- Hey, it's Thomas here,
and today we're gonna be checking out
Innovative Marine's new Helio PTC
or positive temperature coefficient heating system,
which takes a new, less risky approach
to heating our reef tanks, which is awesome,
plus they've got the smallest heating elements
that I've personally ever laid my eyes on.
Over the years, we've seen various styles
of heaters like simple mechanical thermostats,
built-in digital thermostats,
even preset or locked thermostats set
to a commonly used temperature that can't be adjusted,
the vast majority of which use some form of resistance wires
to generate heat and if the thermostat fails,
it's usually in the on position,
which allows the heater to overheat and, well, catastrophe.
And this is why most reefers also have to rely
on a heater controller to act as a redundancy
for the heaters we use, which certainly works,
but Innovative Marine
is shaking up the temperature control space
of our hobby with their Helio PTC
or positive temperature coefficient heating systems,
a capable and adjustable temperature controller
for up to two heating elements that is preset
for easy plug-and-play setup, titanium temperature probe,
and the star of the show,
the magnetically mounted PTC titanium heating element.
It is very small when compared to standard heating elements,
which will make it a great candidate for smaller spaces,
but more impressively, inside is a solid state ceramic chip
that can regulate its own temperature,
which I'll touch more on in just a bit.
First, let's get it out of this really nice box
which contains more really nice boxes.
In the box, you will find the Helio controller,
the titanium PTC heating element,
the titanium temperature sensor, the magnetic mounts
for both the heating element and the temperature sensor,
as well as some double-sided Velcro tape
for mounting your Helio controller,
and a comprehensive user manual.
While the controller itself does everything we've come
to expect from a solid heater controller,
the heating element is really where things start
to get interesting.
These PTC heating elements have a solid state ceramic chip
that self-regulates its temperature to make sure
that it doesn't overheat,
unlike the resistance wire heaters that we're used to using.
That means, for example,
where normal heater could potentially overheat
from the thermostat being above the water line
and the element staying on and getting hotter and hotter,
the Helio's PTC heating elements will not,
protecting themselves from becoming damaged due
to overheating and getting stuck on permanently,
which would obviously overheat the tank
and cause sad catastrophe.
The Helio comes with either a single
or dual heating elements, depending on your needs,
whether it's because you prefer a pair of elements
for another layer of redundancy,
or for reaching higher wattages for larger aquarium systems.
Each element comes with a strong
and robust-feeling magnetic mount
for panels up to half an inch thick to keep it in place.
You can get a single element Helio in 100, 200, 350,
and 500 watts for tanks between 10 and 125 gallons,
or a double heating element Helio in 200, 400, 700,
or 1,000 watts for tanks between 25 and 250 gallons.
You'll notice some crossover in those wattages
because the double element versions add that extra layer
of redundancy I mentioned.
Don't worry though,
even if you get a single element version,
there's always the option to add a second heating element
if you wanna add redundancy
or if you end up upgrading your tank
and wanna be able to keep using the Helio
on that new larger system.
Setup is really simple,
especially because the Helio is preset
to 77 degrees Fahrenheit,
which makes it essentially plug-and-play
for the majority of reefers,
that also includes a low alarm preset
to 74 degrees Fahrenheit and a high alarm preset
to 80 degrees Fahrenheit that will give you both an audible
and visual alert,
so unless you want to adjust the temperature range
or set a different threshold for those alarms
or calibrate to match your reference thermometer,
the Helio's good to go right out of the box.
For those of you who wanna dive a little bit more
into the specs, the temperature range
you can actually set the heater controller to
is from 59 degree Fahrenheit to 93 degrees Fahrenheit,
while the high and low alarm can be set two
and one degrees beyond that.
The controller is accurate within give
or take one degree Fahrenheit with a resolution
of 0.1 degrees.
You can also calibrate the controller periodically
with a range of plus or minus nine degrees Fahrenheit.
I do highly recommend
using a quality NIST-certified reference thermometer
when calibrating, just to make sure you're spot on.
So if you've been looking for a heating solution
with a lot of safety and redundancy built right in
and the Helio matches your reefing mantra,
you can pick one up for yourself by clicking right here.