Cali Kid Corals

Tetra HT10 Heater Exploded

Ebo-jaegers are historically my go-to top brand for the glass models, but I've heard reports that they aren't quite as good since they were bought out and the heater structure was changed (the old ones were in the green tubes but were a bit tough to adjust through the rubber top). I've had one of about 6 of the new models fail, but this was just a tiny leak rather than an explosion (perhaps I was lucky to catch it in time).

I really like the titaniums, and especially the ones that you can run directly to a controller without having a controller of their own. However, my experience with the available titanium models has been abysmal, as I'm 4 for 4 on having them fail after a few months of use. I believe all of them were the Finnex brand though, so I'm now trying a Via Aqua and hopefully will have better luck. In all cases the titanium heating element just stopped working even though the casings were clean (no dirt or encrusting life). I just replaced the most recent one a couple days ago and noticed what appears to be some corrosion around the cord grommet, so I plan to cut the cap off and try to see what went bad inside.
 
Oooooh, heater dissection! Cool.

You brought me to my question! What kind of Ti heater do you like? I have NO experience with them. There seems to be a large range of prices.

I do like that they are smaller than the Ebo/Eheim. Does anyone have an opinion as to how much heat they put out compared to an Ebo? In other words does a Ti 200W put out as much heat as a Ebo 200W?
 
aqua-nut said:
Oooooh, heater dissection! Cool.

You brought me to my question! What kind of Ti heater do you like? I have NO experience with them. There seems to be a large range of prices.

I do like that they are smaller than the Ebo/Eheim. Does anyone have an opinion as to how much heat they put out compared to an Ebo? In other words does a Ti 200W put out as much heat as a Ebo 200W?
Click to expand...

The nice thing about electric heaters : They are by definition 100% efficient.
Power=Current*Voltage. No external factors.
There might be subtle differences in the power used by the temp controller.
And I guess there might be a tiny bit of heat loss transmitted in the power cable.
But that is nothing in comparison to the real heater element.
So for all intents and purposes, all are identical.
 
That's what I thought. Seems like if you put 300W in you should get about the same amount of heat out.

I have been looking at Ti vs. Ebos.

Take the info on Dr. F&S as an example. The Ebo 300W is listed for 159-264 gal. The Azoo 300W for up to 80G. The 300W True Temp Ti for 60-100G.

At Bulk Reef the finnex delux 300 is rated for 40-80G.

I've only used Ebo/Eheim for years. They seem to be spot on for the rating.

So is this something real or just marketing hype? Seems like if a 300W heater failed on in a 40G tank you'd have cooked livestock in no time at all!
 
aqua-nut said:
That's what I thought. Seems like if you put 300W in you should get about the same amount of heat out.

I have been looking at Ti vs. Ebos.

Take the info on Dr. F&S as an example. The Ebo 300W is listed for 159-264 gal. The Azoo 300W for up to 80G. The 300W True Temp Ti for 60-100G.

At Bulk Reef the finnex delux 300 is rated for 40-80G.

I've only used Ebo/Eheim for years. They seem to be spot on for the rating.

So is this something real or just marketing hype? Seems like if a 300W heater failed on in a 40G tank you'd have cooked livestock in no time at all!
Click to expand...

Rating is rather fuzzy. The only way to know for sure is to measure heat loss. (Mostly evaporation)

My OPINION on what is best:

Heater 1 : Fail safe Heater ( s ).
Set to 75 degrees. NOT on a separate controller. Should never go on.
(If you see it on, consider it a warning light)
Since it is never on, the odds of it failing are MUCH lower.
Even better is to put this in your main tank, not sump, in case pump fails.

Heater 2: Main Heater ( s )
You probably want more than one.
These are set to 80 degrees. Higher than controller.
KEY : These are on a separate controller, set to 78 degrees, lower than heater.

You can run through all the failure mechanisms, and this eliminates
most common single point failures.

For size, I like 250W. Times however many you need for your tank.
Not based on tank size, but because it seems like a sweet spot on price/power/reliability.
Too large strains relays, wires, etc. And puts too much heat in one small pipe.
Too small is a waste of money.

I like ViaAqua Titanium, but I don't think it matters that much, other than avoiding really cheap ones.
 
Definitely eliminating single point failures is definitely the idea for me. Brandie and I are planning on doing the same for her tank. Always good to be prepared for just about every possible disaster that could happen (within reason).
 
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