The Tronic brand of heaters:
Hagen makes some very good aquarium products, and the Tronic line of heaters are one of them. They are well designed, reliable and the company gives excellent customer service. Their Hagen AquaClear Power Head 201 and its larger cousins, are one of my favorite line of powerheads.

But back to the heaters. Hagen makes 4 different power levels of these heaters:

7" for the 50 Watt model
10.5" for 100 Watt model
and 12.5" for 150 and 200 Watt models

The rule of thumb for aquarium heaters is 3-5 Watts per gallon of water, so the 50 Watt model is good for up to 10-15 gallons, the 200 Watt is good for up to 40-65 gallons.

Heater Construction:
These heaters are well constructed and completely waterproof. The temperature dial is built onto the end of the glass tube. Inside is the ceramic heating element, a temperature sensor, some electronics and a red light that indicates when the heater is on.

There are a couple of downsides to these heaters. First, the enclosure is glass which is easy to break in aquariums, especially with large corals or live rock in the tank that can get knocked over into the heater.

Second, they can get extremely hot when heating the water. While your tank may be 74 degrees and the heater is set to keep the tank 77, that means the heater is a GREAT DEAL hotter than 77 as it tries to raise the water temperature.

My Experience:
I have used 3 Tronic heaters, a 50W, a 100W and a 150W. I broke the 50W during my first move, but it operated flawlessly for 2 years. The 100W worked great for 4 years, but recently got stuck in the "on" position and heated my QT tank to 86 degrees (9 degrees higher than the 77 the dial was set at) and would have kept going it I hadn't noticed it. The 150W is still in the sump in my main tank and has been used for 4 years with no problems. But it is now on plugged into a Ranco Temperature controller to prevent it from sticking on.

These heaters are much better than several other heaters I quickly replaced in my first year in the hobby. They are calibrated to 70 degrees in the factory and I found them to be within 1-2 degrees of the actual tank temperature. The adjustment knob is very easy to read and use and you can generally set it to within 1-2 degrees of what you want.

My only real complaint, other than one sticking "on", is that the suction cups are not the best solution to hold it in place, they eventually get hard and old with use and detach from the surface they are clinging to.

While I have not used them, there are special heater guards also made from Hagen that can help prevent damage from objects hitting the heater and to prevent burns on your fish.

These heaters seem to be very good about maintaining the temperature you set on the dial, no wild fluctuations above or below the set point. If you set it at 77, your temperature will stay at 76-78. This is MUCH better than several other heater brands I used in the past.

Heater Discussion and Safety:
Aquarium heaters are one of the most delicate and hotly debated topics in the trade. A heater failure can have many consequences, typically the death of your aquarium inhabitants, and if you aren't careful, YOU!

The very first thing you should do if you are going to use a heater, especially a glass heater, is to be sure it is plugged into a GFCI outlet. That way if the heater ever shorts out, it immediately trips the GFCI and your tank, and you, will not get shocked.

Next, you should have multiple smaller heaters to heat your tank, instead of one big one. This allows you some margin of error in the case of a heater failure. For example, lets say you have a 75 gallon tank with a sump containing 15 gallons of water. You could just buy 2 200W heaters and be done with it.

However, it is much better to have 3 150W or 4 100W heaters. Why? Because if one of them fails, you still have enough heating capacity to keep your tank temperature stable. Also, if a smaller heater gets stuck on, it takes much longer for it to heat up the water to the point it would kill any of your tank inhabitants. In fact, the heaters might actually crack and trip your GFCI before they fatally cook your fish.

Where do I put all these heaters you might be asking yourself? It is best to place them in a sump or an area sectioned off from your main tank, because they will get very hot and if a fish touches them, they can get burnt! This is ESPECIALLY true of baby fish that have just recently hatched. They are not very mobile and can get burned to death before they have a chance to swim away. Combined with the fact they will be attracted to the red light from the heater when it is on, this is a BAD thing for baby fish tanks and should not be used.

It is also best to place them away from any large objects, such as live rock, that could fall onto them and break them. Also keep in mind they will overheat and break if turned on and left out of the water, they are designed to be used fully submerged only!

Summary:
A very good quality heater that has lasted me 4 years before sticking on. My final recommendation is to plug these heaters into a temperature controller to avoid this problem from happening.

I would recommend a good quality titanium heater, but I personally have not used one yet, so I can't recommend a brand. In the meantime this is an acceptable heater, if it is used with the above suggested precautions.

My Other Aquarium Related Reviews:

Testing Equipment:
Salifert pH test kit
Salifert KH/Alkalinity Test Kit
Salifert Calcium Test Kit
Salifert Magnesium Test Kit
Salifert Phosphate Test Kit

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals FasTesT pH Test Kit
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals FasTesT Ammonia-Nitrogen Test Kit
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals FasTesT Nitrite-Nitrogen Test Kit
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals FasTesT Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH Test Kit also called the Multi-Master Test Kit now.
Aquarium Pharmaceuticals FasTesT Nitrate-Nitrogen Test Kit

Aquarium Systems SeaTesT Hydrometer

Pumps:
Hagen AquaClear Power Head 201
MAG-DRIVE PUMPS
Rena Air Aquarium Air Pumps

Skimmers:
CPR Aquatic Cyclone Bak-Pak 2R
Aquarium Systems SeaClone Protein Skimmer SCPS-100

Aquarium Supply Stores:
Marine Depot Aquarium Supplies
Drs. Foster & Smith Online Store

Aquariums:
All-Glass Standard Size Aquariums
All-Glass Large Size Aquariums

My Aquarium Advice:
The top 10 things you NEED to start a saltwater aquarium



Recommended: Yes