Fluval E Electronic Heater

Love the features...absolutely love the fact it has an integrated heater guard....seems well made...love the integrated temp display (BTW mine is showing an accurate temp reading)...love the ease in accurately modifying temp.

Longer version: Anyone who is serious about tropical/saltwater healthy fishkeeping should take their water temperature very seriously (unfortunately, it seems few do). In my experience, there are few well-made, reliable heaters out there regardless of how much you are willing to pay (my kingdom for a decent/reliable heater I'd always say!).

I used Hagen/Tronics for years and found them to be the best money could buy...(and they were competitively priced, about 40 bucks for a 200W submersible). Another reason I liked the Tronics is that I have heater guards that fit them (another often overlooked concern in my opinion). Unfortunately, they quit making the Tronics and eventually my backups were gone. I have since been on a very frustrating journey... I've tried all kinds (including recently Marineland Stealth and Hydor....which I was told were some of the better ones out there...they sucked... 2 Stealths failed closed (overheated, thank goodness for my close monitoring)--The Hydor could not maintain temperature (wild temp swings)....everything else I looked at and read about seemed like more of the same chinese junk. Although I'd read about some reliability issues, I was about to pull the trigger on the very expensive JBJ True Temp Digital controlled heater....when someone suggested this one.

I will update this review once I've logged some hours...but I'm very optimistic about this model!

NOTE: Some seem to think this is not Submersible...though not documented clearly and implied otherwise, it IS FULLY SUBMERSIBLE (see my response to the previous post).

Update: 2 years later and both units are going strong...highest recommendation.

Have this heater now in my fish tank for about a year. The heater itself has a glass housing. The outer casing visible in the picture is plastic. That's great to avoid any fish getting burned by the heater. Target temperature adjustment is straight forward following the instructions. I strongly doubt that any fish could change the adjustment (done by the little red lever which, granted, is in the water as well) as I had read somebody else posting. I use the heater fully submerged.

One thing to be aware of is that the heater needs to be in "flowing" water when being mounted vertically. Otherwise the built in temperature sensor will get triggered and report an error (rising warm water will create and "overheat" condition which switches off the heater). I don't have much water flow in my fish tank so I decided to mount the heater horizontally an inch or two above the gravel. Works perfectly this way.

The best part of the heater is the color coded built in temperature display. As long as the water has a temperature within one or two Fahrenheit of the target temperature the display is green. If the water temperature rises the display becomes red (while of course also displaying the exact temperature as a number). If rising an additional few degrees the display blinks red. Similarly if the water temperature goes below the target range the display becomes blue. This way one can quickly check that the water has the right temperature.

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I recently upgraded my 55 gallon aquarium heater to the Fluval E Series 300w. It does an excellent job of maintaining temp and comes with a tough exterior cage (prevents disasters). I really enjoy the temp display screen, but some might find the bright light a problem at night (if you're looking for a dark room). I've bought several heaters over the years, from different brands, and this is by far my favorite.

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I've used at least 6 brands of heaters over the years, and this Fluval wins hands down.

1) nice looking

2) plastic sheathing guards the fish. They like to lay on it.

3) temp gauge is ACCURATE! The display says 77.5 and my $$$ insta-read BBQ thermometer says 77.5.

(the reason i say this is that oodles of cheap fish thermometers _vary_. Test it with a reliable thermometer.)

4) cheap on black friday.

5) not all that long. Usually the higher the wattage, the longer the thermostat. The 300 watt fits in my 23 inch wide 25 Gal just fine. I like to put mine horizontal. Its so nice looking you wont notice it.

6) heats QUICK. A 37 gallon cold tank was 77.5 the next morning.

7) temp display is not at all bright so its not going to light up the room at night.

8) thermometer measures the temp of the WATER, not the heater glass like most heaters. Its surprising to learn how temps vary in your tank. Temps at top vs temps at the bottom. And the glass skews things even more. Measuring by water temp fixes all of those variables as long as you have water flow.

