Heater quality

I had the experience last week where my Severums were nearly killed by heat. I had Ich and I turned the heater up to 30 deg c . About 4 hours later when I went fo a midnight snack I walked past the tank and I could feel the heat. My tank temp showed 30 deg c but my Fish were lying all over , some uside down..and they were black. No .. I did not lose them but it came close.
So last night I removed the heater and performed a test on it, It is the 2 Dolphin 300w heaters that I got for my 1000l tank. I did a calibration check, thermostat vs real thermometer temp.
At 20 deg c - 21.2 deg c
25 deg c - 27.3 deg c
30 deg c - 34.6 deg c
The settings on the unit is colour marked, change from blue to red as you turn them. Also I notice if you start at the top range the hysteresis is even worse.
So I have ordered 2 x 300w Eiheim jager heaters.
It might be a dud heater but now I stress every night. Rather be safe than sorry.
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300W Jager Aquarium Heater.

Jager has over 50 years of experience manufacturing high quality aquarium heaters. The Jager heaters are recognizable by millions of satisfied customers around the world. All Jager heaters are black and have a 6' double insulated cord.

Specifications:

- Perfect for freshwater or saltwater use
- All heaters are black
- 6 foot double insulated power cord included
- Heavy duty 2mm thick shock resistant Pyrex glass construction is twice as thick as most other heaters and far stronger.
- Temperature is adjustable from 64°F and 94°F with an easy to adjust thermostat.
- Precision bistable thermostat with an impressive +/- 0.5° accuracy.
- Free from radio and TV interference.
- 300W heater length: 20"

 

I was nearly electrocuted by a Dolphin 200W heater - and have been a firm supporter of Jagers ever since!

 

Jagers use a lot less electricity than the cheap heaters use as well. They also tend to heat the water faster. I have 2 x 300watt Jagers in my 350L tank, and a 300watt in a 200L tank... Overkill? Maybe. But they are the best heaters you can buy.

I have boiled my fish before, because of a heater that malfunctioned. Since then, I will only buy Jager.

 

Bit late now but it always helps to double check your temperature with a floating thermometer, preferably two.
I go by the assumption that every heater I buy has it's own 26 degree setting, I use a few thermometers to find the setting over a couple days and then mostly leave it there.

Personally I just pray I catch any malfunctioning equipment before it's too late.
I can't afford to put Jagers in every tank but I think for larger tanks and or those with particularly valuable fish they are definitely a great investment.

 

I have a small marine tank (Boyu TL550) where the heater is hidden in one of the back compartments. The Dolphin (or Dophin?) heater that I got with the tank broke - a piece literally broke off the bottom. Either the heater malfunctioned or the water level dropped and the heater couldn't take the strain. Because the heater was hidden I didn't see that it broke and it was sending the current straight into the tank. Luckily I touched the metal side of the tank before sticking my hand into the tank and got a nasty shock. When I unplugged everything and investigated I discoverd that my heater was 25% shorter ...

A few months ago Herkie (from MASA) died due to a heart attack after an electrical shock in his sump.

Since then I decided the potential cost of a cheap heater is far more pricey that the cost of a Jager ...

 

Very valid concerns those... I guess my "poverty" forces me to live dangerously....

To be fair, your heater had a piece broken off the bottom of it, that's always going to be highly dangerous.

I'll certainly make sure to keep my heaters in plain view. I'm paranoid enough to keep them far away from the rocks and stuck down with at least two of those sucker things, they also stay fully submerged due to the fact that I stick them in horizontally about half way down the tank. Unfortunately I'm too lazy to plug them out when working in the tank, that would be the safest way to go about things... alternatively we could just lay in bed... and worry about the sky falling on our heads.... hehehe, all in good spirit I assure you.

 

A quick question, why must we angle the heaters? is it that the heat rises up inside the tube?

 

ok, so scare stories about our heaters it is...

