Are titanium heaters all hype?

[green behind the ears]

Another bonus to titanium is it grounds your tank for you .

 

[attiland]

In almost 40 years I had only glass heaters. I have broke maybe 2 - always outside of the tank and I had one failed in the on position and this is the reason I ended up building a reef.
While I think heaters can be a risk I also think you can put an emergency stop mechanism or alert electronics on any of them for literally pennies.

 

[Waynerock]

Couple Tru Temp’s and the WiFi inkbird is a great combo for me. I get instant alerts if anything it too hot or too cold and you can set the max time the heaters will run so they never get stuck on. Great way to spend 30.00.

 

[MichaelReefer]

I'm at the point I need to replace my heaters and I instinctively started looking at titanium ones. After all BRS suggests them, there's a lot blogs about them, but then looking at it I'm struggling to see the real value. I understand that they're more durable, but I've never had a glass heater explode, especially ones that live in my sump full time. I've been using my Jagers for nearly 3 years now with a temp controller no problem.

In fact there are some clear disadvantages that I see with titanium heaters. Namely being you lose that internal temp backup. As it stands now I have my controller set at 78 and my Jagers set at 80. If for some reason my temp controller gets stuck on, my Jagers will turn themselves off when they hit 80. That's not an option with titanium. Additionally there's no status light on the titanium ones. Yes I know my temp controller will tell me that power is on to the heaters, but I like seeing that warm amber glow of the status light on the Jager to assure me all is well. With a titanium option if there was a short in the power cable or something died internally I'd never know the heater stopped working unless I physically touched it.

The gear junkie in me wants to order a new shiny set titanium heaters, but I just can't justify literally double the price. Any feedback is welcome.

My Titanium Finnex heater is going on two years, no problems and it has a max temp where it cuts power to the heater if my tank gets over 82. My apex also has a temp control that cuts power if the water gets over 82 as a fail safe.

 

[nim6us]

Just wanted to cap an end to this thread. I still don't believe heaters last forever, not even titanium ones. The cost vs the benefit I decided to stick with Eheims with a temp controller and replace every 3 years.

However Eheim has a new model, I don't know if I missed it or why no ones talking about it but it's called Thermocontrol E. They're pretty much the same length as the Truetemps, but there's two NICE bonuses. This model can sense when it's out of water and will turn off. Additionally it has a status light that's on constantly to let you know it's running, it changes color from red to green to indicate when it's heating or idle. And a small cosmetic change, instead of the standard blue and red end cap, it's now black and red.

We all have different styles of reefing so there's no "right choice". I wanted to follow up to include the changes in the new Thermocontrol E in case there were others who also missed the memo.

 

[nim6us]

While I don't like raising the dead, I am a fan of adding history and context. Ironically I was Googling "how long should titanium heaters last" and I found my own post.

To build off my previous message in 2021. I did end up buying two of the new Eheim Thermocontrol E glass heaters and I had them both die on me in less than a years time! Eheim support is non-existent. I tried emailing or finding a number to call and never got a reply or response from anyone.

I ended up buying two 250w titanium heaters in Sept 2022. They are labeled as D-D, but I believe D-D are just the company in the UK that gets the from Schego. There's some discussion that the ones with grey tops are from somewhere else than the ones with purple tops, mine had purple tops.

Either way; less than 2 years in and one has died on me. To be fair I'm not sure when it died. Like in my very original post on this thread my concerns about not knowing when it died were well founded. The single 250w was able to keep up and heat the tank well enough. It was only this past weekend when I was doing something in the sump and had to move the heaters I noticed one was cold and the other was hot.

I don't know what the lesson is here, if I'm just unlucky, or if it's that few things these days are really built to last. I've reached out to D-D for a warranty claim so we'll see how that goes. Though I definitely am moving aquarium heaters into my list of most hated devices.. right next to printers.

 

[McPuff]

I have had a LOT of glass heaters fail and went through a string of warranty replacements. Like every 3 months replacing. I had a glass EBJ explode in my QT tank but everything survived. I switched to titanium for my DT about 5 years ago and figured I was good to go. Not exactly true. I probably replace one of my titanium heaters (of 2) each year so the cost isn't really any less. BUT they have been more reliable than glass for sure. And you don't have to worry about breaking/shattering them. Still, the cost of replacement and operation is too high for the logical mind so I'm planning to switch to a hot water loop instead.

Since you brought up this older thread I had a chance to read my own post and now reflect on it. I have NOT gone to a hot water loop as the cost has been prohibitive for the parts. Since writing the last post the heaters have been fantastic (as if they are challenging me) and I can't remember the last time I needed to replace one of them. I do have a brand new 800W sitting in a box just in case. Finnex has been my brand so far.

 

[C_AWOL]

While I don't like raising the dead, I am a fan of adding history and context. Ironically I was Googling "how long should titanium heaters last" and I found my own post.

To build off my previous message in 2021. I did end up buying two of the new Eheim Thermocontrol E glass heaters and I had them both die on me in less than a years time! Eheim support is non-existent. I tried emailing or finding a number to call and never got a reply or response from anyone.

I ended up buying two 250w titanium heaters in Sept 2022. They are labeled as D-D, but I believe D-D are just the company in the UK that gets the from Schego. There's some discussion that the ones with grey tops are from somewhere else than the ones with purple tops, mine had purple tops.

Either way; less than 2 years in and one has died on me. To be fair I'm not sure when it died. Like in my very original post on this thread my concerns about not knowing when it died were well founded. The single 250w was able to keep up and heat the tank well enough. It was only this past weekend when I was doing something in the sump and had to move the heaters I noticed one was cold and the other was hot.

I don't know what the lesson is here, if I'm just unlucky, or if it's that few things these days are really built to last. I've reached out to D-D for a warranty claim so we'll see how that goes. Though I definitely am moving aquarium heaters into my list of most hated devices.. right next to printers.

This is generally why I replace my heaters (regardless of brand) annually. That said recipients of my old eheims jaegers (regular variety) still use them 3+ years later

 

[GARRIGA]

Considering titanium but best practice is find the least wattage to get to 78 at daily lowest should thermostat stay stuck.

As for Eheim Jager, haven't seen any outside this thread report glass breakage and guessing that's now a concern but without particulars hard to understand. Have heard of others running them 15 plus years.

 

[KC2020]

40 years of using EBO Jaeger heaters, the company that Eheim bought and rebranded. I have 12 year old heaters that work just fine. Some older just not using them because I've moved to smaller tanks.

I've had an Apex ready to alert me and shut each heater off if goes over 80F or under 77F but that's never happened.