Fluval E Heater 200W

Many people report seeing the Low Flow (LF) indicator and I had the same issue when positioned vertically (as per the instructions!).However if positioned horizontally or at a 45deg angle the water rises out of the heater guard and the heater operates flawlessly.Maintaining a constant temp (+/- 0.5deg) and a clear indication of the temp.The unit is fully submersible, so positioning horizontally is no problem.My only gripe would be that the makers need to amend the instructions to include the advice issued by Hagen (makers of the Fluval heater)Not sure if this link will get posted, but this is the advice from Hagen (makers of the heater) - it works!faq.hagencrm.com/details.asp?kbfaqid=27580&en

I have two of these one running as a back up one 7 months old one 3 month oldI noticed I was getting electrics shocks every time I cleaned the filters, it took a while to work out it’s the heaters disconnectedeverything electric shock happed as soon as put heater on like a tingle feelingSo I dried heater and lifted the top out of the water and it stopped as soon as I submerged the red lever it was starting to create electric flow so I tested 35 volts in water to earth whilst heater on livery dodgy both heaters the same removed now never againI hope you all look out for this as sooner or later this will get worse for someoneTo add I called Fluval and they don’t care there response was that it was user error that’s why it electrocuted my tankAvoid them with everything you canIt’s really bad two heater same faultWithin 4 months of useThey could not care less eitherIn the end Fluval accepted a full refundBut I did have to write to the Md of the holding company and threaten to start a website to specifically advertise the issueBut credit where credit is due they refunded I. The end

Read and listen to reviews.Had mine vertical for a month, occasional low flow, Lf, warning but pretty reliable, however, recently started dropping temp gradually even though turned much higher than needed. Turned off and on several times to try reset something. No joy, had to put additional spare heater in aquarium to keep temperature up. After looking to return item, read reviews and found similar issues. Angled heater to 45 degrees thereabouts, and temp raised quicker, stabilised, and so far no LF warning.After spending almost £40 for a heater, it’s not the reliable product I would expect from fluval, so thanks to previous purchasers for reviewing this item and informing other people such as myself of this simple fix to a potentially non faulty item.

Problems with this heater since week one. It’s now week six or seven and I’ve given up, it’s either faulty or has serious design flaws.1) it does not measure temperature accurately - from time to time it will display a temperature 1.5 degrees too high and flash red, then drop to “normal”, then another 1.5 degrees too low and flash blue. I know what the correct temperature should be as I have measured it repeatedly with two digital thermometers in and around the heater when it was behaving this way.2) The “low flow” indicator is nearly always flashing, despite moving it all around the tank and in various positions around the filter. From what I’ve read here and there, this is not an uncommon problem. The heating element and flow indicator apparently are at the bottom of the unit, which means you need flow around the bottom - but most filters are mounted at the top of the tank. Apparently positioning an air stone directly below the heater will stop this problem, but in a tank using CO2 injection, running an air stone whilst infusing CO2 is not an option. Some have said putting this heater horizontally solves the problem but that’s not really practical in some heavily planted tanks.3) it is VERY big and obtrusive in the tank. I bought the 100w version for my 87 litre tank and it was really ugly.4) there is no indicator or light to know when the heater is on or off - if you turn off the lights in your tank and look closely between the slots at the bottom, you can catch an orange glow to see if the element is on. A real pain.5) it takes longer to heat than the previous and most current heaters I had - I suspect the completely unnecessary plastic slotted “guard” around the unit is to blame to this, and also contributes to the “low flow” issue.Fluval’s website claim “digital sensors and the intelligent VueTech® alert system, Fluval E series are among the most sophisticated aquarium heaters available today.” They say there are microprocessors and all sorts of other stuff built into these things. Look, I don’t need the mechanics of a computer in my fish tank, heaters don’t need to be over-engineered to the degree this company claims the E series is. You need a good element, a good thermostat, and reliability. Heaters don’t need to be “VueTech intelligent”, they just need to know when to turn on or off and measure the temperature!The manufacturer (Fluval) is not of any help either - managed to exchange three emails with them and it took six weeks. They (Fluval, not the seller) dodged the question to if this heater is “smart” enough to switch off should the thermostat break and it would risk overheating the tank. They won’t honour the warranty either, passing the buck back to Amazon saying, and I quote directly from their customer “service” that “Amazon has your money”. Luckily Amazon came to the rescue and accepted my return of this faulty, design flawed, not-fit for purpose heater after the return window closed and honoured Fluval’s warranty.I know that most of the reviews here are five stars but I can only go by my very recent experience with this heater and manufacturer for the first time (I’ve kept aquariums and used several brands over 20 years).

This heater does exactly what it should, no problems whatsoever. Straight out of he box into the tank, it is near my return feed from my external filter so no problem with low flow, although l did turn off my filter to see it show LF which it did, the tank was empty of fish and the water was a lower temperature than the heater was set, it just warmed up the water until it reached the required temperature. I would definitely recommend this heater excellent piece if equipment, quick delivery, temperature doesn't fluctuate much between day and night, we do not leave our central heating on all night so the heater has to do its job, which it does. I didn't suffer any of the problems other reviews have pointed out. If l was to purchase another heater for another tank l would use one of these.