My very first one, in my first winter of adult fishkeeping. One freezing cold (Sunday of course) night I did my last inspection before lights out. Double take! It can't be... there's water inside the heater! WHAT? and what to do? I had no backup (so we learn! there's always a sparearound these days.) I didn't belong to TASA then, so had no one to ask advice from. In the end, I left it on, and got up every hour to see if my fish had been electrocuted... I was waiting outside the LPS when it opened, demanding a replacement. Which I did get - it was a week old. With more knowledge now, I would have unplugged it and wrapped the tank up rather than running the risk I did - not to mention the stress!!! :smile1:

I also calibrate my cheapies with independant thermometers, and check them regularly. I have heard nothing but excellent reports on the Jagers, but to date, I am happy enough with my cheapies. I do monitor them closely though.

 

I totally agree. Always have two of them in my tanks. I personally just dont trust the stick on ones.

I use Jagers in my tanks. Whats really nice about them, besides the quality is that you can calibrate them.

 

no, the heated water will rise, and you will notice the thermostat part, the metal switch, is in the upper part. So if you put it in vertical you will theoretically signal the heater to turn off before you reach your set temperature. Personally I have used heaters upright, at angles, horizontal, however it fits in, but just like Jack Stone I assume the temperature indicator on the heater is there purely to make it look fancy, and I rather verify my temperatures (to whoever called it calibrate in a previous post, you can't calibrate aquarium heaters without opening it up) for a while to find the mark where it is 26C according to my calibrated ethanol thermometer... Now that might be overkill...

For now I'm forced to use Dolphin/Dophin heaters, but I sure still do advocate Jager...!!!

EDIT: I just read that you can calibrate Jager's, will look into that. Personally I trust my DIY thermostat circuits better, but Eheim is awesome so it should be good.

 

Ive used all types of heaters. Jager. Eheim. Boyu. Dolphin. None of them must be trusted to be giving the heat you deal it to. Even my jager... its set on 29 deg, but water temp based on a few thermometers show I'm at 26.

Heaters are at an agnle because.it works better. Search the forum, ive explained in detail somewhere. I think I mentioned it in my articles.

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2

 

I disagree. The jagers you can calibrate without opening the heater. The blue dial which you turn to set your temperature to the red arrow at the top. If your heater is set to 25 degrees but the thermometer is only reading 24 degrees, you can actually move the arrow to 24degrees and therefore turn your blue dial up to 25 degrees. And theres no opening up of the heater. Go take a look at a jager then you will understand what I mean.

 

Shakes I do agree, I did not know that about Jager, haven't had the opportunity to own or admire one. You will see an edit in my post, was my mistake, I blame it on the Education system (... why, because I can ...)

 

I Also recently broke a heater in my tank, I’ll just say "blonde moment" and had to replace it. I couldn’t afford a Jager but they do look wonderful, maybe sometime in the future.
So I got a Weipro heater, and yes they are on the lower end of the price bracket but from what I’ve seen in terms of monitoring my temperature in my tank, it seems incredibly accurate.

 

WTF and I was reading this post today
I relised when I got home one of the heater was half filled with water...
omg I was pissed off.
and then when I was sorting out my heater and detaching them, I then looked at the new fishes
and............. one of it was floating dead!
another pissed off moment..... it was still in its bag, and I left petstop at about 4:15 and got home at 5:30
what a shitty day

 

Visio Therm heaters are quite decent, they have cool plastic protectors that stop my fish from laying on the heater. They seem to last as long as the jager heaters and are quite reliable.

 

Hi Guys
I was told by the local LFS owner that you only get 300W jager heaters in SA,they do not import the smaller watt heaters any more.Is that true may be the sponsors can help me on that one.
Regards
Herve

 

Not true - sure one of the sponsors will be able to help you out. I have 200W, 250W and 300W Jagers.

 

Hi DigiGram

I wasn't taking a stab at you was just pointing it out. Sorry if it sounded like I was. All good. You don't even want to see my matric results. Hahahaha.

 

where do they sell those ?