# Hydor inline heater?



## Mr. Leg (Feb 2, 2011)

I was going to get one for a small tank. My question is can you have too much power? I planned to get the 200w but the 300W is literally $6 more. 
I figure get the extra power incase I want to use it on a bigger tank later. 
Would it be ok?


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Mr. Leg said:


> I was going to get one for a small tank. My question is can you have too much power? I planned to get the 200w but the 300W is literally $6 more.
> I figure get the extra power incase I want to use it on a bigger tank later.
> Would it be ok?


Yup, it's hard to have too much heater...especially inline style heaters. You'll be fine.


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## Mr. Leg (Feb 2, 2011)

ok thanks, forgot to mention this was going on a Mini M right now.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Mr. Leg said:


> ok thanks, forgot to mention this was going on a Mini M right now.


I don't know what that is, but still it shouldn't matter. More wattage just means less time the heater has to be on to stabilize temperatures. I've often thought about getting a second 300 watt heater for my 90 simply because I do cold water changes. 

They are rather large...I mean physically..in size. I'd guess mine to be the size of a 1 liter bottle...give or take. The 300 watt ones use [STRIKE]5/16[/STRIKE] 5/8 ID hose (I think the 200 use 1/2 inch)...are you gonna be able to work with that given your canister?


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

The only issue I see is when the Hydor fails in a few years. Of two heaters I've had fail, one of them just wouldn't stop heating, and I came close to boiling my fish. That was a 300w submersible in a 25g.

Apparently, this is a common result when heaters do fail. And while the Hydors have a good reputation, they're pretty new. There's something about the wiring involving using a standard piece that's prone to failure after a set number of years. Vague, I know, but I read some info on it a while back, and unfortunately don't remember much about it. Do some research - if this is actually true, then the fact that the Hydor ETH has a short history will work against you if you depend on user reviews.

That being said, 1) I use one of them (the 200w) inline and have no complaints after 11+ months, and 2) even if it fails, there probably won't be much difference in the results between a 200w and 300w.


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## Mr. Leg (Feb 2, 2011)

yeah with either one. inlet is larger hose, and outlet is the smaller one, so im good either way. Its a ehiem 2211.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

Daximus said:


> They are rather large...I mean physically..in size. I'd guess mine to be the size of a 1 liter bottle...give or take. The 300 watt ones use 5/16 ID hose (I think the 200 use 1/2 inch)...are you gonna be able to work with that given your canister?


Agreed that they're large. I was surprised by its bulk. To clarify, the 300w uses a 5/8" barb, and the 200w will come with either 1/2" or 5/8" - your choice. In addition, if you do a forum search and look for pics, you'll find a surprising number of them with DIY'd metal hose clamps on them. This is because the threaded barb/nut assembly works with a very specific size of hose - more specifically, a certain size of hose wall thickness. And that size, whatever it is, is not the same as that of the hose many of us pick up from Home Depot.

The hose clamps work great, but they're not terribly pretty. Good thing you're hiding the think somewhere other than in the tank


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

kevmo911 said:


> The only issue I see is when the Hydor fails in a few years. Of two heaters I've had fail, one of them just wouldn't stop heating, and I came close to boiling my fish. That was a 300w submersible in a 25g.
> 
> Apparently, this is a common result when heaters do fail. And while the Hydors have a good reputation, they're pretty new. There's something about the wiring involving using a standard piece that's prone to failure after a set number of years. Vague, I know, but I read some info on it a while back, and unfortunately don't remember much about it. Do some research - if this is actually true, then the fact that the Hydor ETH has a short history will work against you if you depend on user reviews.
> 
> That being said, 1) I use one of them (the 200w) inline and have no complaints after 11+ months, and 2) even if it fails, there probably won't be much difference in the results between a 200w and 300w.


Any heater that is not digitally controlled (normally with a separate temperature probe) will eventually fail simply due to use. Cheap heaters (Hydor included) use bi-metal type switches (simply put, two dissimilar metals sandwiched together that expand and contract at different temperatures set up to complete a circuit) that will eventually fail simply due to metal fatigue. 

Some die in the on position, some in the off. Only way to be 99% sure this never happens to you is to go digital. However, many of the bi-metal heaters will last years and years...it really depends on how often the switch is used...and a degree of luck. roud:



kevmo911 said:


> Agreed that they're large. I was surprised by its bulk. To clarify, the 300w uses a *5/8*" barb,


*facepalm*

I meant 5/8ths, lol...not sure where I pulled 5/16ths from, lol.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I'm surprised to read your post Kevmo. I haven't heard of any Hydor ETH's going in the fritz. The ONLY issues I have heard with them is due to operator error because the temp knob is easy to move and sometimes when the operator is messing with their filter or just the tubing, they can accidentally move the temp knob over to a hotter position essentially cooking their tank. 

