Helio PTC Question

[reeferkojack]

Hello Reefers!

I'm going to buy the Helio heater for my BC32 rebuild. Is it worth spending the extra money for the dual element 200W versus the single? I will be keeping the Biocube Hood, so the tank does hold & maintain the temperature fairly well versus a open tank. Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Yes, if space constraints aren't an issue having the redundancy of 2 heaters is always a good idea.

 

[Ks4726]

I have the 1000 watt dual element on my 265. I had a rough start with it. I paid almost 300 bucks for the thing. For that much I expected it to work flawlessly. For starters when I first got it it worked fine for a week. It turns out there is a glass tube inside the controller that kept blowing. After going back and forth with IM it turns out one of the elements was bad causing it the fuse to blow. IM doesn't give you back up fuses and it's some weird size fuse that my local auto parts store, home depot, and lowes doesn't carry. IM won't send you any and give you a link for Amazon to buy the fuses, but the fuses took a week to be delivered. So after spending almost 300 bucks on this thing I had to run out to petsmart and buy 2 more back up heaters which was another 80 bucks to keep my tank from crashing. So a week later when the fuses come, it's a bad element. IM requests I cut the cord and post a video of the cut cord and then they send me a new one. Another 2 or 3 days for the new element. I then stop blowing fuses and it works.

A week later I realize one element is not staying on. If I unplug it they both work to heat the tank, then the second element won't turn back on. After 12 more emails I realized my problem was this. My elements are placed one on top of each other. They are long and im limited on room. So the top one wasn't staying on. I repositioned that top one to a bottom area in the sump and since then it's worked flawlessly. I'm assuming since the one element was higher up in the warmer area of the sump it wouldn't turn on. In one of the emails IM did suggest to move the elements around in my sump which I didn't listen, but in the past usually you place a heater somewhere and it's end of story. They also suggested i spend another 265 bucks on a second heater because my system is technically larger than their recommendation. The heater is set for 78. And since the problems it stays at 78. For 300 bucks I should of gotten back up glass fuses and reimbursed for my two back up heaters in my opinion. I spent that much on a heater I shouldn't need to spend more money to keep my system alive. The reason I went with IM is because finnex is junk and I went through 3 of their heaters in less than 2 years. It seems finnix lasts 6 months to get past the warranty and they take a ****. Sorry this is so long, but it's my experience with the mighty PTC heater.