BIG tank heating

I have been heating my 210g with dual custom plumbed Hydor 300w in line heaters for years now with no issues but recently had one of these fail on me in another tank. Thankfully a had an old tube type to throw in the tank as a back up.

I know heaters have been talked about a lot lately but I am looking for more specific info. I do not want a glass tube heater in the tank. I am looking at high watt titanium units with a controller.

I know there is a lot of love for Finnex when it comes to lighting but how are their heaters?
I am particularly interested in these:
For my 210g: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

For my 72g bowfront: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I am also considering the JBJ set up for the 210g: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Any thought on these type heaters?

ive heard of a lot of problems with the finnex heaters in the past, no idea on their current state of affairs. as far as controllers go get a ranco, their commercial grade temp controllers and are far superior to any aquarium controller. I enjoy my aqueon pro heaters so far.

I have had the 300 Hydor for about a year no with no problems, will have to keep an eye on it. So did it just quit heating or do the overheat thing? The quit heating I don't mind as I have a backup in the tank. The over heat might be a problem...

Thanks for the info dmopar74.

Jim the two Hydors on my 210 are working just fine and have been for probably 3 year plus. The one on my 72g bow just wont heat. You keep turning it up and it will turn on for a bit shut off and then will not come back on. If you unplug it it will come on and turn right back off. It did great when I first got it but after just a few months its done. This is one of the newer ones with the red color tube locks on it. My older ones had blue ones if I remember correctly.

Im just trying to plan ahead for a future failure. I need to make sure to have a back up if I have equipment failure.

dmopar74, Is this the same unit? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Seems cheap enough that I could get one and wire up what I need for it.

yep that's it, ive got 3 of em and love em. just buy an extention cord, cut it in half, and wire it up.

I had heard of these before, used by a lot of beer makers and what not. I had totally forgot about that option. Thanks for the reminder.

Ordered it. Will try this out on my 72g and if I like it may change the set up on my 210g.

just set the heaters themostat at like 85-85, and control it with the ranco. if the ranco fails "on" then the heaters thermo will shutoff at its set point, preventing cooked fish for dinner. ive yet to have or hear of a ranco fail though, either in the on or off position.

I sometimes forget that you dont always need to buy the 'pet store' stuff. A good fish type controller can easily run $85-$100 so this is a good option.

DMD123 wrote:Thanks for the info dmopar74.

Jim the two Hydors on my 210 are working just fine and have been for probably 3 year plus. The one on my 72g bow just wont heat. You keep turning it up and it will turn on for a bit shut off and then will not come back on. If you unplug it it will come on and turn right back off. It did great when I first got it but after just a few months its done. This is one of the newer ones with the red color tube locks on it. My older ones had blue ones if I remember correctly.

Im just trying to plan ahead for a future failure. I need to make sure to have a back up if I have equipment failure.

I had the exact same problem with a newer Hydor inline heater that I had on one of my 125G tanks. It was funny because we noticed when we started the unit up that the light wasn't working correctly (the one that indicated heating and such) but the temp on the tank seemed fine. But just last month it went belly up. It was not an overheat situation, it was just not heating. I have a replacement on hand but we haven't put it on yet. Just trying to find the time...geez.

Im thankful I keep extra gear around and I caught the temp drop. I am going to dig up my receipt and look up the warranty on the product and try to pursue a replacement but Im pretty sure Im switching over to a good old tube heater and external controller.

The finnex heaters work just fine for me but I only use them with a separate heater controller. I do not trust any heaters built in control.


Nice website banner this month. 

bassetman wrote:Nice website banner this month. 

Shameless plug, priceless   

Who, Me?  Is it extra shameless to change the avatar to the pic at the same time?

Well deserved plug! Very nice fish and congrats on the picture of the month!   

He is a very photogenic fish, almost a camera hog. But thank you very much.