recommend a heater for a 45g tank

[mchief]

i'm looking at getting a new heater and i'm thinking about the jager 200w. any thoughts on this?

i also noticed that big al's has the 250w jager for $2.50 less than the 200w, should i go w/ that instead?

the other heaters i am considering are visi-therm and the via aqua titanium.

oh, i should mention that based on recommendations from AA i bought the maxi-jet 1200 and it rocks!! small, powerful and quiet. in fact, i'm buying a 2nd one!

[Fishboy-from-NY]

I would go with jagers since they have a better reputation than Visi Therms. Also, if you want to go for the 250W instead of the 200, go for it. You never know if you will decide to upgrade in size, then it can come in handy.

[phases99]

The VisiTherm is a great heater that never did me wrong. I just replaced my 15 yr old one with a 200w Pacific Coast Titanium. My tank is 46g. The Titanium has been stable so far and I like having the controller mounted on the wall for easy temp adjustment. I keep my heater in my Bakpak so I couldn't easily see when it was on. The titanium has the "on" light right on the controller. Ebo's are great too so you will be fine will either of them.

[Atari]

Visitherms are the only heaters I trust. 200w should be plenty for that tank.

[mchief]

thanks for all the input. well, i ended up going w/ the jager. i figured that i really couldn't go wrong with any of those brands so i just had to pick one.

[Bang Guy]

IMO a pair of 100 watt heaters will cost a lot more up front but save your reef when one fails.

[Fishboy-from-NY]

Yes, get 2 instead of one and Ego are now Ehieim company and all they make are the best.

[mchief]

yeah, i was thinking about going w/ 2 but the heater i'm replacing still works, i just wanted something a little better. i can always use the old one in an emergency. my water temp doesn't drop too much in the 9 hour periods (sleep/work) that i'm not around so if the new heater went down, i'd be able to get the old one up and running before the tank started to freeze.

[Bang Guy]

I was actually more concerned about what happens when one fails by sticking on.

[phases99]

Originally Posted by Bang Guy

I was actually more concerned about what happens when one fails by sticking on.

If one sticks in the "on" position, how is having 2 going to help? I'd be more concerned about having a temp drop. I usually put an extra heater on my tank if I go away during the winter months.

[mchief]

as i understand it, if one (we'll call it 1/2 power) heater sticks on, it won't raise the temp nearly as drastically as if one full power heater sticks on.

so in my case, a 100w heater sticking on won't fry my tank but a 200w one would.

[Bang Guy]

A 100 watt heater will have trouble overheating your tank. A 200 watt heater can overheat your tank in a matter of hours and you might not have time to notice & react. If you have two smaller heater there's very little chance of them both sticking on at the same time.

[phases99]

Got it. I wish I was using 2 smaller one's now.