Qn for cannister owners with Hydor ETH in-line heaters.

[bzbee]

Hi,
I just bought a Hydor ETH300 inline heater for my 75G and am about to buy my first cannister filter. I'd originally shortlisted the candidates, in order of preference (and coincidentally cost), to Eheim 2026 kit, Rena Filstar XP3 and Jebo 828. The Fluval 404 wasn't considered because of the ribbed hose which cannot mate with the heater. Flow-rate, noise and quality issues aside, I just realized that there are possible tubing diameter issues with using the in-line heater.

What are the outlet tubing diameters for the different brands of cannisters? The ETH300 has 5/8" fittings. It sounds like at least the Eheim and Jebo are 1/2" returns and would need some form of (expensive?) adapter in order for me to use the Hydor. I did a search and did not see this discussed previously. I would appreciate any advice from folks who have used the Hydor about what cannister filters would mate natively to the Hydor, or what tricks they played in getting them to mate. Thanks!

bzbee

 

[melonie]

You're right that some/most of the canister filters in the size range you're talking about have 1/2" inch hose fittings. The choice of hose size is mostly based on the required flow rate, so basically any canister filter whose flow rating is on the order of 200-350gph will use 1/2" inch hose.

You're also right that you can shop around and find 'hose barb' to threaded pipe connectors and threaded couplings to build 'proper' plumbing adapters to mate 1/2" and 5/8" hose, but that this will add up to an extra 10 bucks or so. Now I won't officially recommend this to anybody else, but when I need to mate hoses which are only 1/8" different in ID, I just silicone tape the smaller fitting to build up the diameter to match the larger ID hose, slide the hose over the tape, and then secure it with a hose clamp. After all, where canister filters are concerned we're talking about stopping leaks with water pressures of 2-3 psi, not the 30-60 psi applied to a garden hose by city water.

Also, while this probably isn't a big deal, the ETH300 heater module is probably expecting a flow rate of 400-500gph to carry away the 300 watts worth of heat it provides, which is the reason that it was provided with 5/8" hose connectors. I'm sure that the Hydor heating element won't be harmed by a flow rate which is significantly lower than it was designed to operate with. However, you may find a significant temperature difference between the water in the heater module and the water in your tank. Actually, if it were possible, you'd be better off in several ways by exchanging your ETH300 for an ETH200 with 1/2" hose fittings.

 

[bzbee]

Thanks for the response. Since nobody really seems to be using this combination, I think I'm better off returning the Hydor and getting two 250W Ebo-Jagers and some change back. I don't really want to risk doing anything outside of manufacturer specificatons, so I'll live with the wires

 

[melonie]

As I said before, because of the conductive PTC plastic heating element you're not going to damage the Hydor in-line heater whatever you do to it. Before doing anything 'expensive' I'd try a couple of tubing adapters and give the ETH300 a whirl. Actually, if you put these adapters close to your canister and use 5/8" hose for most of the longer tubing runs, it will improve the flow rate of the canister filter's pump a little -->

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