Equipment & Supplies • Heater controllers

[scottdeasy]

I keep reading horror stories about heaters and I have had my own tragic experience which caused me to give up the hobby in disgust...for a short time.
Maybe reading up at the end of the day when I am tired is a mistake, but can anyone explain heater controllers to me?
Are they worthwhile/effective?
Can they be used with different heater brands?
Any advice at all is welcome. Thanks in advance.

[PfunMo]

Heaters are a current and recurring nightmare for me. Just last week I had my latest failure. A 50 w heater in a ten gallon went full on and cooked 31 bristlenose overnight. BaH!
I had just put them in the ten because I was moving them out the next day or two.

Heater controllers are mostly pretty much alike. They have contcs or electronics to control the heat much as the heaters do. You plug one or more heaters into the controller and it regulates the temperature. Some people use them somewhat as a backup safety devise. Set the heater at 75 and the controller at 78 and if one fails the other should catch it. The controllers have the benefit of larger space outside the tank where water doesn't get in to mess with things as well as they are generally more expensive so can be made higher quality. Quite expensive and whether they are worth that much more is a personal choice. So far I have not gone that way.

I'm trying heaters in the $35-45 range with similar features but in a single unit, hoping it will work out good.

[Ron R.]

I posted this a while back on this forum................

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... a8285dc025