Heaters.

[Balz3352]

I also should probably say I too have a eheim Jager that has been running solid for 2 years. With apex jr to help control it

 

[zombie]

Ehiem jager 4 years, cheap and reliable. Colbalt neotherm 3 years, expensive, reliable, no glass to break (not that my ehiems ever have broken) and easy to set, nice current temp readout. I won two neotherms at reefstock and they have been great. I would never pay that much for a heater though since the ehiem jagers work so well for half the price.

I have heard really good things about the neotherms as well. One thing to be careful about though is that when these released, there were quite a few posts on Neptune forums and Reef Central about them exploding when used with a standalone controller as the primary control (ranco, apex, profilux, RK, etc.) but didnt seem to have that issue when they did the controlling themselves. They may have fixed this problem since I haven't seen posts about it for a while, but something to look into if you go the neotherm route.

 

[Walter White]

One thing i noticed about the Finnex i had was that after seveal months the cord seemed to start breaking down. The platic coating on the cord started to get soft and i could actually run a paper towl across it and the coating would rub off black. I also started to see little tiny surface cracks in the plastic. I dont think thats why it failed but just my experience. When mine failed it just stopped turning on. Obviously all brands can have failures and i am in no way saying Finnex is faulty just stating my experince im sure there are some Ehiem horror stories out there as well.

 

[zombie]

One thing i noticed about the Finnex i had was that after seveal months the cord seemed to start breaking down. The platic coating on the cord started to get soft and i could actually run a paper towl across it and the coating would rub off black. I also started to see little tiny surface cracks in the plastic. I dont think thats why it failed but just my experience. When mine failed it just stopped turning on. Obviously all brands can have failures and i am in no way saying Finnex is faulty just stating my experince im sure there are some Ehiem horror stories out there as well.

Was that the part of the cord that was submerged, just above the waterline, or the whole thing?

 

[Balz3352]

Which finnex delux or hmo or what do you remember

 

[Walter White]

Was that the part of the cord that was submerged, just above the waterline, or the whole thing?

Just the part that was submerged. May have just been the exterior coating of the cord as i never saw any issues with the under layers of plastic/rubber.

Which finnex delux or hmo or what do you remember

Finnex deluxe 500w

 

[zombie]

Just the part that was submerged. May have just been the exterior coating of the cord as i never saw any issues with the under layers of plastic/rubber.



Finnex deluxe 500w

Could go either way, but definitely something to look out for. Now that my finnex has been running for two years, I should probably check my insulation to be proactive and make sure I don't observe the same behavior. The black rubbing off more than likely wouldn't cause problems until at least 50% of the insulation rubbed off, but if the cord gets brittle and cracks, that can become a huge issue very quickly.