What is the BEST heater available!

[bassman]

Originally Posted by Myka

Where is the tank located? What is the warmest and the coolest temperature that room gets to? What temperature are you aiming for with your tank?

Personally, I have found that if you use multiple heaters of a lower wattage it is MUCH more reliable. If one heater gets stuck on (it happens more often than you would like to know!) then one heater alone isn't enough to cook your tank. If one fails, then there is still a backup or two that can keep the tank at least moderately warm. One heater is ok, two heaters is better, three heaters is best! Ever since I started this type of setup 6 or 8 years ago I haven't had an issue. Before I started using this method I had several heating mishaps.

Depending on the temperature of the room your tank is in, you're probably looking at about 450w total. If I were you I would use three 150w Ebo or Visitherm or other decent quality heater. I don't think the super expensive heaters are worth their price tag. I honestly don't think there's anything more reliable about them. They are superior for other reasons, but not reliability, IMO.

The main tank is in my kitchen, the sump is in the basement. It gets pretty cool in the basement and that is where the majority of the water is. The heater doesn't seem to be working overly hard. It waits for the temp to drop 1 degree before kicking in, which seems to be every 45mins to 1 hour.

I like the idea of running numerous lower wattage heaters. I didn't consider one sticking on, that would not be good. That, knock on wood, has never happened to me.

Maybe I will try that, thanks.