I wanted to get everyone's opinion as to what brand and type of heater should be used in an Oscar tank as well as how many watts per gallon.


I wasn't thinking and did a water change without turning off the heater. It cracked so now I have to buy a new one. This one was a little old anyway but it did what it was supposed to. I went to the petstore and there is so many to choose from and all different prices.

I heard Oscars can break/crack heaters.

What type of heater should I buy?

I've heard of the Marineland Visi-Therm Submersible heaters. Are those any good? Any suggestions?

Also how many watts per gallon. Or how many for an 80 gallon tank?

Thank you in advance!

ive had great success with eheim jager heaters. also the top fin submersible heaters from petsmart also work well(im still using 2 of these).

as for wattage i would use 2 150 watt heater in a 80 gallon tank. the reason for 2 is if one breakdown you still have a backup and 2 smaller heater will use less electricy than one big one.

I just bought a Rena Smart Heater 300.

www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752392

What do you think of this? Has anyone tried it, heard about it, or have one?

I just want to buy the right thing. I heard Oscars can break them.

So if I have to spend some money on one I would like it to be dependable.

It's pretty urgent b/c I broke mine yesterday. So the tank is a bit cold. I had to buy the reno, seemed like it would work. I can always return it.

i use them ....good choice they are ceramic and UNBREAKABLE you can also use them as an intake strainer for your filter as there is a hollow tube running through the heater for your intake tube and an anti clog bottom on the heater you can just plug your out tube for your filter straight in .....i have the 300w type but the heaters are great ,all black so they completely dissapear against my background and they have a bright red warning light and thermostat control i have only used them for a short time but that is time enough to say i would not use ANYTHING ELSE ......GOOD CHOICE:)

what would happen if an O broke a heater would they get fryed from the power?

i haven't used any heater in aquarium but i had used
them in some other way. most of the submersible heater
are thermostatically controlled. once broken, it wont
ground or toast the fishes. others have automatic shut
off once remove from water.

Thank you so much for your opinions. I put the RENA heater in my tank yesterday afternoon. It works great. I set it to 80 degrees, and put a few different thermometers in the tank so I could see how even the temperature was. All of the said 80 degrees!! Wow. Now I'm wondering should I get 2 little RENAS instead of the 300 watt one, because someone mentioned it uses less power. How much less, would it make a big difference? I live with my mother in law and husband so... she hasn't mentioned water or electric prices going up yet... haha

Don't worry, you're not alone, a lot of us have forgotten to turn off our heaters at some stage when doing a water change.

These are the heaters I use in my tanks

http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co.uk...w-heater-p-1988.html

having two or more small capacity give some advantages:
balance distribution of heat, and when one unit coink-out,
you still have spare working in your tank.