Heater..again Grrr

[LionessN3cubs]

Okay. We're having a cold snap here and my heater (50 watt in 10 gallon tank) is set at 88 degrees...yet the tank temp is 82 today. I went to the LFS intending to replace what I thought was a faulty heater only to be told the heater isn't faulty. She said that the heater is only expected to heat the water 9 degrees higher than the room temperature.

So what should I do? I raised the heat in the house but that didnt help much because its just plain cold here..I can't set the heat at 78 to get 87 degrees out of the heater. I dont want the bacteria to slow down or die off because of being too cold grrr

 

[backtotropical]

Hi Lioness,

If your heater is struggling to maintain a constant temp, that suggests that you don't have a high enough wattage. I would buy another one the same and have one at each end of the tank. That way you have double the heating power for when you get a cold spell.

Out of interest, what make is the heater, what wattage, and how big is the tank?

Cheers

BTT

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Hi Lioness,

If your heater is struggling to maintain a constant temp, that suggests that you don't have a high enough wattage. I would buy another one the same and have one at each end of the tank. That way you have double the heating power for when you get a cold spell.

Out of interest, what make is the heater, what wattage, and how big is the tank?

Cheers

BTT

its a visitherm submergible (marine makes it I think) 50 watts. My tank is a 10 gallon.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, just get another 50w for the other end. That should help you have enough energy to overcome the cold and will give you backup for failure of one of them.

The usual 3-5 watts per gallon rule assumes a nice comfortable room. I've noticed a number of experienced members here mention to not hesitate to use higher wattages than this rule if the aquarium needs to stay warm under colder conditions.

[explanation: the reason the rule has an upper limit at all is, I think, just because occassionally (very rarely) a heater's thermostat device will stick and the heater will stay on full blast. If this happens, a higher wattage heater can kill the fish. I believe this is even more rare now that it used to be in the 60's and it was very rare then.]

You can see why splitting the work over two heaters then is even safer with respect to a stuck thermostat!

~~waterdrop~~
edit: ps. So in your case, the real need for a correctly warm and stable temp (whether growing bacteria or tropical fish!) is much more real and important than the statistically rare possibility of a stuck thermostat and cooked fish. I mean, bacteria that get too cold stop growing and fish that get too cold all night just die!

(this post reminds me how much I miss that wonderful PA snow!)

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Yes, just get another 50w for the other end. That should help you have enough energy to overcome the cold and will give you backup for failure of one of them.

The usual 3-5 watts per gallon rule assumes a nice comfortable room. I've noticed a number of experienced members here mention to not hesitate to use higher wattages than this rule if the aquarium needs to stay warm under colder conditions.

[explanation: the reason the rule has an upper limit at all is, I think, just because occassionally (very rarely) a heater's thermostat device will stick and the heater will stay on full blast. If this happens, a higher wattage heater can kill the fish. I believe this is even more rare now that it used to be in the 60's and it was very rare then.]

You can see why splitting the work over two heaters then is even safer with respect to a stuck thermostat!

~~waterdrop~~
edit: ps. So in your case, the real need for a correctly warm and stable temp (whether growing bacteria or tropical fish!) is much more real and important than the statistically rare possibility of a stuck thermostat and cooked fish. I mean, bacteria that get too cold stop growing and fish that get too cold all night just die!

(this post reminds me how much I miss that wonderful PA snow!)

LOL yep thats me in PA. It SNOWED here yeaterday. This, mind you, after we had over a week of 70-75 degree weather! I had pretty much put away all but a few outfits of winter clothes for the boys and my oldest wore shorts to school all last week! It didnt stick on the ground but still was coming down pretty good! sheesh...april 30th and SNOW

 

[ckulahci]

I wouldn't purchase another at the same wattage if I were you. First of all from a decoration point of view a second heater would unnecessarily crowd the background esp. in small volume tanks and you will have to bother with hiding them behind objects. Second, 2 heaters in one tank may cause incompatiblity in a way that only one of them carries the load while the other is on hibernation all the time and that would make you play with temp adjustments of both.

Instead, I would go for a 100W and use it as the only heater. You will still have the 50W as a back-up. In the market there shouldn't be very much price difference between a 50W and 100W.

In any case, you should check that there is good water circulation around the heater to make sure that the energy it produces is distributed evenly in the entire tank.