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New Aquatop Titanium Heaters

Hawkman2000

Members
Has anyone tried one of these yet -

Aquatop Titanium Heater -

http://aquatop.com/aquarium-titanium-heater.html

They are a bit pricey from a authorized dealer, but I've gone through 3 heaters on one tank in the past year.

ViaAqua Quartz - stopped working
Marineland - temp. fluctuated between 72+80 when set to 76
Hydor - lowest setting (67) resulted in 79-81 out of the box with to many hoops to return.

Very frustrating.

From what I have been reading on amazon reviews, most aquarium heaters have around 25% defective rate, and even the ones that work out of the box only last 6 months. Seems like one would be luck to have one of the newer ones last more than a year.
 
aqueon pro heaters hav ebeen great for me and they have a lifetime warranty. my other glass model (not pro) broke and they immediately replaced it with the Pro as an option (it is better and more expensive model) for free. quick response and customer service is great
 

Tangcollector

Active Member
Staff member
I bought one aquatop heater and loved it as it displayed the temp and the setting in digital easy to read numbers. It died after about 3 months. If you want a spot on reliable heater go with the Cobalt Neo therms. They are pricey but they are great heaters and designed not to stick on. Josh @ batfish had them on sale. I would check to see if he can still get them at the sale price. You can't go wrong with these heaters. I am in the process of switching all mine out as the money frees up to do it.
 

Jt731

Members
I would make sure the manufacture date on the neotherm is 2015 or sooner. You may want to think about splurging on a heater controller so you take the thermostat away from the heater and therefore just need the heater to be on or off.
 

Leffler817

CCA Members
I tried a regular AquaTop glass heater because of a recommendation from Ken of kensfish. It has worked well for me. It was an impluse buy. I've have had very good results with my Fluval M (metallic glass) and Aqueon glass heaters. I keep buying the two heaters that I've have the best results with. If either of these fail, I'm moving on to Cobalt. I'd say you get what you pay for but that isn't necessarily true with heaters. It's seems like there are many bad yet expensive options out there.
 

Tangcollector

Active Member
Staff member
Cobalt neotherm or an Eheim Jaeger.
I have used Eheim Jaeger heaters for a long time but recently have had some issues with dialing the temp, heater sticking , and leaking water internally. I still have a lot of them but I will move to cobalt.
 

Becca

Members
I have used Eheim Jaeger heaters for a long time but recently have had some issues with dialing the temp, heater sticking , and leaking water internally. I still have a lot of them but I will move to cobalt.

The "condensation" on the inside is actually oil used in the heater assembly, at least that's my understanding. I use those and Cobalts exclusively. Jaegers can be calibrated to improve accuracy, which is nice, but I'd still generally use a thermometer to ensure any heater is within a few degrees of where you've set it.
 

Tangcollector

Active Member
Staff member
The "condensation" on the inside is actually oil used in the heater assembly, at least that's my understanding. I use those and Cobalts exclusively. Jaegers can be calibrated to improve accuracy, which is nice, but I'd still generally use a thermometer to ensure any heater is within a few degrees of where you've set it.

This was more than condensation and it was only two of them and I still ran them until they gave reason not to trust them but I would love to know how to calibrate them. Is that info available on line.
Thanks for the info Becca
 

Aqua410

Members
I have an eheim jaeger and its been good for me other then one goofy thing where it all the sudden started keeping the water 4 degrees cooler out of no where. I bumped it up and re-calibrated the dial and it's been fine ever since.
 

Jt731

Members
This was more than condensation and it was only two of them and I still ran them until they gave reason not to trust them but I would love to know how to calibrate them. Is that info available on line.
Thanks for the info Becca


It's in the directions, I only know because I had to figure out what was going on with the one I had and what all the dials were for, but here's a video

http://youtu.be/VaksiN76Frc
 

Becca

Members
It's in the directions, I only know because I had to figure out what was going on with the one I had and what all the dials were for, but here's a video

http://youtu.be/VaksiN76Frc


The video is a good reference. I had to read the directions several times over to figure out what they were trying to say. Some older models don't have the calibration option, but all that I've bought in the past 5 years do.
 

Hawkman2000

Members
Thanks for all the responses.

I went ahead and ordered a 75 watt cobalt neotherm. I only need to heat this tank 2 or 3 degrees above its mean temp. I would like it much better if the temp adjustment was by single degree instead of 2. Even better would be if they made a pro version with the controller and the temp sensor outside the heater assembly like the via aqua titanium or the aquatop THC series.

I also order one of the cobalt power heads. I was wondering why my maxijet wasn't as quiet as my old one. Turns out the old manufacturer of maxijet makes them for cobalt now, and the marineland maxijets are from china.

I wonder if cobalt is considering making LED lighting? Maybe then we could get the perfect lighting for our display tanks.
 

Becca

Members
Thanks for all the responses.

I went ahead and ordered a 75 watt cobalt neotherm. I only need to heat this tank 2 or 3 degrees above its mean temp. I would like it much better if the temp adjustment was by single degree instead of 2. Even better would be if they made a pro version with the controller and the temp sensor outside the heater assembly like the via aqua titanium or the aquatop THC series.

I also order one of the cobalt power heads. I was wondering why my maxijet wasn't as quiet as my old one. Turns out the old manufacturer of maxijet makes them for cobalt now, and the marineland maxijets are from china.

I wonder if cobalt is considering making LED lighting? Maybe then we could get the perfect lighting for our display tanks.

They actually do have some new LED products supposedly coming out this year. They also have a new line of nano tanks slated for release that look pretty freakin' cool. Though the pre-order is over, you should look at the latest Batfish Aquatics Cobalt pre-order list to get an idea of what is "coming soon."

I recently got the mini air pump even though I didn't specifically need it because, I mean, seriously, who doesn't want an tiny little air pump they can carry with them and suction cup to anything? If it had existed a few years ago, many of my Aquarium Beautiful submissions would've been a lot easier to pull off.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Neotherms aren't any more reliable than other heaters, I fear.

Sorry to tell you now, but I just had a Cobalt Neotherm heater malfunction, killing a bunch of rare fish. I had this same problem two years ago with a 200W Neotherm, and Cobalt sent me two 100W Neotherm replacements, which worked fine until yesterday.

Tip: If you smell an acrid smell in your fishroom, or hear a sound that sounds like a filter with air in it, check your Neotherm. I smelled the smell yesterday, and heard the noise, but couldn't figure out the source. It was only when I saw dead shrimp today that I figured out it was the Neotherm.

It didn't overheat, but it leaked along a seam, and some sort of epoxy or something bubbled out and apparently poisoned the fish.

I'm not happy. I really hate killing fish.

I should say that I like almost all of Cobalt's products, and think it's a good company. But I'll never buy another Cobalt heater.

Matt
 
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mchambers

Former CCA member
Here's a picture of the failed heater:

IMG_1375.jpg
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Leffler817

CCA Members
Sorry to hear that Matt.

That illustrates my problem with heaters, you can spend a good chunk of money on them and they still fail. After my last failure, I schedule replacements every two years. I've yet to see a heater younger than two fail. Although, I won't buy the cheap ones anymore.
 

mchambers

Former CCA member
Video

Thanks. I didn't see that.

Having now watched the video, though, it only deals with the old bigger heaters. In other words, it deals with what happened to me two years ago. My heater was a replacement, and a smaller size. Joey's video doesn't in any way deal with what happened to my tank this weekend.

Bottom line: I'm still never using a Cobalt heater again. I've got another Neotherm 100W that hasn't failed. I just took it out of one of my tanks. Free to anyone who wants it.
 
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