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Heater Help

I am out f the loop on what is good and not good anymore. Anyway have a good recommendation for a heater, preferably on that is hidden, last year I bought 2 JBJ titanium here with controller and hey both stopped working less than a year old. So I need something reliable for as it is set up at work and is a show tank.. kinda....
 
I just picked up a Jager heater for my tank to replace a different brand that I think may have been giving me trouble. Have had one on my FW tank for lord knows how long....would be my suggestion after trying a bunch of new types that are not as good.
 

horseplay

NJRC Member
I have been using Via Aqua

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewitem.aspx?idproduct=VA73334&child=VA73337&utm_source=adwordsfroogle&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=adwordsfroogle&utm_content=VA73337&gclid=CjwKEAjw5ZKiBRDhqa-Yjcml9kYSJABia-RnGBokicu_wigK4QUDcT-l6ZfGL08hJBL3oJKzXX0xZBoCWNbw_wcB

The only problem is that the newer model as the one in the link has a digital controller which resets to 79 degrees after power loss. The older ones had a dial which stays. I have been using 3 of these for years without any issue.
 

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
+4 Jager. No matter what heaters you buy, run them through a controller. Regards of the brand, they will eventually crap out on you, and the controller will stop the "stuck on" failure.
 

mrehfeld

Officer Emeritus
Heaters fail all the time, controllers mitigate that failure by tripping an alarm & turning off heater if the temperature goes too high or tripping the alarm when the temp goes too low.
 

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Are you saying that there are no good controllers out there for heaters then?


What I'm saying is that there is not a single heater out there that won't eventually fail. It will fail in one of two ways; stuck on, where heat goes through the roof; stop working all together, suppling no heat. A controller will stop the first failure from happening. The second one can be covered by running two heaters at the same time. That's what I do.
 
What I'm saying is that there is not a single heater out there that won't eventually fail. It will fail in one of two ways; stuck on, where heat goes through the roof; stop working all together, suppling no heat. A controller will stop the first failure from happening. The second one can be covered by running two heaters at the same time. That's what I do.
You forgot sucky option 3 where there is a failure that zaps you or your fish.
 
I run jager heaters on my large 180g tank w/ 40g fuge & 75g sump. I run a cobalt on my 28g nano. I really like the cobalts, but it appears there were issues with the larger sizes breaking.

I'm with Paul though I would never run a tank without a controller & a heater without a fail safe!
 
ok so I guess what I really need is not a heater so much as a good controller. This may be a dumb question but if I get a Blueline can I hook up any old heater to it as long is it does not go past the 1000watts it is good for?
 
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