I have a tall 29 gallon that had a typical submersible "stick" heater in it. The problem inconsistent heat. No matter where you put that stick, the temperature in the tank will vary as you get further away from the stick, and will vary a lot from top to bottom. I had to set it to 82 degrees to get an average of 76, and the furthest corner was usually closer to 72.... that's a HUGE variance which is bad for the fish.
This heats ALL your water every drop passes through this heater (about 6 times an hour if you have adequate flow through your filter).
I put this in my output line, set it to 78, and within 1 hour got a reading of EXACTLY 78, no matter where I put the thermometer in the tank. I will never go back to stick heaters again.
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Bought this heater for use w/ a Fluval 305 canister filter on a 45gal corner pentagram community tank. The old glass tube heater's thermostat seemed to stop working (maybe because I let the water level drop a bit low), and I came across this inline model while looking for a replacement.
First off, the heater is much larger than I expected. It was too long to install above the filter yet below the tank in my stand (while keeping the required vertical positioning), so I had to move the tank away from the wall in order to install it in-line on the return hose behind the tank. Since it's also pretty fat (much thicker than the hoses themselves), the tank now sits a few inches from the wall instead of almost right up against it. The Fluval 305 filter also uses the ribbed hoses, which I found out after purchasing the heater are not 5/8ths, but 3/4" themselves. A few posts on the net said connecting the ribbed hoses directly to the heater would result in leaks. I ended up buying a couple of the rubber Fluval hose ends, which just push on to the ends of the cut ribbed hose, and so far, no leaks.
Once installed, the heater seems to work well, but the temp setting on the dial doesn't match the 2 thermometers in the tank. The thermometers both read ~2 degrees higher than the dial. As long as this remains consisant, this isn't a big deal. The ambient temp in the house will be as low as 65, but the heater doesn't seem to have any trouble maintaining the tank at 78.
It is nice to be able to not have a glass tube heater showing in the tank, though. Makes for a cleaner looking setup.
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My first fish was a little crazy and used to swim frantically around the tank banging into the walls. Turns out he smashed the glass heater and the rest (along with the fish) is history. Went to the "in-line" heater version after that and this heater works great. Use it in a 30 gallon, acrylic tank.
Read Best Reviews of Hydor ETH 200 In-Line External Heater 200w 5/8" hose - Original Eth 201 Here
I bought one of these to use with a Fluval 306 canister filter and 50 gallon tank. Connecting it to the filter was not straight forward since Fluval uses ribbed hoses. I ended up using a clear 5/8" PVC hose from the filter to the intake of the heater and then used the rubber connector and the ribbed hose on the discharge to the tank. So far in nearly 6 months of use this has worked flawlessly with no leaks.
I can't say enough about how well the heater works as far as controlling the tank temperature. I have a digital thermometer and it never fluctuates more than +/.1 degrees no matter what the room temperature is. You do hear a slight click when the the heater turns on or off which means they use a mechanical relay to control the voltage to the heating element. I like this as most heaters use a solid state relay (think transistor) which is usually the reason heaters fail in the "on" state and fry the tank, SSR's almost always fail "on".
If you have a canister filter you can't go wrong with one of these heaters.
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I have this installed on the output of a Fluval 206 canister filter. Keeps the turtle water at 80 degrees effortlessly. The outside of the unit does not get very warm, so it is not a problem having it rest against the aquarium background. The tank is a 55 gallon with about 40 gallons of water in it. I took about a foot of the black flexible Fluval tubing and put a rubber end on it with silicone, then covered that with heat shrink tubing. It attaches firmly to the compression fitting. I had a clip that slides over the tank rim, so attached the heater to that with a cable tie. It is very lightweight. Love it!
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I had to return this item 2 times b/c the switch was broken each time. I got a refund since I wasn't going to be disappointed a third time. The item was supposed to be an Easter gift for my 18 month old son. Never again. We went to pet smart instead, which is what we should have done in the first place. This was a cool aquarium but a poor product...