I have had my 300w ETH for about 5 years and it has been stupid reliable on my 37g which I keep at 82 and weekly do 50% WC's with much cooler water (just stressing that I give it a workout pretty regularly). I also have a fail safe since I decided to purchase a reef keeper for this tank which has a temp probe that I put in the tank. You can set the RK up to where if the probe registers a certain temp ( mine is set at 84) then the RK will kill power to whatever outlet you designate as your heater power source. But as if today, I doubt that feature will ever be necessary.


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## Dini (Jan 5, 2012)

I have 2 x 300 on my 130gal planted running on a Medusa Temp controller and one 300 running on my 130 Cichlid tank. They have never given me problems....Three plus years now I would say or more.


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## galabar (Oct 19, 2011)

If you can hide them in a sump, it is better to go with 2 small heaters rather than 1 large heater. If a heater fails in the "on" position, you could cook your fish. If the heater isn't strong enough to raise the tank temperature that much on its own, then you are safer.

Of course, this is coming from a reef background (sump). Those in-line heaters are more expensive, so having two smaller ones might not be ideal.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

bsmith hit the nail on the head.

If you're super-worried about cooking your fish, invest in a temperature controller. Sometimes you can find them used online and on various forums for much cheaper than they are new. Well worth the peace of mind.


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## inkslinger (Dec 28, 2003)

http://www.etcsupply.com/etc-controllers-c-36.html?osCsid=a27fc6e2c79d40cca60e526314f1533f

http://www.jehmco.com/html/heaters.html#Heater Module


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## Jeromeit (Sep 30, 2011)

Reliable heaters for sure.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I'm pretty sure you can get a Reef Keeper Lite wich consists of the main controller, one module which each module has 6 outlets (4 outlets can be set to timers and 2 are always on I believe), iTemp probe (temp probe that goes in your tank that can be linked to an outlet to turn off/on power to it if the temp hits a designated point you program), power cord and a USB interface to download info from the main controller to your CPU. 

You can run up to 4 modules with a single controller giving you a maximum of 24 outlets and you can even hook up pH probes and a bunch of other stuff too I'm pretty sure. 

Again on my high tech 37g with 2 banks of lighting, co2 solenoid, heater, koralia power head, I have everything running with a single RKL. They really are a heck of a deal and allow you to control everything from a single point and rid your stand of all of those crappy brinkman analog/digital timers!


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

It's funny I posted in this thread while I was on the road a couple days this week. Got home yesterday evening, my 90 was at 94 degrees (set to 80)...my Hydor is about 2 months old. Point being, it can happen.


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## Crispino L Ramos (Mar 29, 2008)

Do they have to be positioned vertical? How do you keep it vertical? I have two that I need to set up but wonder if a 45 degree angle is fine.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Crispino Ramos said:


> Do they have to be positioned vertical? How do you keep it vertical? I have two that I need to set up but wonder if a 45 degree angle is fine.


Yes, as long as they are in such a position that an air bubble can't form inside you should be fine. Just like a submersible heater, the hot part needs to be in total contact with water. I'm sure a 45 would be fine. 

As far as keeping them vertical it's not too tough for most people because they are normally plumbed into the intake or output lines of the tank filter.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

Daximus said:


> It's funny I posted in this thread while I was on the road a couple days this week. Got home yesterday evening, my 90 was at 94 degrees (set to 80)...my Hydor is about 2 months old. Point being, it can happen.


Well your posts after this one pretty much negated the question I was going to ask you. Which is, was your ETH positioned horizontally or vertically to the floor?

I have rarely read about problems with the ETH's and in a couple of peoples post's, the issue did end up being an inadvertent turning of the temp knob by the user during filter maintenance.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

bsmith said:


> Well your posts after this one pretty much negated the question I was going to ask you. Which is, was your ETH positioned horizontally or vertically to the floor?
> 
> I have rarely read about problems with the ETH's and in a couple of peoples post's, the issue did end up being an inadvertent turning of the temp knob by the user during filter maintenance.



Meh...sometimes you get a bad one, lol. I'm not upset really, and I'll most likely be buying another Hydor. 

I push heaters pretty hard. I work away from the home for a few days normally each week. When I leave town I turn my thermostat down to 60 degrees...so my fish tank heaters have a helluva job to do. I probably should have had two 300 watters on my 90 given this fact.

I'm going down to investigate later today, I was so tired last night I just unplugged it and went to bed, lol. Maybe I bumped it.


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## hbosman (Oct 5, 2006)

I've had a Hydor ETH 300 die recently. It was no older than two years old. I'm alittle disappointed that it didn't last longer considering price. It worked really well, very consistant in temperature control. Yes the knob can be moved very easily so, be careful of that. My 57 gallon tank is in the basement where the ambient temperature is in the 60s during the winter and low 70s in the summer so, the heater definitely had to work hard. It must have been the heating element it self that died. The light stayed on like it was trying to heat but the water wasn't warming any longer.

