Heater Recommendation Needed

S

sharko88

Well I am about to replace my 250 watt heater with 2 150 watt heaters per recommendations on this site and others.

I have decided that I am not going to spend the money on a temperature controller so I need recommendations of good submersible heaters that would work well in my sump.
 
I use Jager... they are fully submersible. I've never had a temp controller before my current set up. Never had a heater go bad - however, you hear stories. I will say, now that I own a RK2... I'll never own an aquarium without a controller. They are incredible!
 
+1 on the Jager... they are nearly bullet proof as far as breakage goes. However, with any heater, there ARE failures from time to time. I strongly urge you to get some sort of temp controller. You don't need a full on controller, like a reef keeper or neptune, but a single stage rancor would be a good investment.

http://tinyurl.com/66xopa

I use one of these, in addition to my AC3. The AC3 powers the rancor, which in turn powers the titanium heater I use. The AC3 is set to shut off 2 degrees above tank temp and the rancor is set at desired tank temp. The chiller kicks on 1 degree above all that and my AC3 goes into shutdown anything above that.

If you have anything above $150 bucks worth of fish or coral in the tank, the investment on saving it with just the single stage controller will pay for itself in the event the heater you buy fails.
 
I actually purchased two Jager's yesterday before I posted this and saw that they were not "fully" submersible. There is a line near the top of the heater (by the temperature setting) that the waterline is not suppose to go past. Since I am putting this in a sump in between baffles, I am worried of it slipping and becoming fully submersed.

Any suggestions or insights on this?
 
Worry not - they are indeed fully submersible. I can't remember the exact reason why it states so but Jager did give me a response regarding this. I assure you they are fully submersible - as I have 2 - 75w Jager submersed in my sump. Many others do too.
 
@sharko88 wrote:
I actually purchased two Jager's yesterday before I posted this and saw that they were not "fully" submersible. There is a line near the top of the heater (by the temperature setting) that the waterline is not suppose to go past. Since I am putting this in a sump in between baffles said:
Mine are also located in the sump and are not fully submersed.
Click to expand...
 
Oh, I should correct myself somehwat. Mine are NOT submersed fully. Mine are located at the water line of the baffles. However, in case of power outages or feeding times (return pump shut off) they are submersed.

Regardless - they are fully submersible heaters.
 
I'm partial to the VisiTherm Stealth heaters myself. I think they are fully submersible - at least the two that I have are fully submerged, and I haven't gotten shocked yet. :) They automatically shut-off when out of water, too.

Only issue with them is there is no "heat on" light, so you can't really tell if they are coming on without touching them.
 
Here is a good read on heaters/controlers

You will have to cut the link and paste in a new browser window to get to it because of the "!" in the URL the direct click to the link will not work

http://www.beananimal.com/articles/aquarium-heaters-what-you-need-to-know!.aspx

You can find an unwired ranco on ebay for $50. Simple wire job just search for how tos and bang you have a much safer solution for about $60.
 
Well I took back the Jagers and got 2 150 watt Stealth heaters that are fully submersible. Hopefully these will work out well.
 
I know it is good, but it specifically states in the directions "Do Not submerse in water above the maximum water level line". I didn't want to chance it.
 
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