Heater watts for a five gallon

[maverickfish]

So a little bit of background first. I'm in college and I live in the dorms. A neighbor on my floor bought six male guppies and two mystery snails, and stuck them all in a 2.5 gal without heat/filter/air, and without proper bacteria supplement and tap water purifier. Two guppies died. After hearing me talk about another girl on our floor putting a betta in a .5 gal and basically torturing it to death, she asked me if I wanted her fish and everything she had for free since she was sick of taking care of them. So now I have the four remaining fish, and the two snails.

They're currently in the same tank, but I have a 5 gal from a friend they will be moved into in about a week when I go home for spring break. I have them set up with an air pump, a few live plants in their tank, and a 7.5 watt non-adjustable heater. The heater is doing perfectly fine for now as my dorm is rather warm, it's staying at about 80F. I have a filter back at home with the tank from the friend, a second air pump that I forgot I had, but I don't believe there's a heater with it.

This heater is doing okay, but I'd prefer one that I can adjust. I mostly just bought it because it was the only one that was appropriate for the current tank with decent reviews. Now, my question is, what wattage is best for a 5 gal? Most people seem to be saying a minimum of 25w, but I'm seeing others say their 100w hold up longer than the 25w. Would an adjustable 100w be overkill, or a better investment?

I'm currently looking at two brands that are in my price range that both have mixed reviews, Aquaneat and Aqueon. The Aquaneat has 3.6 stars on Amazon I believe, and the Aqueon has 3.9 on Petsmart. My main struggle between deciding between the two is price. A 100w Aquaneat is like $8.50 on ebay, new with a two year warranty. 100w Aqueon is $19 at Petsmart, and since I'm in college I don't have a ton of money to blow here. Any suggestions on either?

 

[Guppylover3x]

So a little bit of background first. I'm in college and I live in the dorms. A neighbor on my floor bought six male guppies and two mystery snails, and stuck them all in a 2.5 gal without heat/filter/air, and without proper bacteria supplement and tap water purifier. Two guppies died. After hearing me talk about another girl on our floor putting a betta in a .5 gal and basically torturing it to death, she asked me if I wanted her fish and everything she had for free since she was sick of taking care of them. So now I have the four remaining fish, and the two snails.

They're currently in the same tank, but I have a 5 gal from a friend they will be moved into in about a week when I go home for spring break. I have them set up with an air pump, a few live plants in their tank, and a 7.5 watt non-adjustable heater. The heater is doing perfectly fine for now as my dorm is rather warm, it's staying at about 80F. I have a filter back at home with the tank from the friend, a second air pump that I forgot I had, but I don't believe there's a heater with it.

This heater is doing okay, but I'd prefer one that I can adjust. I mostly just bought it because it was the only one that was appropriate for the current tank with decent reviews. Now, my question is, what wattage is best for a 5 gal? Most people seem to be saying a minimum of 25w, but I'm seeing others say their 100w hold up longer than the 25w. Would an adjustable 100w be overkill, or a better investment?

I'm currently looking at two brands that are in my price range that both have mixed reviews, Aquaneat and Aqueon. The Aquaneat has 3.6 stars on Amazon I believe, and the Aqueon has 3.9 on Petsmart. My main struggle between deciding between the two is price. A 100w Aquaneat is like $8.50 on ebay, new with a two year warranty. 100w Aqueon is $19 at Petsmart, and since I'm in college I don't have a ton of money to blow here. Any suggestions on either?

Hello and welcome to the forum. I kept a 5 gallon for over a year and only recently upgraded to a 10. I used to use a preset heater in my fluval spec it was 25w. This meant that it would not exceed above 78F/26c. I would look into getting something like this to avoid the hassle of constantly having to adjust your temperature. Most pet shops sell preset heaters, I would ask a store colleague at your local store. Good luck.

 

[Pibbles]

I just ordered a little adjustable heater off amazon. I think I paid $10.99 for the 25 watt and it’s $11.99 for the 50 watt. I haven’t had the opportunity to set it up yet since it will be delivered tomorrow but I think it would work well for you. Let me find the link.

Uniclife 25W Submersible Aquarium Heater HT-2025 with Thermometer and Suction Cup, 5 Gallon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076F2771G/?tag=ff0d01-20

 

[Pibbles]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I kept a 5 gallon for over a year and only recently upgraded to a 10. I used to use a preset heater in my fluval spec it was 25w. This meant that it would not exceed above 78F/26c. I would look into getting something like this to avoid the hassle of constantly having to adjust your temperature. Most pet shops sell preset heaters, I would ask a store colleague at your local store. Good luck.

That’s the beauty of the adjustable heaters. You DONT have to adjust the temperature all the time. You just set it to the desired temp and it keeps it there. Most of the preset ones aren’t totally reliable or they don’t consistently get to 78, so it’s nice to have the option to bump the temp up if you need. If you keep betta fish, for example, you might need the water at 80 or 82 degrees, and a preset heater won’t get you there.