Anyway, I haven't read this happening that often so, I think I am one of the unfortunate few. I went back to my old in tank stealth heater. The model without the light. It's from back when they used to be good heaters. I'll use it until it dies I guess. Then I will probably buy an ETH again.


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

bsmith said:


> I'm surprised to read your post Kevmo. I haven't heard of any Hydor ETH's going in the fritz. The ONLY issues I have heard with them is due to operator error because the temp knob is easy to move and sometimes when the operator is messing with their filter or just the tubing, they can accidentally move the temp knob over to a hotter position essentially cooking their tank.


Yeah, that's the point - we haven't heard much about long-term reliability of the Hydors because there simply hasn't been a long term since their introduction to the hobby. In fact, I'm surprised to hear that they're even five years old.

My feeling on the Hydors is that they're reliable, as (up until Dax's post) I had never heard of a failure, and mine has worked perfectly. But since all heaters will eventually fail due to their design, it's just a matter of time until the Hydors will as well. We just don't know (yet) how long to expect them to last.

And, given that all heaters will eventually fail, I'd rather have a lower-wattage heater, so I'll have longer to notice it before I've got boiled fish for dinner. Unfortunately, there's just nothing like the Hydor ETH out there (which is just plain odd) that I know of, so there's no other option. Unless you want to DIY something in PVC, which somebody (mordalphus???) has been doing.


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## thrak76 (Aug 3, 2009)

kevmo911 said:


> Unfortunately, there's just nothing like the Hydor ETH out there (which is just plain odd) that I know of, so there's no other option. Unless you want to DIY something in PVC, which somebody (mordalphus???) has been doing.


The links that Inkslinger provided show of an alternative in the jehmco store. Therein are "modules" that you can put your regular submersible heaters into and turn it into an inline heater. It appears to be a bit clunkier than than the Hydor (which I own, and love - for 3 years now).

I also seem to remember another manufacturer that made an inline heater - pentair, or something, I believe their name has changed. I've not had any luck finding it on the Drs Foster & Smith website where i remembered it being.


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## thrak76 (Aug 3, 2009)

Here's one that looks interesting, but i bet it's pretty expensive...


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## Dini (Jan 5, 2012)

As stated....if you are worried about cooking your fish I would get a temp controller. I knocked the probe out of mine one day doing maintenence and that little controller could be heard up two flights of stairs screaming it's little bum off. If your tempreture fluctuates more then 2 degrees either side of preset with one of these.....you will know....


I have always wondered why someone would spend hundreds sometimes thousands of dollars on a setup and fish only to nickle and dime themselves on a very useful peice of equipment like a controller...but to each his own....


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## kevmo911 (Sep 24, 2010)

thrak76 said:


> The links that Inkslinger provided show of an alternative in the jehmco store. Therein are "modules" that you can put your regular submersible heaters into and turn it into an inline heater. It appears to be a bit clunkier than than the Hydor (which I own, and love - for 3 years now).


Yeah, that's the DIY thing I was talking about (though, not, in this case, DIY, and a good bit more expensive). Basically a larger tube, run inline, to drop a submersible heater into. The only touchy point would be the seal around the cord. It's also the only part of the rig that would cost more than a buck or two.


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

Well, I checked my heater...still set to 80 degrees. Plugged it back in...seems to be working again...what to do, what to do. 

The good news is all of my fish lived through the sauna, lol.


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## thrak76 (Aug 3, 2009)

Replace it. Don't you think it would happen again?


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## Daximus (Oct 19, 2011)

thrak76 said:


> Replace it. Don't you think it would happen again?


Yea, I assume so. I'm just going to put it on a 12 hour timer till a new one arrives. Even if it is full on it can't do too much damage to the 90 in 12 hours, lol.


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## jvidia (Apr 9, 2013)

hbosman said:


> The light stayed on like it was trying to heat but the water wasn't warming any longer.
> 
> Anyway, I haven't read this happening that often so, I think I am one of the unfortunate few. ...



Hello there.

Just join this forum to report that my ETH 300W did the same thing last night. :icon_frow

My aquarium dropped to 17ºC :eek5: before I noticed my ETH 300W was not heating but the led was ON!

Rotating the temp knob didn't make him turn ON.
Not even the ON/OFF click sound happened.

After unplugging it from the wall socket, and plugging it again it began to heat again! 

Now I don't thurst it anymore :icon_frow

It was bought in Nov/2010 and it's my 2nd ETH 300W.

The 1st one died after 2 years too, but it died differently ... it won't stay ON, i.e., it turned ON and OFF constantly. 


I'm thinking on buying a new one for reserve.
My tank is 45gl and the delta temperature is 10ºC.
Do you think an ETH of 200W will do the job ?


Thanks,
Jorge


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