Faulty Heater?

[LionessN3cubs]

I dont know much about the heaters. I just knew I needed one and what temp to set it to.

Last night the temp in the tank dropped to 80 degrees even tho the heater is set at 88. Hubby left a fan on in the room when he went to bed but that shouldnt matter should it? I thought the point of the heater was so that the outside environment didnt effect the tank environment? I've noticed quite often that the heater allows the tank temp to drop 2 or so degrees below the set temp before it kicks back on. Is that normal or is the heater faulty?

 

[waterdrop]

My heater keeps the tank rock solid on the exact same temperature all the time. I check and log it at each testing, which has often been a couple of times daily during all this fishless cycling stuff.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

heaters can be dodgy, don't trust the heat setting on it, turn it up to a point where it holds the temp stable (within a couple of degress) at the temp you want.

 

[OldMan47]

If your heater is not much larger than you need, it will not be able to completely overcome what happens in the room. Any decent heater should be able to hold a temperature within a degree or two though. If your heater is just barely big enough, the room can have a significant influence on the tank temperature. If it is grossly oversized, nothing in the room will affect the tank temperature but the mere fact that it can hold the tank temperature means that it is pouring a lot of heat into the water in a localized area. That means a significant temperature gradient within the tank whenever it switches on which is also something you don't want.

 

[Tolak]

Five watts per gallon is pretty much standard for aquariums kept at room temperature. This of course depends on your room temperature. I've found 5wpg will keep a tank in the low 80's with a room temp in the low to mid 60's.

As long as you have decent circulation in a tank an oversize heater will heat it evenly. Water transfers heat, and holds heat, much more efficiently than air. It really doesn't take much circulation to heat a tank evenly with an oversize heater. I tend to undersize due to the fishroom sitting around 78F, but I do have this 150 gallon tub outside, with 1,000W of heat, and a powerhead running a filter that puts out a little over 100gph. It's in the low 40's right now, I've run it at 30F, and it heats evenly, even though it isn't even turning over once per hour.

Ignore any temperature markings on the heater itself, go by the thermometer. Cheap heaters are false economy, Ebo-Jager or Marineland VisiTherms, are only a few dollars more, but well worth the extra money.