ViaAqua 300-Watt Quartz Glass Submersible Heater With Built-In Thermostat

3 reviews for ViaAqua 300-Watt Quartz Glass Submersible Heater With Built-In Thermostat

1. 

   Rated 4 out of 5

   kenny – February 20, 2013

   This heater is every thing it’s suppose to be.I have the heater for two weeks for my freshwater aquarium of angelfish and discus.The temperature marking on the side of the heater is accurate. You just need to let the heater stabilize which takes about a few hours depending on how much you want the temp to raise. I noticed that It heated up the water slowly maybe because it’s made to not to shock the fishes. I raised the temp from 84 to 86 degrees. It heated my tank at a rate of about .5 degrees every 30 mins. And I have my tank in a cold room. The heater holds my tank temperature of 86 degrees constantly with a +/- .5 degrees in a avg room temp of 61 degree in a 25 gallon tank. I use a digital cooking thermometer to measure the temp and I check it every couple of hours.The knob to adjust the temp is nice and big so it’s easy to turn making it easy to adjust the temp in small increments.(I had the Aquatop heater and the knob was thin which made it very hard to turn and adjust the temp.)This heater is rated for 68 -93 degrees and I had it at the 86 degrees marking so I assume it can reach 93 degrees. The Aquatop heater is rated the same but I had to set it above the 89 degree marking just to reach 86 degrees. So it probably won’t be able to get the water above 90 degrees. I had the same problem with the Aqueon Pro heater which is rated 68 – 88 degrees. I had it set for 86 degrees and the temp of my tank kept dropping from 86 to 84.5 degrees so I pulled out the heater when it dropped to 84.5 degrees. It’s important to have a heater that can reach temp in the 90’s for Ick, for certain meds and for treating your fishes w/o meds.The heater is about 15″ long from the top of the dial knob to the bottom of the heater with the glass tube about 12″ long.The only negative is the degree marking on the heater tube is hard to read.Pros – holds temp constantly- adjustment knob nice and big which makes it easy to turn- accurate degree marking (but ALWAYS use a separate thermometer to check temp)- can reach the temps it’s rated forCons – hard to read degree markingI had the Aquatop and Aqueon Pro and returned both of them. You can read my reviews on both of them.So far this heater is working great and I only paid $14 with shippingBut only time will tell if it lasts.**Revised review** 11/4/2013Well the heater just died on me today. The light would not go on then I turned up the temp. I tested to see if the heater was working yesterday and it was. Then today I saw the temp at 72 degrees when it should have been at 80. Tried to turn up the temp but no light. Took it out of the aquarium and the tube was cold. The heater has died.It worked well before it died. I rather it died than malfunction and overheat the aquarium. It only lasted from Feb to Nov., 9 months. 5 stars to 2 stars. 2 stars because it didn’t malfunction and over heat the aquarium otherwise 1 star. How could it only last for 9 months, I still have a static heater from 30 years ago that is still good strong.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Charles – October 28, 2013

   I needed a heater for a new 33 gallon long tank, looked around, $60 for a good 150 Watt heater at the LFS, I said no way, I can do better. I checked and found this, I got it for $12 (I had it for several months, I think the price went up a little since I bought it) and I have had zero problems with this. I have it in the tank, slightly angled (Even though the instructions say to keep it straight up and down) and she keeps the tank right at 80F. It is quite long, like 15 inches or something. I have had no ill affects having it angled though, no water inside of it or anything. The only thing I can even think of complaining about is that the number on it don’t necessarily match my thermometer. I mean my thermometer consistently reads 80F with 1 degree fluctuation, but I leave this heater set to 76F. I had an Ich out break once, I had it set to 80F, kept the water and a consistent 87F, Ich died, fish all survived and never had the Ich return. It kept it at 87F for 4 weeks straight with tiny fluctuations, spot on. I mean, that is no big deal if the numbers are a bit off, I think most of these heaters are like that and it probably depends on size of tank, 33 gallons is pretty small for this bad boy. Just find out what temp on the heater corresponds to what actual temperature you want, set it, make minor adjustments, once she is set, forget about it.I know some people complain it turns off before it should and this and that. All heaters will do this, they heat the water around there base where the heat element is, warm water rises and the thermostat is at the top of these units and it will turn off. Once the warm water distributes itself a bit it will turn on again. It gets your tank to the right temperature, but it has to turn off and on and get your tank to average the temperature you want and its pretty accurate, a few degrees +/- at most. Its like an oven, no oven you set to 350F ever stays at exactly 350, they constantly fluctuate about 20 degrees above and below the temp you set them too, but it averages 350F. Think of that next time you are making a cake! If this really concerns you, buy a powerhead and aim it at the heater or, buy a small heater, a size or 2 smaller then your tank size (A cheap one) and run it on full all the time with a second heater with a thermostat. The one on full will let the temperature drop so slowly, the second one with a thermostat will come on as soon as the temp drops less then a degree and stop as soon as its back up to temperature. I do this on some tanks, I use this method on a 30 gallon breeding tank and it stays constant at 77F, it never flinches.No product is perfect, this one works very well with the tiniest of flaws, probably isn’t much better on the market out there, and definitely not at this price point. I see the bad reviews for these and many seem like they could be a bit ignorant. I see reviews saying they have black ghost knife or loads of cichlids, large fish they claim to have for years (So they should be fully grown). Either your tank is overstocked or you need more then one of these. One reviewer says that it would keep his prized $600 Discus tank at 80F while set to 90F in a 70F room and he needed it at 90F. Asking a single 300 watt heater to heat a tank 20F that is big enough to house $600 worth of fully gorwn discus is impossible, 3 or more of these would be needed. 300 Watts is good for about a 50 gallon tank, it will heat it up to above 25F above whatever the room is at, above 50 gallons, it won’t be able to heat the tank as much above the room temperature, and this decreases fast. 65 gallon and up, thinking about a second heater. And so many people complaining about it malfunctioning. It says in the instructions to plug it into a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter plug, not a standard household plug or a power bar, a GFCI outlet and I bet most people didn’t do that. There just seems something off about many of the 1 star reviews, errors made by the user and not defective products.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   Dan – October 29, 2013

   It is getting cooler in Florida; now when it’s in the 60’s at night, my windows are open and my AC isn’t running.So, I have a 75 gallon salt tank that needed a heater – the water was in the 70’s and the fish were getting lazy. I purchased this 300W heater after reading the reviews warning against it, but for $15 I did it anyway. Once it arrived, I cleaned up my tank, installed the heater, I left it at it’s setting it arrived at which was 82, and left it to run for probably 7 hours. When I came back home, the tank was 83 degrees – okay, great. Out of caution, I checked it the next day and it’s at 84, and again – no problem, I can deal with the temp being a few degrees off.So I check it the next day, 84.5, and then the day after that it’s up to 86.5… I don’t have expensive fish, and what I do have are pretty versatile but 86.5 and climbing had me concerned so I turned the thing down to 78. A few days after that the tank has leveled off at 84.5, I will turn it down by 1 more bar and see what the end result is.Come on now – if I turn it on 90, I expect 88-92 degree water; I put it on 80 I expect 78-82. But to be on 78 and have 84.5 degree water after days with 60 degree air around the tank is kind of ridiculous. I will be monitoring my water temp daily as I don’t want to create hazardous conditions.I also have a 30 gallon freshwater tank – 50w heater in that one and once it’s on, I’ll check the water temp for a few days and after that – I forget about it and don’t need to worry about it. Do yourself a favor, spend a few more bucks and get something without temperature/thermostatic issues unless you want to worry about the temp daily.