heaters, but the cost is to me, is redicluos. Two of their highest watt's, 300w for my tank is $280 ! . That ain't gonna happen.

 

[Hallowhead]

I'm deciding on a Cobalt neotherm or a Jager for my new 34 gallon frag tank with a 15 gallon sump. Either way probably two 75 or 100 watts on a controller. Any suggestions ?

 

[nick9one1]

On the topic of controllers, are there any off the shelf PID controllers available?
From what I've seen, they are all basic thermostatic. i.e. they just turn on if the heat is below the set temp, and off if the tank rises above.

PID controllers are a bit more 'intelligent' (They use quite a complex formula to calculate the on/off time of a heater) In basic terms they ramp up/down slowly and pulse the the heater to keep a very stable temperature. They can handle external temperature fluctuations better.

I built an all grain homebrew setup a few years ago, and nobody uses thermostats like the STC-1000, they just aren't stable enough.

 

[Reefer Charlie]

by far it is the cobalt easyterm heaters

 

[deborahuribe]

Yeah! this the best thing I saw at my friend house. He has a big a aquarium and couple of very beautiful fishes. My vote is with you.

 

[sawdonkey]

Where are you getting these recommendations? What is the ambient temperature. I have a 210 and the temperature rarely drops below 79 and that is without any heaters. Just pumps.

I know that this is a little old, but having two heaters isn’t because one won’t do the job. It’s so that if one dies, the other picks up the slack.

 

[jasonrusso]

I know that this is a little old, but having two heaters isn’t because one won’t do the job. It’s so that if one dies, the other picks up the slack.

I'm aware of the reasoning, I do it myself. My point was that he was going to put an 800w heater in a 220 (then corrected it to 500w). I have a 300w in a 210 and it never turns on, even in the winter. 2 Ehiem 1262s act as free heaters!

 

[ORReefer]

Plus one on the need for a controller. We have had good luck with Jager our original green model lasted over 10 years. However, the replacement - after an extended power outage, went crazy and tried to cook the tank!

If it's not too far out of the scope of this post, what controllers do people like?

 

[TheGreatWave]

2 smaller Jagers. Controllers are a good idea but I don't personally have one since selling the Apex.

People like Ranco controllers as stand alone devices. (Commercial type product, not hobby grade)

Jagers have the longest warranty and are UL approved. They are a little big but I accept there is probably a reason for the size. Eheim are very reasonably priced. I can get them all over locally for around $35 Canadian.

Stay away from any of those black coated epoxy heaters like neo-therm etc. This style of manufacturing keeps popping up under different names over the years and keeps exploding.

I stay away from fancy off-shore digital titanium heaters with separate probes. Weird things seems to happen whenever I ran this heater. it might not be the heater, the rubber on the heater gets soft and dissolves in water.

The Eheims can be calibrated, though I find the temperature drift over time to be acceptable. (IME 2-3 degrees F in as many years)

After 3 years I buy new Eheims and use the old ones for spares and utility heaters etc.

 

[SaundersDVM]

I love Eheim Jagers for their cost, durability, and reliability.

Story time:
I had two (undersized) Cobalt Neotherm heaters on one of my reefs and had no issues for quite a few years. I chose Neotherm because I read that they keep the temperature to a narrower range, and their temperature readings are accurate. I had two undersized heaters rather than one appropriately sized heater for the same reason others have stated--if one heater gets stuck on, it will not be hot enough to nuke the tank by itself. Recently, one of the two heaters did just that. The temperature set point increased (on its own) to the hottest setting. Fortunately, because the heater was undersized, the tank temperature only increased a couple degrees. Rather than replace both heaters (they were a few years old), I decided to just get another brand heater (again, undersized) to pair with the still working Cobalt Neotherm. A few months later, the remaining Cobalt Neotherm did the same thing and increased its temperature set point to the hottest setting. After their failures, the button on top of each heater no longer worked, so the temperature set point was stuck. Now the Cobalt Neotherm heaters served me well for a few years. The moral of this story though, is to keep two or three undersized heaters, and to replace those heaters intermittently.

 

[andre wells]

Eheim, with a controller is hard to beat

 

[nly04]

Eheim, with a controller is hard to beat

Do you recommend any controller? I have two 300 Eheim on my 150galDT and 70gal sump. Thx

 

[andre wells]

A Ehiem jager and a inkbird controller get my vote

 

[James77]

Finnex titanium heating element only on a Ranco. Solid performance for several years now.

 

[skyrne_isk]

Been keeping aquariums for 35+yrs. Have gone through many heaters. For the last 10+yrs I've owned the same one. A Via Aqua 300w Titanium. Controller mounts outside the tank. Has a 12" heat prob. Hands down the best heater I've ever owned!

same here. but had the 400w model. eventually I got some water on the knob control and so I hardwired it on for a couple years (risky plays!). still works. switched over the jagers and I don’t like them as much - agreed with the length and quirky adjustment mechanisms (gotta love the germans, lol). give me one of those old via aqua titanium any day

 

[AquaAmator]

One of the most important and dangerous pieces of equipment to use in your reef is a heater! Get a good one and all is well. Get a bad one and you could kill your tank!

In your experience what is the BEST aquarium heater you have used for your reef to date and why?

I had a Finnex with the built in thermostat work well for five years. That heater is now retired and doing water-change water warmups. I put the same type of heater in my 10g. I was disappointed at the accuracy. Spec says plus or minus 2 degrees. My issue was if I set it to 79 I got 77 and if I set it to 80 I got 82. But I have the whole thing on a controller so it does not really matter. I just thought that, with a more accurate internal thermostat the heater would cycle less frequently. My 120 gal has the titanium heater from Finnex with no built-in thermostat and I am relying on the Apex.

An earlier post talked about the rubber melting or leaching into the tank. Is that real? I have stayed away from glass just thinking about breakage risk. I need to install a redundant system in the big tank. It is on my list.

 

[joekool]

RK2 Systems inline heater you know if you need 6kw to 18kw. Yeah buddy. They have heat pumps too like an ac heat pump if you need something like that.

 

[Intheflesh]

Eheim Jagers and Apex Controller is my go to.