which heater?

[KathyL]

I'm about to replace my 200 watt stealth heaters. Some of them leak voltage at a shocking rate, and I suspect some of the "free" heaters that were donated to me are causing my GFCI to trip repeatedly costing the lives of many young fish. Stealth is making an "improved" heater that is reasonably priced, and I am tempted to try them, but I wanted to ask this crowd:

What brand is your favorite heater, and why?

[spawner]

Do yours have the LED light in them? Where were they made? I think they moved the plant from Italy and had some major issues. They should replace them for you.

[Waldend]

I have a few of the Viaaqua heaters. They are titanium tube and the separate temp sensor helps to keep the water temp very stable. I would only recommend taping the dial to prevent accidental turning.

On your stealth heaters, they are covered by a lifetime warranty. I had one that quit and one that was leaking. I called the Marineland customer service number. They gave me the address and I had to pay to ship them back. Two of the new Stealth pros were shipped out to me. Hard to beat that customer service!

[KathyL]

Yes, they are covered, but will they replace the old, no led, one with a new version? IF so, I'm calling Marineland tomorrow!

[KathyL]

Do you like the new Stealth ones?

[jeff@zina.com]

I almost hate to admit I started using the cheap Won heaters from Ken's Fish a year ago and couldn't be happier. I've had fewer failures (none) than with any other brand. I would really prefer to use Finnex titanium heaters with an external controller, but costs make that a non-starter. My other heaters are all the Stealths. some older, some newer. I like both.

Jeff

[milkman]

You might try the Eheim Jager heaters. I have three 200w in my sump connected to a Ranco controller. I do think the thermostats are very accurate, but use the Ranco as a backup.

They are very reasonable. I get mine from Reef Geek. I have not heard many good things about Marineland Stealth.

[Waldend]

Hello Kathy.

Yes, the ones I returned were the old solid black with the red knob Stealths. So far the new ones are doing well. I know there was a bit of a issue with them early on but thats been a little while ago now. Hopefully no new issues! Its actually kind of nice to be able to see the green LED and know the heater is at least "live". When I walk by my tanks at night I notice its a bit bright but not enough too cause any issues I dont believe. If you were using them in growout tanks you may have to hit the knob with a bit of Krylon Fusion but if you kept the head of the heater above the waterline it might be ok as-is.
I really like the Viaaqua's for my growout though. The dial and indicator is outside the vessel so I dont have to tape or paint and I can adjust without reaching in. I did have a bit of trouble with regular heaters in cold months. In the winter when the room is colder at night and I have the airstone running over the heater I feel the cool air caused the heater to run more than normal. The entire body of water was several degrees warmer at night than during the day! With the separate temp sensor on the Viaaqua's I located it so it was testing the temp 12 inches from the airstone. The temp stayed very stable.

[spawner]

This is very typical you know, when they move factories. Aquarium Systems use to have solid production from Italy then they moved shop and have had many issues. I've been told that they have the issues resolved, FWIW all of our small heaters in the lab are ML Stealth. Large heaters are professional Process Technology Titanium heaters that are the real workhorses.

[KathyL]

I have a bunch of 50 watt Stealths that are great for larvae, but the 200s are the ones that give me trouble. I don't want one big heater; two smaller heaters give me more security, and I like everything about the Stealths except the leaky voltage thing. I am pretty sure it was a massive voltage leak that took out my UV on that system. That's an expensive accident. I haven't had any overheat, but my friend has…wiped out some expensive fish.

[r33fking]

i have been using ehiem tru temp and stealth. i use the ehiem on my larger applications and have had very few failures .
i have noticed recently the new stealth heaters seem to fail more often than the old style , one of the failures was catastrophic the heater actually ruptured and completely exploded but in most cases they had just stopped heating . but i do like the the new style better as long as you can use a higher than recommended wattage so the heater doesnt have to work soo hard .
cant beat the warranty !