Need a Heater

[zepplock]

what heater should I get?
60g system.
Budget is < $70

 

[bondolo]

Eheim Jaeger 250W or 2-150W. Two heaters is sometimes good insurance and still within your budget.

After a bad experience with the both of the two Hydor Theo 250W heaters I had purchased I researched the current smaller heaters and the Eheim seemed to be the most frequently recommended. It can also be user recalibrated. The Hydor heaters both went off calibration and can't be recalibrated. At minimum setting "71F" one heats to about 85F and the other closer to 100F (It may not shut off at all). I can't recommend the Hydor and others seemed to feel the same on various forums. Other cheap heaters seem to have similar problems with drifting off the correct temperature spec as they age. The recalled Marineland heater comes to mind.

 

[chicken]

If possible I would spend a little more and buy a single stage ranco controller. Etcsupply.com is about as cheap as they come. Then pickup two 150 watt heaters This way you will have some redundancy incase a heater fails and will have a rock solid thermostat to make sure you do not cook the tanks as all heaters have cheap quality thermostats built in that will fail at some point.

 

[Elite]

any + a good controller

 

[zepplock]

If possible I would spend a little more and buy a single stage ranco controller. Etcsupply.com is about as cheap as they come. Then pickup two 150 watt heaters This way you will have some redundancy incase a heater fails and will have a rock solid thermostat to make sure you do not cook the tanks as all heaters have cheap quality thermostats built in that will fail at some point.

so $60 for a controller (http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc111000000-digital-temperature-controller-p-86.html)
and then buy *any* 200w thermometer and set it to max?

 

[chicken]

Yup that is the controller. It comes unwired, so all you need to do is pickup a decent 16 or 14 gauge extension cord at Osh or Home Depot, cut it in half and wire it up. Or for $75 they offer a prewired option. http://www.etcsupply.com/etc-prewired-c-38.html If you buy the unwired one and need help just come by my place in San Ramon and I'll help you get it hooked up.

If you can I would start with two heaters but if budget does not allow start with one. The most important thing is the good controller. I would set the thermostat of the heater itself a few degrees above what you set the controller. Say if the controller is at 78, set the heater at 80 so that in the rare chance that the controller sticks on (I have still never heard of a ranco doing this and I use 10 of them between all my systems for 5+ years) you will still not cook your system. The ranco should be within a about 0.5 degrees of being perfectly accurate while the thermostat on the heater could be off by up to 3-5 degree depending on brand. So when you get things setup just make sure the heater thermostat does not click off before the Ranco does.

If you go down the two heater route I would just check that both of them are working every 3-4 months or atleast right before the cold season. I run 4 Ranco's per tank on my systems. Each pair of them wired in series so that both have to say on before they will click on. This way I have no chance of cooking my fish but since things "fail open" or off with my configuration I run a second pair set at a few degrees lower just incase the primary pair fails. I run the second pair on a second GFCI just incase also. My systems are quite large though and just never want to deal with having my tanks cooked. Good luck. -Chris

 

[Gomer]

If possible I would spend a little more and buy a single stage ranco controller. Etcsupply.com is about as cheap as they come. Then pickup two 150 watt heaters This way you will have some redundancy incase a heater fails and will have a rock solid thermostat to make sure you do not cook the tanks as all heaters have cheap quality thermostats built in that will fail at some point.

so $60 for a controller (http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc111000000-digital-temperature-controller-p-86.html)
and then buy *any* 200w thermometer and set it to max?

Not max, but just a couple degrees above the controller temp. This way you have redundancy.

 

[CookieJar]

While this is over your budget, a better route could be get a used or 'lite' version of a controller which has 4-8 outlets and use 1 for your heater and you've got more options for controlling other equip. I've bought a used Reefkeeper for $100 and seen others in the same neighborhood.

 

[chicken]

While that is another option I highly prefer the simplicity and reliability of an industrial grade thermostat like the ranco vs a more complex multi purpose device like a reef keeper.

 

[zepplock]

While this is over your budget, a better route could be get a used or 'lite' version of a controller which has 4-8 outlets and use 1 for your heater and you've got more options for controlling other equip. I've bought a used Reefkeeper for $100 and seen others in the same neighborhood.

I was actually thinking about getting a controller. I guess I'll wait a couple of months and get one.
Thanks!