Serious Question: Are All Heaters Bad?

[ohartman13]

I feel like every heater, even those that highly thought of, have bad reviews. And not just a couple bad reviews either. I know there is some user error involved and every piece of equipment goes bad in saltwater over time. I plan to get a new heater yearly for this reason. But what genuinely is the best heater? I’ve read a bunch of other threads, but still don’t feel there is a best answer. I’m struggling to get the point of searching as the temp of my tank sits at 77 without a heater. Would appreciate any input.

 

[BryanM]

I don't think all heaters suck, but they sure are important. Equally important is a controller for them, and in my case a backup as well.

Eheim Jagers are genreally well thought of.
Personally I use two finnex titanium heaters without controls, attached to Helios controllers, and my backup is my Apex.

 

[rtparty]

I can only think of one heater failing in my 20 years. I’ve had some that didn’t match the dial. For example, if I set the dial at 78 it kept the water at 76 but it was consistent so I didn’t care. But I’ve only had one totally fail and it was in the off position.

I run BRS titanium heaters on Aqua Logic controllers. Best setup on the market

 

[AydenLincoln]

I’ve never had a heater fail knock on wood. I highly recommend a titanium heater with controller!

 

[seabedoasis]

I think the reason for the negative reviews is the dire nature of heater failures. A heater which fails in the "On" state can easily cook a tank if not noticed quickly. I run a cobalt heater (company may not be around anymore) with an Inkbird controller set 2 degrees higher as a backup.

 

[kyreefville]

6 month old eheim jager faulty thermostat. 10 year old heater still working.

 

[jonelder68]

15-16 years ago had a heater with integrated heat protection and controller fail and heat tank to 87. Needless to say I lost everything except my now 23 year old clowns. So I’m super paranoid of this happening on my new tank. Apex with controller helps the soul with redundancy.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Fluval heater for over two years and have never had issues with it

 

[penfold2]

I think most heaters are generally pretty reliable, but they're not infallible, and as @seabedoasis said, when they do fail, it can be catastrophic. Even the more respected brands like Eheim-Jager, BRS titanium, and Helio have plenty of horror stories. So it's best to treat them all as time bombs. That means connecting them to a redundant controller, using multiple smaller heaters, and/or having monitoring alerts. Heaters by their nature are dangerous, but necessary equipment for most tanks, so we have to minimize the danger as much as possible.

 

[JohnNYC8]

I feel like every heater, even those that highly thought of, have bad reviews. And not just a couple bad reviews either. I know there is some user error involved and every piece of equipment goes bad in saltwater over time. I plan to get a new heater yearly for this reason. But what genuinely is the best heater? I’ve read a bunch of other threads, but still don’t feel there is a best answer. I’m struggling to get the point of searching as the temp of my tank sits at 77 without a heater. Would appreciate any input.

If you’re really concerned, get two and set the backup a degree lower than the primary. I have that setup and if there’s a big downswing from our AC being on it’ll kick them both on and get the temp back up really fast.

The chance of one heater failing is low. The chance that two heaters failing at the same time is very low.

 

[BrettMallette]

Fluval heater for over two years and have never had issues with it

Same here. Been using them for 5+ never had one fail. But also never gave one a chance to. Every 2 years i swap em. They are cheaper than a coral most of the time and can usually get multiple on sale for dirt cheap at PetSmart. Have 3 unopened sitting in my fish supplies shelf. I use an Inkbird for redundancy as a just in case and for peace of mind if im not around not everyone in my household knows what to keep an eye on if im out of town.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Same here. Been using them for 5+ never had one fail. But also never gave one a chance to. Every 2 years i swap em. They are cheaper than a coral most of the time and can usually get multiple on sale for dirt cheap at PetSmart. Have 3 unopened sitting in my fish supplies shelf. I use an Inkbird for redundancy as a just in case and for peace of mind if im not around not everyone in my household knows what to keep an eye on if im out of town.

