Aquanano 40 Heater Advice

[Kezhouse]

Only had this tanks for 4 week. Just had to complete a 50% water change.
How long should it take for the water to get back to temperature? (Got a horrible feeling my heater isn't working right)

 

[Baccus]

It depends on the size of the tank and if you have the correct sized heater for the tank, also the ambient temperature and what temp are you trying to get the tank too?
What sort of heater is it? Most of the glass tube ones have a little light that is on when the heater is actually working. Ceramic non-breakable heaters also have a light that shows when the heater is actually working at heating the tank.

 

[Kezhouse]

It's a 55l tank. The heater is 55w Aqua one. The light is on red. When I've done a smaller water change it hasn't taken this long to heat up!

 

[Baccus]

It could be that the ambient temperature is quite chilly, so the heater is struggling with losing heat it produces through the glass.
Did you try to match the new water to the existing tank temp prior to adding the water to the tank? It is really advisable to try and match the new water temperature wise to the existing unless you where trying to make a cool water change to promote spawning by fish such as corydoras.

 

[Far_King]

Thermostats on heaters can be notoriously inaccurate.  Do you have a separate thermometer to check the temperature?
 
I believe the heater you are using is suitable for aquaria up to 50litres so it may be struggling to both bring the water up to temperature and maintain it.
 
You could look at installing a second heater which will have the added benefit of giving you redundancy if one fails or getting a higher rated heater.

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

Absolutely, the temperature of the replacement water should be the same as the water in the tank. Changes in temperature for environmental reasons like breeding should be done slowly. Sudden drops in temperature can cause a variety of problems like an ich outbreak.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I have had a Aquanano 30 tank, while it is a good little set up, the heater is placed directly underneath or by the side of the powerhead, this means there is constantly cooler water going by the heater, so theoretically it should maintain a better balance of water temperature.
 
However, I found that the heater which came wth the tank, a 25w nano heater, struggled to main the temperature continuously. So i opted to upgrade and bought a 50w nano heater, this worked far, far better and mainten tank temp nice and stable. And as a bonus of having a larger heater is the amount of energy needed to keep heater running is less so you actually save electricity.
 
But the point above about adding water that is roughly the same as the tank water is a good one, for a couple of reasons, heater does not have to work so hard to get the water temperature up but also helps prevent heat shock on the fish themselves.
 
I learned this the hard way, i accidently added water that was a little too warm, the fish did NOT like this, they curved and swam lethargically. A quick change of cooler water, fish much happier, ever since then i try to match water temp, at most maybe 2 or 3 degs cooler than tank water, not warmer.