ricktavious

I have a gift certificate from Wal-Mart that I'm going to use to buy some fish stuff I need. Not too sure if they sell heaters worth a lick though. Any of you ever have luck finding something good and dependable at a Wal-Mart?

Dino

I would pass on their heaters.
Use it on food /air pump/ something else.

ricktavious

Kind of what I figured....the Visi-Therm Stealth heaters seem to work great for me, so that's what I'll probably end up buying online. But I can guarantee you that there will be plenty of decorations coming from Wally World soon

Dino

Over the years I have discovered that heaters are never the tank item to skimp on.
Always buy a quality brand of heater.

Butterfly

I bought whisper heaters at Wal-mart and while they continued to work well the black "safety coating" peeled off after about a month causing me concern for my fish. I cleaned the rest of it off and used the heaters until they finally quit working but don't recommend them for that reason.
This is what I use. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...72&pcatid=8172 I really like that the temp knob is outside the tank (much easier to adjust temps) but I don't like the probe that goes inside the tank. It's hard to hide.
My oldest ones are several years old so I know they last good.

Carol

ricktavious

Carol, that is a pretty nice looking heater! Definately going to keep that one in mind. It looks smaller than the Visi-therm ones, which is also a plus. Thank you very much for the suggestion.

Butterfly

Welcome They aren't as big around as the Visi-therm. You can get them from 50-250 watts so theres definately a size for every tank. If you have big and rough fish they are unbreakable since they are stainless steel.
Carol

ricktavious

Don't have any fish too big or too rough, but I have bettas who think they are Found a good seller on eBay who has a 50 watt heater like the one you linked me to for only $25 delivered. Might have to bite on that before long.

Butterfly

If that includes delivery thats not bad.
The one at DFS is 23.95 + shipping.
Carol

metal_fish

I was almost forced into buying a walmart heater because i was insisted by my parents that walmart is cheaper then going to a LFS
I knew there were better ones for around the same price so i picked up a hydor theo http://www.aquatichouse.com/Pumps_fi...r%20heater.asp
its worked for me well.

swords3711

i dont think it matters as long as it is name brand.

Butterfly

Name brands make low priced and low grade products also so you just have to be careful and do your research
Carol

Dino

There are several name brand heaters I will not buy.

ricktavious

Would you mind stating which brands and why?

Cody

i agree that the marineland visi therm stealth heaters are the way to go thats alli will use in my fish tanks now..and i agree with what dino said about thats the one thing you cant go cheap on..but i think its cheaper to have a heater that will last for years than having to replace them every few months

Dino

The two I prefer are ebu jagers and visi-therm.

I have heater of both brands operating for years without a minutes problem.

≈ D ≈

My choices would be:

1st Azoo Titanium Heaters

2nd ViaAqua Stainless Steel Freshwater Heater (can NOT be used in Saltwater setups)

3rd Marineland Visi-Therm Stealth Heater

4th Marineland Visi-Therm Deluxe Heaters

5th Hydor Theo Heater

I don't like the Tetra Whisper heaters because I just had to exchange mine after only a month and a half. The replacement is used only to heat up water for water-changes. I haven't had the chance to try the Jager ones yet though - maybe in a future tank

Just my

COBettaCouple

we've got a few of those tetra heaters that say they heat to 78 at walmart and they're ok for small tanks like 2g or so, but that's about all that I'd use them for.

All of our tanks have either Visitherm Stealth or Hydor Theo heaters.

rainman

no there underwater heaters (tetra wisper's) to be exact suck.
I bought 1 30 gal. heater and it only heats my tank up to 72 degrees!

pistorta

I have always gone with Ebo Jager heaters and have never regretted it.

hssea

my teenage daughter has a tank in her room, she was out of town for a few days. The second day i went into her room to feed the fish , they were all dead. The temp was at 100 and the heater light was still on. All 11 of these fish were 2 years old that were raised from fry's (swordtails). It was so sad. I felt bad thinking if i checked on them sooner maybe i would have caught it in time. Between living here in Mi and Tx I've had over 20 years of fishkeeping and never had a heater get stuck like that. Needless to say that went straight into trash so i don't remember the brand name. I did purchase it at Walmart though. I'm looking into replacing my other two tanks with new heaters since these also came from Walmart.

Tavel

the walmart heaters (aka tetra whisper, aka Top Fin) are straight up sucky. They work fine for a while, but the thermostats always get stuck on. My tank got to 90F one day...I only lost one fish though.

COBettaCouple

We lost a tank of Albino Bushynose Plecos to a stupid walmart heater that cooked them.

KittieKat

i have owned cheap and expensive heaters... i like being able to change the temp whenever i feel like it but i have honestly NEVER had a problem with a walmart heater...