What is wrong with my heaters?

[aastretch64]

I have a 90 gallon tank with two 200 watt Visa-therm heaters. The light goes on both and they both get very warm to the touch, yet when the room temperture drops so will my tank.

This morning I awoke to a 75 degree tank and the heaters were not on?!?!? I would not be so concerned if it was not for my temp rising up to 79.5 in the daytime! Is there something wrong with these heaters, should I try another brand?

Alex

[Waxxiemann]

I would try another brand. The Ebo Jager heaters are OK. The bottom line is that all heaters suck. If you can get one with a built in controller and hook that up to another controller like a Ranco or other equivalent controlling device, you should be safe. You'll have some measure of protection against faulty (sticking) thermostats.

[rbursek]

A controller is the only way to go, tried many brands of heater and always haveing to adjust to maintain temp, bought a Aqua Medic controller about 4 months ago and tank temp has not changed from 78 since.

[46FiatYamaha]

I agree, it doesn't get much more finicky than heaters. looking to upgrade to one with a controller in my new setup

[rbursek]

If you think about it they are one of the hardest working item in the tank going on/off all the time, where the pumps and PH are on constantly.

[DeathWish302]

I have had a 250W(?) Ebo and a 300W Won Titanium both (at seperate times) in my tank and the temp fluctuates between 77-79 post midnight and rises to 82-82.9 during the mid-afternoon. Neither of those heaters have been on during the swing towards the high side. Some will bash the Won, but as Waxxiemann said ALL heater blow and are just waiting to stick. Mechanical switches can only take a certain amount of cycles before this happens, so invest in a Ranco or replace often and observe heater operation carefully.

DW302

[davocean]

It used to be that you got a Jaeger heater w/ a simple dial on top and they lasted for YEARS.
No more.
I got a WON w/ controller, lasted 8mo.
I got an Aquamedic w/ controller, 2 mo old and I got zapped yesterday putting hand in sump(1000w, nice zap!)
I was under the impression these seperate controllers kept that from happening, but yesterday was told controller only regs heat temp.
Does the Ranco really protect tank from stray current or thermo sticking?

[davocean]

By the way, for Aquamedic owners, I was told yesterday they are having so many probs no more replacement parts, they will credit back, production of their heaters are down until further notice according to my local distributor.

[B.C.theReefer]

Wow, alot of complex answers to a simple question. The dial on heater aren't always callibrated correctly. So, if you turn the dial to eighty it might end up being 75-85. My bet is that your heater is set at 75 (keep in mind heaters don't cool the water down) but during the day the lights are on and warm the water to 79.5. So at night when the lights are off, the temp. goes down to where the heater is set at. Which would be 75. I encountered this problem when I added metal halides to my tank. My solution was to place a fan so that it blows across the waters surface. Thus reducing the amount of heat transferred into the tank via the lights. Problem solved. Try the fan or, if you don't mind keeping your tank at 79.5, you could turn the heater up a little bit. Either of these would fix the temp. swings.

[rbursek]

Davocean,
unless the Ranco has a GFI built into it if the heater is on and malfunctions you will get zapped unless the controller is plugged into a GFI. I think the Ranco only protects the tank temp, if the heater sticks on the Ranco temp probe shuts it off when the set point temp is reached.

[davocean]

Thanks rbursek.