Isabella

I would like to know which one of these heaters is best in your opinion: All-Glass Submersible Heater, Aquarium Pharmaceuticals RENA Cal Top Light, Aquarium Systems Visi-Therm, Aquarium Systems Visi-Therm Stealth Heater, Jager Heater, Tronic Heater, or any other heaters?

A heater that I am looking for must have an automatic shut-off when it's taken out of the water, and it must have a thermostat (that is, I want it to turn off by itself when the water has reached the desired temperature). I also want it to have a strong glass or some other material that doesn't break easily.

Any help and suggestions will be greatly appreciated

Gunnie

I prefer the stainless steel or titanium heaters because they don't break, and the temperature control is on the outside of the tank. However, I have already had to replace a couple of them after only about 2 years of constant use. I have read Chickadee say many times that she likes the marineland brand because of their reliability, and lifetime warranty. I would go with the non-glass type if you are planning to have any large fish in that beautiful tank.

atmmachine816

my friend has lots of SW tanks and uses all-glass aquarium. All eheim producst are amazing. that's all I know, I don't know the name of my heater as I got it from my grandpa, I have a elite one and it's been running for over a year no problems and I'v used hagen filters and their good.

Isabella

Thanks Gunnie and Atm Hmm ... seems like all of those submersibles are good these days. Hmm! LOL

chickadee

I vote for the Visi-therm Stealth all the way. It is made by Marineland and now put out by Aquarium Systems as they are trying to remove themselves from a part of the business. The warranty is for LIFE and they look really nice in the aquariums. The last order I made, I ended up with a Visi-therm Deluxe for the big tank and was mad because the place sent me the wrong heater, but it would have cost me a fortune to return it and it is also a LIFETIME warrantied heater so I kept it. I may wait until I can replace it but did not want to place an order for just the heater.

I like the way the Visi-therm Stealth looks and they are not glass but made out of a material kind of like the stuff they make bowling balls out of. It looks like plastic but is very hard and tough.

Rose

atmmachine816

I think mines glass is that bad

Butterfly

I use the stainless steel heaters and have never had a problem with them. I love having the controler outside the tank. It looks like this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113767
It doesn't shut off when out it comes out of the water unless unplugged.
carol

atmmachine816

that's quite nifty

Isabella

OK, I've had enough of thinking, and so I've ordered two 150W Visi-Therm Stealth heaters. I hope I've made a good choice. I like the fact that they're not glass and that they're black, as I'll have black background and black substrate - they should blend in well. I've also ordered an Eheim powerhead for better water circulation. I hope this one is a good choice too, as I hear all the time how "great" all of the Eheim products are.

atmmachine816

They are great, their not made in China, their made in Germany

Cody

aquamarine would have to be the best i had a all glass Sub and was very off and eventually was to the point were i had it on 69 and it was reaching 87 so i didnt want to try to figure out what it had to go on to be at 80 so went out spent a good amount of money and its with in 1 degree of what you set it to

obusweetT

I've got a Marineland Visithem Stealth in my tank and it does a great job. It is a little inconvenient having to reach in the tank to adjust it but once it's set it does a good job keeping the temperature very stable. They also have a lifetime warranty and are plastic so there is less of a chance of breakage. I've been happy with them so I haven't really tried anything other than the cheap glass ones to compare with though. Anyway thats my two cents.

AlfaBetta

I know I'm late to the discussion but Marineland has a new heater out and it has a dual temp function however it's glass so like all glass heaters it'll break if dropped. Personally I like the Stealths because it's a straight forward functional design with no fancy gimmicks.

http://www.marineland.com/products/c...n_dualtemp.asp

chickadee

It is a HIGH/LOW heat with preset temperature for the fish. Would not work for my tanks as I like to have more control than that. They make good products but they did a dumb thing here...I believe LOW is 76 and HIGH is 82.

Rose

Terry

Marineland Visi-therm Stealth also. Very accurate & dependable. I had a less expensive one a while back that developed a bad thermostat and wouldn't shut off. I went crazy trying to find out why I had stressed & dying fish till I found the temperature was up at 90 degrees plus!

And if anyone takes a vote on thermometers mine is for a digital one! If I had known what the temperature really was, instead of relying on one of those hard-to-read, stick-on-the-outside, color strip thermometers, I could have saved some fish. It was when I got the digital that I found out what the temperature really was. I got one at Petco for 9.95 - the probe has a suction cup to hold it on the inside of the tank, and the digital readout has a suction cup to stick on the outside of the tank, with a thin wire connecting the two. I'll never buy any other kind of thermometer again. I'd even buy the old glass tube type before I'd buy another strip thermometer.

Terry

Isabella

Thanks for all of the replies folks

I hope my Visi-Therms will work well. The only thing I don't like about them is that they don't have a light that indicates when the heater is on or off. I have two 150W heaters, so in case one breaks, I will have no way of knowing which one broke.

chickadee

There is a Visi-therm Deluxe that does have the light but it is harder to set.* It is a very good heater though. There is the thermometer I use on all my tanks.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113769

Rose

Gunnie

Okay Rose, I just ordered 2 of the visi therm heaters. I think one of my heaters quit working in the 55 gal. tank, and I got an extra one just to have on hand. The visi therms are on sale at Drs. Foster and Smith at the moment.