I liked this heater so much, I ordered a second one from amazon at regular price the next day.

Haven't had any problems with low-flow. The manual states that the heater can be taken apart and cleaned if it ever needs it.

EDIT: Just ordered a 3rd. The price keeps going up! Still amazed the display says 77.5 and another therm says 77.5. Exact.

I see the other semi-favorable reviews. Not sure why my 2 tanks are so exact when others fluctuate. I do have the glass top and plastic guards cut snug to prevent heat loss / evaporation... maybe that's also a requirement ? Maybe you are using a cheap therm. from petsmart ? I have a mercury one and its are so far off, its crazy.

UPDATE: its been 1 year and now one isn't heating right anymore. Its on 79.5 but the tank is at 75. Unplugged it for a couple hours and it reset itsself a bit better. Im getting a new one just to be safe.

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I was looking for a more reliable heater than those I had over the years. The 5 year warranty and favorable reviews on the E300 seemed to fit the bill. The product has been very disappointing. I have a 180 gallon tank that has 2 canister filters; one filter has a 220watt in-line heater. I have always used a second heater to heat this tank, which is in a room that sometimes drops into the low 60's. The filter's heater in combination with a second 250-300watt heater has always done the job nicely. I have primarily used submersible titanium units. The last one lasted just over a year and then failed. That's when I decided to go with the E300. The product does have some nice features. The traditional glass tube is encased in a plastic slotted enclosure. That makes it safer especially with larger fish like my oscars. It also boasts sophisticated electronics with a very nice digital display window which shows current water temperature in large easier to see digits. The display glows green when temperature is within 2 degrees of the setting, blue when more than 2 degrees colder, and red if water temperature exceeds the heater's setting by more than 2 degrees. Now the negatives: The heater is not submersible and the manual calls for a 20-30 minute power off before removing or placing into service. That's not a big deal unless you do frequent water changes like I do. The heater requires placement in a current of water like the outflow of a filter. This apparently is required to dissipate the heat and allow the electronics to do their thing. If not so placed the digital display will constantly flash "LF" for low flow. Unlike conventional heaters, this one curiously does not have an indicator light to actually let you know when it is heating. That proved frustrating in trying to deal with the next point. The most disappointing aspect of the E300 is that it has proven to be a much weaker heater than any similar wattage one I have had before. As soon as I installed it, it became apparent that my secondary heater was working much harder than usual. The Fluval was in the blue mode so it should have been turning itself on. Without any indicator light, I had to wonder if it was working at all. I could only tell in complete darkness when I could see the glow from the actual heating element. To my surprise, it would glow for about 30 seconds and then go dark for over 2 minutes and then glow for 30 seconds again. This was while the water temperature was several degrees below the set temperature on the heater. I had to wonder if this was a malfunction. I called Hagen (Fluval parent company) customer service and was only told generic stuff: unplug and let it sit for 20 minutes then restart it, make be sure it's clean, etc. When that didn't help, I used their on-line help. They were very prompt in answering my emails but never addressed my question as to whether these 30 second bursts of 'on' with much more 'off' time in between was normal. They did offer to exchange my heater. I paid for shipping it to them and got a new heater within the same week. While without it, my other heater easily kept my water temperature at a steady 75 for several days. I put the new heater in, and set it for 78.5 and later 80.5. I didn't change anything else, basically asking the E300 to raise the temperature a few degrees. The best it can do is increase the temperature to 76-77 degrees, constantly showing it's blue display to confirm it is incapable of reaching it's setting. Doing my sitting in the dark observations, the 30 second pulses are identical to the first unit. I can only conclude that the 300 watts of claimed power are drastically restrained by fancy electronics that seem designed to give pulse heating. Any other similarly powered heater would stay on until much higher temperatures were reached. (I used to have discus in this tank and easily kept 84 degrees.)My next heater will likely be a titanium submersible.

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