That's a smart idea swapping them out!

 

[BrettMallette]

That's a smart idea swapping them out!

They usually get 4 years of life... 2 in tank and then 2 in mixing bin. The 2 years in tank gets my money out of them but i tend to hate throwing perfectly working things away.

 

[ohartman13]

Honestly, if your tank’s holding steady at 77 without a heater, you might not even need one unless your room temps swing a lot. I’ve had more headaches from heaters failing than from not having one, so now I just keep a decent backup ready and only run it if temps start dropping.

That's why I wondered if I needed one or not... leaning towards doing a heater w controller & rotating out the heater yearly.

 

[t5Nitro]

I actually think buying a new heater annually increases the likelihood you pick up a model that’ll be defective and fail early. That said, I’m not sure if there is a critical time to replace them (before failure).

 

[BrettMallette]

I actually think buying a new heater annually increases the likelihood you pick up a model that’ll be defective and fail early. That said, I’m not sure if there is a critical time to replace them (before failure).

In my 25 years of reefing never had a defective heater from factory. Yes its a risk but as is using the same heater assuming it will keep working past its manufacturer stated 2 year warranty. Only ever had them fail in the on position after the 3 year mark, and thats not just fluval. Have used a vaste majority of major brands but never had them fail within the 2 year mark. If super worried go titanium with a heater controller that also has a backup just in case. Redundancy is my prefered route

 

[nim6us]

I'm actually shopping for a new heater right now as I've had another failure. I wouldn't say all heaters are bad; but I definitely would say no single brand or model is reliable.

I've had Ehiem Jagers that have lasted 8+ years, and I've had two of the exact same model die in that time period. Ehiem's customer support were totally useless in honoring their warranty so I chose not to buy anymore.

I decided to take the overwhelming advice and to not cheap out and invest in "quality" heaters. I bought a pair of D-D titanium ones in 2022, I believe they're re-badged Schego but there's conflicting info. Since then one failed, and was replaced under warranty which was nice. However this week a second one has failed and the warranty is only for 2 years so I'm out of luck.

This go around I'm going to try Fluval M-Series because I've had great success with Fluval equipment in the past. They seem to be middle of the road on cost and have a 3 year warranty. If I can get them to honor it, great, if not I can just replace them at half the cost of a titanium heater.

Currently I run two heaters which are each a little undersized for the tank. That way combined they can handle the job no problem. This allows me to easily spot when a heater has died with my Apex. If you follow the temp trends you can see they usually come on and go off in roughly the same duration throughout the day. Say for example 20mins on to heat the water to temp before they go off. Then if I notice it's taking 45min to heat the water it's usually a good indication I'm running on a single heater. This allows me to limp along with a single heater until I can get a replacement.

TLDR I wouldn't buy utter cheap crap, but I also wholeheartedly refute the idea the investing in expensive heaters guarantees a promise of value. Treat them as a commodity, plan for them to fail, and buy something middle of the road when they need replaced.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

I would stay away from the heaters with integrated controllers and either buy a heating element (BRS Titanium or eq.) with a controller, or an element hooked up to something like an Apex. Also keep a heater as a backup in case it fails in the middle of winter or something.

 

[penfold2]

I would stay away from the heaters with integrated controllers and either buy a heating element (BRS Titanium or eq.) with a controller, or an element hooked up to something like an Apex. Also keep a heater as a backup in case it fails in the middle of winter or something.

I like to use integrated controllers as a backup to the external controller. Setting the integrated controller to a temperature a couple degrees higher than the external provides an additional failsafe against a heater failing on, which is far more dangerous than a heater failing off. And most external controllers will still alert you if the heater fails off.

I agree that keeping a backup heater is very important. I use two small heaters in my tank so that I never lose all heat, but my water change heater also doubles as a backup.

 

[kyreefville]

I emailed ehiem last week got a response within a couple days and new heater sent out under warranty within a couple of days (of course I had all required documents).