When I first used mine, it didn't heat the tank up to the temperature I wanted it to. I woke up the next morning to see the temperature to be just barely over 70F. I wasn't too thrilled. Thank goodness my boy still seemed fine with the low temperature and was still swimming around happily. But now after a few weeks it seems to have stabilized and keeps my tank at around 77-79F, and so now I'm quite satisfied with it :)
Another thing I like about it is that its good at gradually heating a tank so its generally pretty safe to add it to a tank that already has a Betta in it... I still increase it by like 4 degree intervals a day, though.
They should last 5-10 years under normal use. Possibly longer.
I have one brown submersible heater, that's got to be manufactured in the 70's or 80's. It's 50watts, still works. Hard to adjust the temperature setting though.
Just make sure you UNPLUG the heater every time you siphon water JUST as a precautionary measure from accidentally cracking the glass.
The Visi-Therms & Hydors I got from Stephanie are probably 10 years old.
Good to know the new Hydors are still Made in Italy.
I have had a 50/50 experience with them, I use a 25 watt on a grow tank and used to have a 50 on my ten gallon. The 25 watt is good and stays near the desired degree at 1.5* difference. Sadly that was not the case with the 50, there was an ich outbreak in my tank and I consequently raised the temp to 86*F. From that point it would always stay stuck at 86 when it was supposed to heat at 76 as well as there was water in the heater when I first got it which may have contributed to it's failure. I recently switched from Hydor to Ehiem and I am not disappointed. Also what is cool about those heaters is they 2 rings you adjust, with that you can manually calibrate the heater so you never have to compensate by turning the temp past or behind the temperature you want to get the desired heat. Also the heater stays accurate to about .5*F . I would say for a heater the Hydor is a good brand and I am not trying to rip on it as I am more than satisfied with it's performance in my 5 gallon it's just that one experience that soured my liking for that company. However I will say they have GREAT customer service, I contacted them and they told me that if amazon would not accept the broken heater then they would gladly exchange it for a working version, oh and it has a classy look to it as well .
P.S. Mine also flickers on and off sometimes just while it's heating and the light will flicker sometimes too.
My 25 watt Theo (which has a grey knob, btw) worked great in my 1 gallon quarantine tank (which probably had a bit less than a gallon in it), and works fine in my 3 gallon. I've ordered a 50 watt for my 3 gallon so that I can keep the 25 watt for the hospital/quarantine tank since its working VERY hard to keep the 3 gallon at a toasty 80-81 degrees F this winter. I live in a cold area, however, and I like to keep my place cold.
I had really bad experience with these heaters.. VASTLY different than setting, won't hold temp.. etc. Finally gave up with them. I'm not the only one.. lots of comments across the web with this. That said, many people like them and have gotten good ones.
All new heaters should be given a 24 hour test run in similar size container with thermometer and no fish to make sure it will keep a constant temp, not overheat or swing.
You got lucky.. but glad it's working for you :)
I like Aqueon Pro (black ones not the glass regular line) Jager and Marineland Visitherm, personally.
My 25 watt Theo (which has a grey knob, btw) worked great in my 1 gallon quarantine tank (which probably had a bit less than a gallon in it), and works fine in my 3 gallon. I've ordered a 50 watt for my 3 gallon so that I can keep the 25 watt for the hospital/quarantine tank since its working VERY hard to keep the 3 gallon at a toasty 80-81 degrees F this winter. I live in a cold area, however, and I like to keep my place cold.
Actually, I have three 25 watts, two have white knobs and one has a red knob... I'm still not sure why.
And I must be lucky x4 because all of my Hydors work great.
The one I am currently using is still heating my tank at 79...it's only been 4 days but I'm pretty happy with that! I'm expecting to get my new 5 gallon tank this week and I will test the other Hydor heater I bought in there before adding fish.
I tried an Aqueon 150w(not a pro) in my 29g...put it in the tank and it immediately had water inside the heater...I didn't even get a chance to plug it in. I ended up getting a Fluval M150 instead and am happy with it. I have heard good things about the Aqueon Pros, though.
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