lanman October 7, 2011 October 7, 2011 With a few cool nights, I am starting to feel 'sparkies' in my 240. Which probably means time for some water heaters. Is there a current 'best choice' for safety and reliability??? Has anyone produced one that won't actually touch the water? Never breaks, never leaks, never leaches fish-killing toxic compounds?? Thanks for all suggestions/ideas/recommendations! bob
John October 7, 2011 October 7, 2011 (edited) I'm a big fan of my Blueline Titanium Heater...you can buy just the element and plug right into your controller...I know F&F stocks them Edited October 7, 2011 by John
Guest thefishman65 October 7, 2011 October 7, 2011 Has anyone produced one that won't actually touch the water? Never breaks, never leaks, never leaches fish-killing toxic compounds?? I think it is called the sun.
basser9 October 7, 2011 October 7, 2011 Putting a heater in a lifeguard module always seems a good idea. 50 or so bucks and your heater is out of harms way.
Incredible Corals October 7, 2011 October 7, 2011 I'm sure they can all fail, but I have Titanium as well. +1, that is what I have. Plug right into one of the outlets on the DC8 and let the Aqua Controller do the work.
treesprite October 7, 2011 October 7, 2011 Can't attach the sun to a tank. Can heat lamps be put on a temperature controller?
zygote2k October 8, 2011 October 8, 2011 Can't attach the sun to a tank. Can heat lamps be put on a temperature controller? I'd think that radiant heat will only heat the surface of the water leading to quick evaporation. Back in the day, there were some water cooled halides for concealed grow rooms that displaced 100% of their heat into the water. Maybe someone could explore this avenue as a different heat source...
LanglandJoshua October 8, 2011 October 8, 2011 The water cooled MH sounds efficient. You also can get a titanium heater with a JBJ true temp digital controller. I like the idea of this controller, and plan to try it myself. It acts like your regular controller. But only for your heater, it even has a separate temperature probe. The controller can be bought separately. I am huge fan of having backups! I don't know if there are any others like this and will be following your topic as well! Hope the info helps!
lanman October 8, 2011 Author October 8, 2011 I have separate digital controllers. Just looking for currently most reliable. But I need to check out that 'lifeguard'. bob
davelin315 October 8, 2011 October 8, 2011 Just like rules, heaters are made to be broken! I used a lifeguard module once and it ended up having too much pressure on it and the heater popped right out (this was based on a non-pressure pump and the head pressure itself caused the heater to slide out and shoot across the room). I also investigated the ability to manufacture a heater based on a Peltier design but gave up when I saw how many copyrights were already out there. All you have to do is flip the circuit on the Peltier unit over and it'll push the heat into the probe instead of pulling heat from it. It gets quite hot, too, and does it very safely.
zygote2k October 8, 2011 October 8, 2011 There is an old brand of heater called, "The Fireplug", by Aquanetics. These were great heaters and if you look around on ebay or RC, they pop up from time to time. The Rainbow heater modules are good too and are more suited to hobbyist needs.
lanman October 9, 2011 Author October 9, 2011 Not finding the rainbow heaters... Link? The lifegard modules are interesting, but certainly don't insulate the heater from the tank. Tank water still circulates directly around whatever heater you put in there. So... guess I am back to trying to find the brand least likely to have a catastrophic failure. Until I have time to invent the perfect solution. bob
lanman October 9, 2011 Author October 9, 2011 While we are at it... good way to test heaters for shorts/grounds? bob
steveoutlaw October 9, 2011 October 9, 2011 Well, what about getting a small tankless water heater? I saw one on line for under $200. Water movement through it would be the same principle as a UV. http://acehotline.com/p-2195-ecosmart-118-kw-small-tankless-water-heater-eco-11.aspx
davelin315 October 9, 2011 October 9, 2011 I would think that the mechanism for heating water is not designed for heating it only a tiny bit, meaning it would heat the water way too fast for our purposes and then overheat the tank immediately - it may not be able to slow it carefully since it is, after all, made for whole house applications with water mains. Just get a bucket of water, plug a power strip into a gfci, and then put the heater in the bucket and flip the power switch. If the gfci flips, then the heater's leaking juice. With the modules, you're looking at glass being exposed so your danger is with the glass cracking, but with the exception of titanium heaters, you're looking at that risk no matter what. A titanium heater, too, will run the risk of leaking as it has to be submerged so unless you plan on keeping a portion of it out of the water to protect the seals, they're all about the same risk wise.
steveoutlaw October 9, 2011 October 9, 2011 (edited) I would think that the mechanism for heating water is not designed for heating it only a tiny bit, meaning it would heat the water way too fast for our purposes and then overheat the tank immediately - it may not be able to slow it carefully since it is, after all, made for whole house applications with water mains. Why not get a thermostat to control the outlet for the pump? That way it's only used when needed and would turn off of it starte getting too hot. Or there's this: http://www.amazon.com/HYDOR-ETH201-200W-LINE-HEATER/dp/B000INZWZ2 Edited October 9, 2011 by steveoutlaw
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now