If you are considering the Sicce scuba contactless heater....

jeffyang

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I have just been battling with these heaters,they are designed to cycle on and off regardless of wether target temp has been reached, heater runs for 1 min 40 secs then turns off for several minutes before coming back on.Therefore a 300 watt heater could not raise temp in 80 gallons net to 78 degrees, room temp was 71. Nearly dropped my phone in the sump a dozen times trying to connect. Set temp to 82, still couldn't raise temp past 75 over several days.
Sicce have been outstanding trying to resolve the issue and sent me new heaters but there seems to be a design flaw here.
Installed 15 year old hydro theo I had laying around and tank was at temp within 2 hours
My 300w did the same on and off thing. It just couldn’t raise the temperature to 78 F.
 

Zerodameaon

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I have just been battling with these heaters,they are designed to cycle on and off regardless of wether target temp has been reached, heater runs for 1 min 40 secs then turns off for several minutes before coming back on.Therefore a 300 watt heater could not raise temp in 80 gallons net to 78 degrees, room temp was 71. Nearly dropped my phone in the sump a dozen times trying to connect. Set temp to 82, still couldn't raise temp past 75 over several days.
Sicce have been outstanding trying to resolve the issue and sent me new heaters but there seems to be a design flaw here.
Installed 15 year old hydro theo I had laying around and tank was at temp within 2 hours
So I currently have two 200 Watts and both did the same thing. One was the original one I bought and then one is the replacement they sent me. After the second one did the exact same thing they said okay we're going to send you a 250 watt for your 50 gallon tank. That one seems to be able to handle the size of the tank however that also means that if something should run away I don't have nearly as much time to catch it. I will be adding an inkbird but I shouldn't have to with these things. Now I don't really have any tanks for those two smaller ones and they don't seem to want them back.
 

braaap

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So I currently have two 200 Watts and both did the same thing. One was the original one I bought and then one is the replacement they sent me. After the second one did the exact same thing they said okay we're going to send you a 250 watt for your 50 gallon tank. That one seems to be able to handle the size of the tank however that also means that if something should run away I don't have nearly as much time to catch it. I will be adding an inkbird but I shouldn't have to with these things. Now I don't really have any tanks for those two smaller ones and they don't seem to want them back.

These heaters won't run away and nuke your tank. They clearly are undersized anyways. They can't heat tanks it seems.
 

rennjidk

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I like Sicce. I like them a lot. I think they make really good quality products. I never get posts like these on R2R. Do aquarium companies really inspire this level of dedication and loyalty, on par with Apple and their fanboys? Anytime I see posts like this, it automatically turns me off to a product.
 

Zerodameaon

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These heaters won't run away and nuke your tank. They clearly are undersized anyways. They can't heat tanks it seems.
Yeah you have a point. I should toss it in my RO container and see what temp it can get 40 gallons to. I should also see how many watts they pull. I wonder if eco mode is just stuck on.
 

shrimpnreefdude

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I purchased the 300W version via BRS on their Black Friday deal. Decent price for a 300W heater, supposedly really tough glass and internal components, and 5 year warranty. So technically, still worth it in my eyes.

I initially got this for a new setup of an IM 50 AIO Lagoon. First off, the 300W is really long and would not fit vertically in my 2nd chamber. Oversight on my part, not properly measuring the height of the chamber. Measured the height of the whole AIO. I know...foolish. Ended up having to use the space underneath each of the 2nd chambers and hanging horizontal at the bottom of the middle chamber. Thankfully, there was enough clearance between the heater and return pump. I tried it for nearly 2 weeks.

All joking aside I am really curious why the OP has a high opinion of the heater. I looked at one a few weeks ago and ultimately decided the app connectivity for a heater is not necessary, and apparently you have to get your phone incredibly close to the heater for the connection to even work.
App is not necessary. It would not connect after having it in the tank's rear chamber. I set it the first time, and that was that. Not sure why I would want to have to scan my phone to it to check the temp.
I have just been battling with these heaters,they are designed to cycle on and off regardless of wether target temp has been reached, heater runs for 1 min 40 secs then turns off for several minutes before coming back on.Therefore a 300 watt heater could not raise temp in 80 gallons net to 78 degrees, room temp was 71. Nearly dropped my phone in the sump a dozen times trying to connect. Set temp to 82, still couldn't raise temp past 75 over several days.
Sicce have been outstanding trying to resolve the issue and sent me new heaters but there seems to be a design flaw here.
Installed 15 year old hydro theo I had laying around and tank was at temp within 2 hours
I monitored the heater for the first 24 hrs. From ambient room temp of 68, it took well into the following afternoon to get near 75. Heater was set to 78 initially. After that, I raised the temp to 81...and I was able to get to 77.

Seems like I will be contacting Sicce.
i wish ppl would make heaters smaller to fit in better places it sucks for the bigger heaters there so long
I completely agree! I will have to go with two smaller heaters in one of my chambers to accomplish redundancy and to ensure they stay submerged.
My 300w did the same on and off thing. It just couldn’t raise the temperature to 78 F.
Same here!
 

Yang’s Blue Paradise

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I purchased the 300W version via BRS on their Black Friday deal. Decent price for a 300W heater, supposedly really tough glass and internal components, and 5 year warranty. So technically, still worth it in my eyes.

