Time to replace heaters - Recommendations?

[Imrahilwjz]

I've used Finnex 300W. They've worked good for me.

 

[spsick]

Is that the German brand that BRS is relabeling?

No, Schaego is the German one. Hygger is Chinese. (Which is fine)


OP, I find heater sizing always excessive unless your your tank is in a cold basement. My 75g only needed a 100w heater. I’m running a BRS 200w on a Helio universal on my 125g now and it cycles pretty fast, coming up to temp every hour. I wish I had a 150w option.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Once all my heaters burn out, I will replace them all with titanium heaters that have theirs own on/off mechanism and back them up with InkBird as a safely. I love the WiFi on InkBird. I don’t have a controller like apex.

 

[muzikalmatt]

I have an Eheim Jager 150w that's been running 6 years strong in my 40 gallon tank. I also have a 50w Eheim Jager that's been running over 3 years in my 10 gallon tank. Anecdotally, Eheim Jager's are pretty reliable for me.

 

[Dr. D]

Funny timing. I just posted about one of my EHEIM 250-watt heaters dying after one month’s use.

 

[mwdomino]

I use an Inkbird with a couple cheap heaters from BRS. The Inkbird makes me feel comfortable throwing whatever heater in there and just let the controller manage it. The Inkbird in the DT is at least 3yr old and I really never have to think about it.

I have another for my QT, mixing station, and even an Inkbird BBQ thermometer :p

 

[LivingCorals Youtube]

That does NOT sound fun :/

It’s not it’s a good way to have you panicked and thinking your fish and everything else is going to die lol

 

[Janet Belanger]

I have 3 Cobalt Accu therms (2 on apex, 1 back up used for the very occasional water change) all since 2020. No problems so far. Sad it seems they're getting harder to find and/or non-existent.

 

[North Borders]

I have 3 Cobalt Accu therms (2 on apex, 1 back up used for the very occasional water change) all since 2020. No problems so far. Sad it seems they're getting harder to find and/or non-existent.

Think Cobalt left the business from what I've heard

 

[Janet Belanger]

Think Cobalt left the business from what I've heard

Makes sense, such a bummer! I'm very happy with mine, but I'm here watching this thread because I'll need to replace them eventually. I'd like to be prepared with decisions before it becomes dire.

 

[winxp_man]

Running two Hygger Ti units for a 135 gal tank and sump system. 500watt and 200watt. Garage temp at night winter 45* and day time 55*. They hold the system at 78-79 no issues.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I run Helios on 3 of my 4 tanks, the 4th tank is a cold water temperate tank so no heater needed.
If you run the full helios system you have a double failsafe in the system. The Helios elements have a temp probe in them and that must match the actual temp probe within a certain degree or it will shut the system down. Like the poster said previously. But it does have an audible alarm the goes off if it goes below temp or if it shuts the system down due to too great a variance. I run my Helios thru my apex EB832 and that adds another fail safe. If the temp gets too hot via Apex temp probe it will shut the heater outlet down and also turn on the chiller.

 

[purpfish]

I use an eheim with a inkbird but have the inkbird set a degree higher so the heater does the on off work

 

[Malcontent]

You have to make sure the sensor is pretty clean or you'll start to get alot of error codes. I actually had a problem today with it that my heater went out and lowered the temp to 72 degrees. So sensor errors and remote sensor errors

I had the same problems and finally relegated them to the water change barrel where they died completely...

 

[LivingCorals Youtube]

I had the same problems and finally relegated them to the water change barrel where they died completely...

ive actually gone through a few heaters with them that I brought at Bulk RSupply .

 

[minus9]

You run a 100W with a 300W? How has that been working for you?

Sorry, I don’t run them on the same system, but on two different systems. My nano has two 100w heaters and my 90g has a single 300w.

 

[North Borders]

I found some really snazzy Apex code last night that switches back and forth between 2 heaters every 12 hours and decided to give that a try with a pair of BRS 200W titanium heaters. The code uses virtual outlets to failsafe notify if the heater is on longer than 30 minutes and if the heat doesn't rise it flips on heater two and also puts out of range notifiers around a possible temp probe failure. I ordered a 3rd heater in case one dies and already had a backup, brand new Apex temp probe in case that dies hah

 

[Don’t fear the reefer]

I have Helios PTC on both tanks (50g and 26g) for 2+ years and have been completely satisfied. Temp probe and heaters have to be cleaned occasionally but isn’t cleaning and maintenance our routine? PTC can pair any of its heat elements so on the 50 I use 200w + 100w, providing swift correction after WC (I rarely preheat new water) with time-buying reserve power in case the 200 fails. Temp never varies more than 0.5. I don’t have Apex but the lo/hi double-failsafe on Helios has earned my trust. No elements have yet failed, either. (OK, I keep my old Eheim Jaegers in the storage room just in case.)

 

[LivingCorals Youtube]

I have Helios PTC on both tanks (50g and 26g) for 2+ years and have been completely satisfied. Temp probe and heaters have to be cleaned occasionally but isn’t cleaning and maintenance our routine? PTC can pair any of its heat elements so on the 50 I use 200w + 100w, providing swift correction after WC (I rarely preheat new water) with time-buying reserve power in case the 200 fails. Temp never varies more than 0.5. I don’t have Apex but the lo/hi double-failsafe on Helios has earned my trust. No elements have yet failed, either. (OK, I keep my old Eheim Jaegers in the storage room just in case.)

Thats good to hear. The last 3 helios heaters ive owned have been less than 1 month and the instructions indicate to clean with vinegar and water. And mine have yet to reach 3 weeks before i start to get errors and remote sensor error codes. I do believe its a hit and miss with IMarine products. And for how much they cost they need to do better. Def better brands out there.