Cobalt Neo-Therm Review

I needed a slim, sleek heat source for my 4.9 gallon desktop pico reef. Because it's a mixed reef with corals placed closed together I felt the need to begin running a good activated carbon and the space in the chambers of the Aqueon Evolve 8 was nearly gone. I didn't want to add another pump and flow water through a reactor and the Hydor 75W glass heater took up too much space to allow utilization of the factory slots meant for the disposable carbon/filter pad media. I wanted to use those slots! My search ended at the Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm 25W Heater. It's a perfect fit in the space I have to use and for now I will use the manufactured, sized filter pad for this system but in the near future I will create frame that holds a bag securely and will slide into the factory slots.

I was confident it was the right choice right out of the box. It felt heavy in my hand, the lines were sleek and slim just as the on-line images projected them to be.


Though the entire unit is submersible, the base containing the elements is the only part that really needs to be kept under water. This part of the unit is thin! 1/3" in thickness and merely 2 1/8" wide. Hobbyists can hide this heater anywhere! Even if one had to submerse the entire unit in the main display concealing it would not be much of a problem. The 25W is 6.5" long and only 4/5" thick at it's thickest point.


At first the weight concerned me. I didn't want it falling forward into the filter pads. The clip design set me at ease. The clip itself fits the heater body snugly, just under the point the bezel begins. Not one, but two quarter sized suction cups supply the holding power. I'm not a fan of suction cups but these are unique in that instead of merely popping a "tab" into the a slot on the holder, the tab is oversized and placed through the slot and then turned 180*, locking it in place. In my opinion this will stop the cups from becoming separated from the base if the heater needs to be removed.


Set up was simply simple. I placed the unit into the water at the desired location and waited the recommended 15 minutes before plugging the heater into my RKL PC4. Once the time had passed I plugged in the heater and with in a millisecond the flashing LED indicator "told" me the water temperature was 76*. The solidly lit indicator "told" me the heater was factory set at 78*. This is where I wanted the setting but I did play with the one touch button to determine ease of use. Simply, it's easy. Each touch of the button located on the upper edge of the bezel moves the indicator light up the degree scale. Setting a heater can't get much more simple than that.

Bezel is not submersed to show the LED indicator. Tank temp and heater setting match, otherwise two LED's would have been lit.


Here it is submersed as deep as possible in the intake chamber of my pico.
I will update this thread at a later day with my thoughts after using the heater for a while.

 

Very nice write up Mike.

Nice avatar, photoshopped or specially manufactured?

 

Thanks.

I have no idea whether the photo is genuine or not, it's not mine. I just like the pic because it obviously states that I'm NOT a gun control advocate. Due to the rules of the "Reef" I can't add opinion elaborating why I like it....

FWIW I would definitely sell a tank off to pay an engraver to add that to my .44

 

I have the 100W version running on a 30 gallon and I love it's sleekness.

 

I have one of these heaters too. Absolutely love it. Nice write up.

 

Thanks! They are pretty slick eh

Thanks Matt! Did you do a write up? I searched the general forum for cobalt neo-therm before I did all this and nothing came up....

 

Yeah I did. Did you use the search box at the top of the page? It is better than the forum search.

http://www.3reef.com/forums/3reef-radar/1-minute-neo-therm-heater-install-140813.html

 

Nope just did a search forum under the general tab. Oops.

 

Hopefully they come out with something for us with larger tanks .

 

Up to 400W = 125G system.
Neo-Therm Heaters - $0.00 : Cobalt Aquatics, Fresh and Salt Water Equipment and Consumables