Submersible Heater questions

[parker002]

My 55G starter kit came with an All-Glass Aquarium (Aqueon) 200W heater similar to these:



The main difference was that the one in my kit didn't have numbers on it, just a + and - with arrows on which way to turn. It turned very hard and seemed to sleep (as if some kind of tension spring was broken) so I went and bought a 200W Aqueon shown in the above picture.

I still have issues, and right now it's with keeping my water temp low. I have the dial set just above the "7" on 72 and my temp is around 78F. I have floated a frozen bottle as suggested in one of Carl's article and when I do, the heater kicks on. In fact, it seems to run off-and-on all the time, regardless of tank temp.

The heater is situated at the back left of the tank in a vertical position and my digital thermometer lead is in the bottom right of the tank. In terms of distance, they are as far apart as they could possibly be.

What am I doing wrong? Do I just need a better heater? Do I need to change the placement of the heater, the thermometer, or both? Any help would be appreciated.

[Carl]

The Aqueon Heaters I am familiar with are similar to those in the pictures, which are pre-set thermostatic heaters.
My opinion is good of these, but it is based on limited/anecdotal experience vs. others I have used

The one you have describes an automatic heater which go on/off by setting not necessarily temperature.

See this article:
Heaters; Aquarium Answers

My thought would be to seek out a better submersible/thermostatic heater such as the Via Aqua Heater, Ebo Jager, & Rena "Smart" Heaters

Carl

[parker002]

That's what I was thinking. The temperature of the water was 76.7F and the ambient temp of the room was 75F. With the dial set to 72F, the heater was still coming on very often, which led me to believe it was operating on a preset rather than a true thermostat.

[parker002]

Well, unfortunately I was pretty limited in what I could do. I had to return the Aqueon heater to Petco for store credit. That gave me the choice between another 200W Aqueon or a 250W Stealth from Marineland.

The article you posted certainly doesn't give it high praise, but I wasn't about to get a THIRD glass heater of the same exact type.

Fortunately, my experience so far has been favorable. I set it to 76F and put it in the tank, which was hovering right around 77F (all day with no heater). After 15 minutes or so I plugged it in - it turned red for about 1 second and then changed to green. It's been green ever since and hasn't kicked on once. The temp in the tank is 77.2F currently. So I'm happy for now.

[bikeguy33]

great...temp is one aspect of keeping you don`t want to worry about. there are alot of horror stories on here about heaters breaking and cooking fish. that is 1 piece of equipment that i will NEVER skimp on...

[parker002]

The AC goes to 72 at night (more comfortable to sleep). I woke up this morning and the light is still green.

The digital temp is 76.0F.

So I'm definitely MUCH more satisfied with the Marineland Stealth.

[Carl]

The article you posted certainly doesn't give it high praise, but I wasn't about to get a THIRD glass heater of the same exact type.

I certainly understand.
The Aqueon you purchased was obviously an automatic made specifically for PetCo, which Aqueon does a lot of this type of special manufacturing to keep costs low.

I am surprised though that PetCo did not have other options, such as the before mentioned Ebo Jager, Rena, or the Hagen Fluval Tronic and Fluval.

Hopefully you will do well with the Stealth, we (our aquarium service company) just had many over heat and other failures with the Stealth and VisiTherm Heater lines by Marineland.

Carl

[parker002]

What should I watch out for as far as overheating?

I've placed mine vertically underneath the outflow of one of my HOB filters, so it's in a "high flow" area.

[Carl]

Jun 17, 2010 9:46:36 GMT -5 parker002 said:

What should I watch out for as far as overheating?

I've placed mine vertically underneath the outflow of one of my HOB filters, so it's in a "high flow" area.

Simply look for sudden swings in temperature, either down or up.

Often most major heater failure occur in the Autumn during the first major cool down.

Carl

[babygeige]

If it makes you feel any better parker002, I have 3 Stealth heaters and have never had any problems. I bought my first one in early 2007 for my 10 gallon to replace the All-Glass one that came with my 10 gallon kit from Petco that couldn't keep a consistent temp. The Stealth heaters have all kept very consistent temps for me. I rarely hear them clicking on or off, which is great since 2 of them are in my bedroom and that would really annoy me at night. I also like the fact that they don't light up.

[parker002]

So you were in the same basic situation as me - you bought an All-Glass kit at Petco and the heater sucked.

So far I haven't seen my Stealth come on. The LED has been green since I got it. Mine does light up, but it isn't bright at all. You can just barely see it.

[babygeige]

Now I remember more specifically what the problem was with the all-glass. I had it turned all the way down and it still kept the tank in the upper 70's. I just didn't trust it at all. I still have it, but only as a backup in case one of the stealths fail in the winter or something.

The new ones must have lights now, because none of mine do. I suppose it's a good thing, so you can keep an eye on it. At least it's not terrible noticeable.

[kagome]

I have the marineland stealths in both of my tanks and I really love those heaters.

[goldenpuon]

Sorry I am late to this topic. I do have had heater related problems- mostly from the cheaper kinds I bought at Petsmart or similar stores. (Sorry, I forgot the brands) They broke easily and often I would have temperature swings. Or the thermometer would read 5 degrees F different from what I had the heater set to.

However, this has not been my experience with Carl's heaters. With them I have had no, if next to no problems. They work well, keep the temperature stable, and are much more accurate at keeping the aquarium the temperature I set them to.

Also, I'm not sure if it was posted so far on here, but it is a good idea to have a backup heater in case one fails.

I hope this helps. (Sorry I am not more knowledgable on particular heater brands)

[bikeguy33]

I wish heaters didnt come with temp guages! they are NEVER accurate! you buy the ones that you hafta keep an eye on till you get the temp right are IMO better. that way we don`t count on the number its set to and more rely on our own ability to watch our settings...

[Carl]

Jun 20, 2010 23:32:07 GMT -5 bikeguy33 said:

I wish heaters didnt come with temp guages! they are NEVER accurate! you buy the ones that you hafta keep an eye on till you get the temp right are IMO better. that way we don`t count on the number its set to and more rely on our own ability to watch our settings...

This I will agree with, I have found with almost every brand that the temperature numbers rarely agree with the exact out come; however this does not mean the heater is in accurate once set to the "sweet spot"

I am happy to read that many here have had good luck with the Stealth, maybe these have improved, as I (& Gregg) did not use too many of these when they first came out. I will also admit that I did not give them as much chance as other heaters, but this was based on many years and dozens of Marineland Visitherm heater use, where poor temperature control problems and over heat problems were more common than not; so when we did encounter a few problems with the Stealth, we were not too keen on killing our customers fish while we experimented based on the Visitherm record.

Carl

[parker002]

Jun 18, 2010 16:55:43 GMT -5 babygeige said:

Now I remember more specifically what the problem was with the all-glass. I had it turned all the way down and it still kept the tank in the upper 70's. I just didn't trust it at all. I still have it, but only as a backup in case one of the stealths fail in the winter or something.

The new ones must have lights now, because none of mine do. I suppose it's a good thing, so you can keep an eye on it. At least it's not terrible noticeable.

That's the exact problem I had with my Aqueon - when set at 78, the tank temp was 78. When set at 76, the tank temp was 78. When set at 70, the tank temp was 78.