Alright, i just notice a couple jager failed on me so im going to need some replacements. I have always used the jager but since they were taken over, i noticed the quality has declined and always had problems lately. Any other suggestions before i put in the order?

i strongly recommend the st..L (forgot the spelling) the whole thing is black.that thing is good,i have one for two years now never failed on me once.

stealth ftw..

hey Kent,
this is what i just bought few days ago, it works great. this is what it says; "....Temperature select dial and aluminum cylinder distribute core heat evenly and efficiently with ±1.0°F accuracy...." it's true. check it out my friend.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...mp;pcatid=12060

Thanks guys, looks like everyone went with stealth

Alright second question, with all the tanks we have, the biggest expense is electricity. With that said, will you go with a higher wattage heater such as 250/300 watt or something smaller 100/150 watt. The tanks i have mainly are 40/50/75s. What u guys think?

This is the same one that I use for my tanks. Works great

i have a bunch of different heaters. Most happy with the Rena 300W.

40-50 gallon tanks - I would say 150W heater is good
75 tanks - 200W.

Having individual filter and heater for each tank is going to cost you high electrical bills. A central pump with heater in it will reduce the bill significantly. But that will come with the chances of wide spread illness if one of your fish has it. I never had it set up... just imagination.

Thanks Nam, i think ill settle for the 200w then. As for the central sump, i had done it before but i had a pump that shot water up like 15 feets (no joke), so i was too scare to turn that thing on when im not around. Also the damn thing sounds like a waterfall lol. When i moved in for the future, i guess i ll just have to run a different heat line and heat the tanks instead of individual heaters. Anyone had any good plans?

if all the tanks are in the same room, you might want to consider ditching the heaters and installing a room heater with thermostat and heat the whole room. This may be cheaper. You could keep the heaters in and dial them down to say 74 and heat the room to 80 or something, then if heat ever fails, you have a back up, and heaters will stay off unless temp in room drops. This may be a cheaper option rather than running a bunch of heaters. I am debating weather or not to try this or not myself.

You should also seal the lids of the tanks. Tape it all around the lids. if you use canister filters, that's an easy thing to do. By sealing the top of the tank, the heat and moisture are well captured in the tank.

Yea i thought about it like that. At one point, i was thinking about putting up like an sunroom extension to the house with acrylic sidings like one of my neighbors and then just run a heat line sepeartely for that room. Anyone know what expenses like that will cost (running another heat line seperate from the house). The other thing is i found out that the sunroom was not legal that my neighbor put up so i have to take that chance if i want to put one up too.

http://www.air-n-water.com/product/LFK484.html

something like that would work well, I have one in a bedroom downstairs and it works pretty well. Know there are other options also. One of those oil filled heaters would work well too.

how about Electric Water Heater, my LFS use that system for their fish. I don't know how many tanks do you have, you can use a small one for all your tank.

Yea but i run each tank seperately so cant afford to get one for each tank

I did place an order for 8 x 150 watt visitherm, so i ll let you guys if they will be my favorite heaters down the road

i use stealths on all of my tanks too. Have not failed me yet.

http://cichlid.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=2183

Thanks Joe, interesting discussion

yeah, I'm kind of facing this same dilemma Ken. Unfortunatly we share the same climate. Damn those californians I say!!! DAMN THEM ALL

hah, i hear you. Can only imagine an all year round outdoor pond

arent michigan even worst than ny ?

hey kent, i use rena heaters and they work ok...they do big damage to the electric bill tho. Does anyone know any electric saving heaters?