I initially got this for a new setup of an IM 50 AIO Lagoon. First off, the 300W is really long and would not fit vertically in my 2nd chamber. Oversight on my part, not properly measuring the height of the chamber. Measured the height of the whole AIO. I know...foolish. Ended up having to use the space underneath each of the 2nd chambers and hanging horizontal at the bottom of the middle chamber. Thankfully, there was enough clearance between the heater and return pump. I tried it for nearly 2 weeks.


App is not necessary. It would not connect after having it in the tank's rear chamber. I set it the first time, and that was that. Not sure why I would want to have to scan my phone to it to check the temp.

I monitored the heater for the first 24 hrs. From ambient room temp of 68, it took well into the following afternoon to get near 75. Heater was set to 78 initially. After that, I raised the temp to 81...and I was able to get to 77.

Seems like I will be contacting Sicce.

I completely agree! I will have to go with two smaller heaters in one of my chambers to accomplish redundancy and to ensure they stay submerged.

Same here!

It seems like I have similar issues with this heater as well. I'm setting up a 50-gallon waterbox. At first, I got 200w due to Sicce's recommendation. It could not get over 74C and I ran to my local fish store to get 250w hoping it was just undersize. Now I'm struggling to get it 76C. Seems like I wasted my money. now I have two heaters that's useless...
 

Mikeltee

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It seems like I have similar issues with this heater as well. I'm setting up a 50-gallon waterbox. At first, I got 200w due to Sicce's recommendation. It could not get over 74C and I ran to my local fish store to get 250w hoping it was just undersize. Now I'm struggling to get it 76C. Seems like I wasted my money. now I have two heaters that's useless...
76 is fine. Run both of them that way you have a little redundancy.
 

Yang’s Blue Paradise

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76 is fine. Run both of them that way you have a little redundancy.
wouldn't running both of them be too much power? I could try since I have nothing in the tank yet. Also I first tried to set the 200w in a bucket that is 5 gallon I understand is way too small, but I set the temp to 78 and it went well over 83 and kept going. So I don't even think is safe. Currently, I'm trying the 200w with a 75w jager. That seems to work alright.
 

VintageReefer

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wouldn't running both of them be too much power? I could try since I have nothing in the tank yet. Also I first tried to set the 200w in a bucket that is 5 gallon I understand is way too small, but I set the temp to 78 and it went well over 83 and kept going. So I don't even think is safe. Currently, I'm trying the 200w with a 75w jager. That seems to work alright.
Once the water goes over the set point the heater should turn off. This heater does not sound reliable. I suggest getting external controller

Inkbird and Finnex makes them
 

Yang’s Blue Paradise

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Once the water goes over the set point the heater should turn off. This heater does not sound reliable. I suggest getting external controller

Inkbird and Finnex makes them
yeah, I agree from what I read and experienced this heater is a piece of crap. Will be contacting their customer support to sort this out.
 

Zerodameaon

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So it doesn't seem like the heater is actually just stuck on forever trying to hit your set point, its like it gets to a set point much lower than what you set and works to maintain that. The temperature offset also doesn't seem to work.
 

joroscoe

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I purchased two 300 watt heaters to heat a 125 Aqueon glass tank with lids for freshwater discus. It's about 70 degrees in the room and I want to heat the tank to approximately 85-86. The heaters are installed behind an Aquadecor background next to two FX6 intakes. I have tested and there is very little temperature gradient in the tank. The two heaters were plugged into an Inkbird. I experienced issues including that the 300 watt heaters could not get the tank up to temp. I contacted Sicce who replaced the heaters with 400 watt versions. Initially, the 400 watt heaters could get the temperature up to 86, but recently my Inkbird is showing 84.7 for days. The heaters are set to 87.0 and the Inkbird is set to 85.5 low and 86.0 high.

Some friends report that their 300 watt heaters have no problem achieving higher temps with similar use cases. These Sicce heaters have an energy saving mode that is turned off by default. I have not enabled the energy saving mode but am suspicious based on my personal experience here that it may be activating. I decided to buy a kill-a-watt that is being delivered tomorrow. I will report my results here.

Primarily I like the 5 year warranty on this heater and the cost.
 

Knightadder

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My contactless is being problematic. I have it set to 80 and it gets my tank to 75. I used the offset feature which only allows a +-3° change and it still only heats to 75°. Definitely not undersized as it's a 200 watt heater in a 50 gallon tank. It's not running all the time so it's like it won't actually apply the changes I have set and read back.
Got the same problem
 

corcorecorey

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My contactless is being problematic. I have it set to 80 and it gets my tank to 75. I used the offset feature which only allows a +-3° change and it still only heats to 75°. Definitely not undersized as it's a 200 watt heater in a 50 gallon tank. It's not running all the time so it's like it won't actually apply the changes I have set and read back.
I have the opposite problem! Mine was set to 80, originally...checked the tank water 12 hours later, and it was 87 degrees! This heater isn't really cycling on and off, and I don't know if it's something I'm doing, or what. I did get a 200W for a 37 gallon heater. Could that be my problem? I set the temp to like 75 degrees, so we'll see how that works.
 

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