# Hydor vs Marineland vs Eheim Heaters



## stanny03 (Nov 5, 2009)

Hey bros,

Doing some shopping to replace my 50W heater. It's gonna go into a 10 gallon.

Anyone want to share their experiences with these heaters?

Hydor Theo Pet Supplies, Pet Food, and Pet Products | Petco

Marineland Stealth Pro Pet Supplies, Pet Food, and Pet Products | Petco

Eheim Jager Pet Supplies, Pet Food, and Pet Products | Petco


Is it better to go with a heater with higher capacity (to easily heat the tank?) or one with a lower one (as to not fry the fish if the temp sensor goes bad) capacity?

Also, I doubt this but, can you calibrate the heaters?

Thanks in advance


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## Diana (Jan 14, 2010)

Some heaters can be calibrated. Simpler is just to watch a thermometer and remember something like 'this heater needs to be set to 78 so the tank will stay at 76' or whatever. 

Maximum would be about 5 watts per gallon. Larger can over heat the tank, or heat it too fast if the tank cools off for some reason. Smaller tanks lose their temperature faster than larger tanks, and if this tank is in a cool room then 5 watts per gallon will be about right. If the room temperature is close to what you want for the tank, and the room is maintained at that temperature, especially at night, you might get by with a slightly smaller heater, but I do not know if there is one. 25 watts (the next size down that I know of) is too small. Are there in-between sizes?


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## stanny03 (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks for the reply Diana

I thought too much about the heating/cooling too quickly aspect. I'll keep that in mind. From what I've seen so far, it seems that most heaters come in the flavors of 25W, 50W, etc. in increments of 25W. 

I wonder what people would do for a 7gallon -- get a slightly bigger heater or slightly smaller heater..


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## mgamer20o0 (Mar 8, 2007)

they make some smaller ones i think as low as 5w. 

Marineland Stealth heaters are the only ones ill buy now. i have 20 or so and the one time i had a problem with the auto off when its out of water and they replaced it. i am sold on them.


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## snafu (Oct 9, 2004)

i also only buy visitherm heaters. recently, my faith in them was shaken when one of my heaters (stealth) would not shut off. since they have a lifetime warranty, i simply called the company and they sent a new one out with no questions asked.

the broken heater was a 100W used in a 20gal tank. i figure if i had used anything larger, i would have lost everything in the tank (everything survived). i used to be a believer that bigger is better, but now i kinda like the idea of going slightly smaller because even the most reliable heaters can and will go bad.


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## EdTheEdge (Jan 25, 2007)

I really like the regular ol Vistherms. The are real workhorses. My house temps sometimes get down to 60°F and my tanks maintain their 75-79°F. Where you place your heaters is important and if they have flow along their lengths these can be quite efficient.


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## stanny03 (Nov 5, 2009)

Oh right! I heard about the awesome warranty of Marineland products. If I understand correctly, Visitherm is part of the Marineland product line.

50W in a 10 gallon seems like a good place to start. I'll go with the Marineland Stealth. 
Thanks for all the input!


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## naturelady (Dec 14, 2009)

I use a Hydor Theo 50W in a 20gal and it seems to work well. I keep my tank temp rather low (72-76°F) and the lights do most of the heating during the day, but the heater really steps it up at night. It does a great job of maintaining the tank temp and my apartment gets quite cold during the winter (as low as 55 sometimes).


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## EdwardN (Nov 7, 2008)

Marineland !

10 gal - 50W

15-30 gal - 100W etc., etc...


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## Chrisk-K (Oct 12, 2009)

Although I'm an Eheim guy, I swear by Rena smart heater. I have 5 of them and they are deadly accurate and reliable. Moreover, they double as an intake pipe. One fewer piece of equipment in the tank.


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## fishyjoe24 (Dec 10, 2009)

the eheim jager's can be calibrate I've had my 250 jager for around 5 years now and it is still going strong. I set it on 86 and the temp stays 84 in a 80 gallon. some times they can become uncalibrated just re calibrate them.

the hydro theo's are really good too, I had a 200 watt one set at 84 in a 55 gallon long, and it kept it temp. no problems.

also how long you keep the lights on can play with the water temp. remember 8 hours max. sometime I push mine to 10. I shoot for 6-8 hours on, and 16-18 hours off.


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