I like your thinking LSM :idea:

Experimenting in my fishroom I could raise and sustain my tank temp 5*F simply by using a submersible pump.
In that case I was trying to remove heat inputs from a coldwater system (200 gallons) and tested inline vs submersible return pumps.

The key for most tropical systems would be turning off the pump when the temp rose during the day due to lighting heat inputs and (as suggested) running the pump on a thermostat would solve that. It's not such a far out idea actually (and shouldn't be knocked) but it does require thinking, which is always more difficult than just going out and buying... something.

I have a box of faulty heaters in my garage (collected from clients tanks) and, unfortunately, all the brands seem to be represented. I personally use Ebo Jaegers as they are an established brand and seem to be well made (ala Volvo) but even one or two of them are in "the box".

Please check out my used heater FS post in the buy and sell section :wink:

Thanks for all the replys. I think I am going to go with 3-4 lower wattage Stealth heaters. I have had good luck with them so far, knock on wood.

I like the pump idea I just don't have the room or the extra pump at this time, but I may look at this idea down the road for my new system.

I have an $8 walmart heater, works like a charm...:biggrin:

One of those cooked one of my tanks back in 96...I'll never forget that! The smell of a dead Tiger Cowrie in 98 degree water is tough to get rid of. Not to mention the rest of the livestock. Amazingly enough a single Coral Banded Shrimp was the only inhabitant to make it through the episode.

Rena heaters have never failed me. Been using them for about 4 or 5 years now. Having said that, I am tempted to switch to the titaniums when my Renas do finally go. Now that I think about it, I suppose the prudent thing to do would be to switch them out before that happens. Five years is getting on. But I digress. Maybe in the Fall.

Cheers,

I use old heaters for heating waterchange water. ;)

Had the same thing happen to me. A cheap 10 gal system from Wal Mart I was using for a QT. Came home from work to find the temp at 97 and my new fish nicely poached. Threw the whole works in the garbage!

this is a really simple heating solution I came up with for my tank...
I just have 2 50 watt heaters in my sump that are running on timers opposite from the halide lighting.
There is a visitherm 250W heater in the tank itself and it's on full time.
So the lights click off and the heat turns down at my house for the evening and the 2 50 watt heaters in my 20 gallon sump pop on and BAM......80.5 to 81 degress all day since I set this up 2 weeks ago.

things may change in the summer though, but just thought I'd share my cheap and easy heating method...

Ebo Jaeger is definitely the cream of the crop. I've used and have Jaeger heaters that very old but still reliable, plus the glass is very strong. I also like the Pro-heat Titanium heaters for use with big fish that have a tendency to aquascape and move large rocks around. A friend of mine, buried his titaniium in the substrate of his planted FW tank and had great results with his plants, plus the heater was hidden. Not sure if I would do this, but if it works...