Let's argue about heaters - I need one!

I recommend a heater with controls outside the tank so they can be totally sealed well and have contacts and controls that require more space than inside the heating tube allows. But my first priority is having a heater small enough not to overheat the tank IF/When it fails. I find no stand alone heaters in the 50 W or less that fit what I want. That leaves me to go with no heater, leaving the lights and filter motors to keep the temperature up or going to a separate temperature controller. I'm looking at the digital temp controls now on E-bay but that will require some DIY work.

I have not found a good heater for that size tank.

Get yourself a pair of 100W Eheim Jagers. You'll find cheaper for sure, but these are just rock solid units that seldom fail. Eheim bought the product line recently. They used to be called Ebo Jager. I remember them from when I was a kid (a LONG time ago), and would just pinch pennies on hardware and could never pony up.
I just converted my entire fishroom back from SW to breeding angels. 10 installed and 2 more on order. Over the long term, they've been the most reliable and best built heater I've bought.

^ I second that. I have seven eheim jager heaters and they are worth it, seldom break down. In my 125 gal I have them hooked up to a controller, so even if the thermostat fails, the controller will cut off the current if the temp goes up past 86ºF.

is it this same model:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=23726&cmpid=03cseaz&ref=4144&subref=AA

Prices are massively reduced for some reason, any idea why?


Looks like a 36 gallon should be a 100 watt - I'm guessing better to stay at the recommended size (unlike filters where bigger is better)

House is heated to 68 in winter, AC to 76 in summer

I'm looking at getting a Hydor inline this winter but right now I've got an Aqueon Pro heater and it's been good.
http://www.aqueonproducts.com/products/pro-heaters.htm
Gets great amazon reviews too http://www.amazon.com/06106-Heaters...TF8&qid=1342571263&sr=1-1&keywords=pro+heater

I have a pair of Ebo Jagers too, a 100 and a 150 or 200 and they work fine but the Pro was on sale and the packaging listed fully submersible while the Jagers don't say they're fully submersible, or at least they didn't last time I checked.

Drs F&S is having their big summer sale so a lot of equipment is priced more reasonable.

I have had great luck using a 50W heater in my 30G tanks with the same room temperatures you have jbrady33. Keeps the tank @ 80F with no problems.

The Eheim Jagers are now marked fully submersible since they upgraded the sealing ring at the cord.

I also like the Hydor ETH inline heater but don't think I would use it on a 36G tank unless I was able to test it out to its highest setting first to see what the max temp it would reach.

Thanks for the feedback - will stay at 100 watt then (since they are all the same price, considered going for the 200)

The old EJ were not labeled submersible because they did not quite meet Canadian requirements. They meet American standards for being submersible. I have had mine under water, even low and sideways in the tank and they are just fine. I only lost one, and that one did not shut off when it was exposed to air. (I do not know that I would trust that, even if it was supposed to, I would unplug it)

Somewhere around 3 watts per gallon is good in a heated room, and a good sized tank.

jbrady33 said:

Seems like a very weak point in aquarium equipment.

What do you recommend? The Hydor inline's sound like a good idea, but are they as disaster prone as the Amazon reviews make them out to be?

What would you recommend for a 36 gallon tank?

Click to expand...

Add a Ranco ETC-111000-000 controller and stop worrying about heater that won't turn off.

jbrady33 said:

is it this same model:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=23726&cmpid=03cseaz&ref=4144&subref=AA

Prices are massively reduced for some reason, any idea why?

Click to expand...

Summer sale. Thanks for the heads up. I just picked up two of these heaters and two aquaclear 20's for lower than you can find on amazon.

Diana said:

The old EJ were not labeled submersible because they did not quite meet Canadian requirements. They meet American standards for being submersible. I have had mine under water, even low and sideways in the tank and they are just fine. I only lost one, and that one did not shut off when it was exposed to air. (I do not know that I would trust that, even if it was supposed to, I would unplug it)

Somewhere around 3 watts per gallon is good in a heated room, and a good sized tank.

Click to expand...

That's right, in Canada for some reason they had to be labelled differently, they had a manual label placed on the package that confused a lot of folks, but they are now certified as submersable in Canada too. And they will not break if you remove them from the water while plugged in, that's because they're made of thicker laboratory glass unlike its competitors. But to be safe I unplug them and let them cool down before removing them. But I do leave them plugged in while I do water changes and haven't had any issues whatsoever, I'm using 7 jagers as we speak.