Heaters

[LionessN3cubs]

I have a heater question which will probably sound ridiculous but...better safe than sorry. I bought a marineland 50watt submersible heater. Unfortunately for me, the directions to it really kinda suck. Im going to take a guess here that the whole thing doesnt belong under the water right? There are 2 suction cups to stick it to the side of the aquarium and a red clicky thing on top. I only immersed it to the top of the tube itself. The problem is this: In order for my filter to keep working correctly, my water level has to be extremely high. Because the water is so high, the heater doesnt suction to the wall corectly because of the lip on the top of the aquarium, and Im afraid to put it down into the water any further. Any suggestions?

 

[dazza2123]

I have a heater question which will probably sound ridiculous but...better safe than sorry. I bought a marineland 50watt submersible heater. Unfortunately for me, the directions to it really kinda suck. Im going to take a guess here that the whole thing doesnt belong under the water right? There are 2 suction cups to stick it to the side of the aquarium and a red clicky thing on top. I only immersed it to the top of the tube itself. The problem is this: In order for my filter to keep working correctly, my water level has to be extremely high. Because the water is so high, the heater doesnt suction to the wall corectly because of the lip on the top of the aquarium, and Im afraid to put it down into the water any further. Any suggestions?

What type of heater is it.

Mine is all underwateer and is fine!

Mine is a underwater heater came with my tnk free so cant be nything special lol!!

 

[Tolak]

If you just bought it it's either a Visi-Therm or a Stealth, both of which are completely submersible. Between the two types I have over a dozen running, all completely under water.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

it is a marineland visi therm with the red clicky thing on top. So your saying I can put that whole unit under water? The water wont hurt the red clicky thing? I am a TOTAL fire hazaard spaz so I want to make absolutely sure I understand that I can put the ENTIRE unit under water excluding the cord of course. No part of the unit has to be sticking out of the water except the cord correct?

 

[Osian]

All 3 of my heaters are completly under water. To be honest considering that the majority of it needs to be in the water for it to work i'd imagin they'd have to make it totaly watertight to comply with health and safety laws or you could just drop it or it might slip and it would kill you and the fish and it'd be no good.

 

[Rooster]

Visi-Therm® Deluxe is completely waterproof and totally submersible.... clipped from a website, I have been keeping fish for longer than I care to say, and never even seen one you cant submerge !

I have the same heater in one of my tanks... WELL underwater, so worry not !

 

[waterdrop]

You know, I have to say I'm kind of like Lioness, it sort of freqs me a bit:

When I exited the hobby in the early 1970s, I had these clip-on-side heaters ("Supreme" brand, I think they were) and that put the AC cord and the adjustment knob up out of the water.

Now I come back to the hobby and it appears the AC cord is going over the side of the tank and running down to a completely submerged tube (and the tube might even have an adjustment knob?) entirely submersed, is this right?

At what point did this change occur?? I mean, what if your silver dollar fish decides to chomp on the AC cord?

 

[vinylman]

At what point did this change occur?? I mean, what if your silver dollar fish decides to chomp on the AC cord?

Well, on the minus side the smell probably wouldn't be too good. On the plus side, it'll never do it again. You could always fit one of those circuit breaker plugs between your extention cord and the wall plug.

 

[JodeeGust]

I think it'll be fine to completely submerge the heater. I haven't encountered one that couldn't be. If you're still unsure, got to the website and ask, or give customer service a ring and see what they say.

(PLease keep in mind that I have only used one heater of 25 watts.)

 

[OldMan47]

Waterdrop, I had the same experience. When I stopped fishkeeping I had lots of the supreme type heaters and when I got back in a few years ago almost everything was submersibles. I am now running the visitherm and visitherm stealths in all my tanks. In most I have the heater near the bottom so that it stays submerged when I am doing water changes. It is also easier to hide the heater behind plants and such if it is closer to the bottom of the tank. The red clicky thing lets you adjust the temperature before you put the heater in the water. The 4 steps are adjust to the desired temperature, place the heater underwater in the tank, plug the heater in and finally come back in a few hours and make sure the heater is maintaining the temperature that you wanted.

 

[dazza2123]

Completly off the subject.

if i have a 100w heater

and a 50w heater

would the 100w prove more economical in my tank staying on for lesstime meaning i would be better witht he 100w in.

 

[kewskills]

Completly off the subject.

if i have a 100w heater

and a 50w heater

would the 100w prove more economical in my tank staying on for lesstime meaning i would be better witht he 100w in.

i don't think so as it would be on less but consume more power also if it went wrong a stayed on all the time the fish would fry and die

 

[Rooster]

Completly off the subject.

if i have a 100w heater

and a 50w heater

would the 100w prove more economical in my tank staying on for lesstime meaning i would be better witht he 100w in.

Would cost the same, 50W would need to be on twice as long to heat the same body of water to the same temp as a 100W - so consumption would be the same.

 

[waterdrop]

Waterdrop, I had the same experience. When I stopped fishkeeping I had lots of the supreme type heaters and when I got back in a few years ago almost everything was submersibles. I am now running the visitherm and visitherm stealths in all my tanks. In most I have the heater near the bottom so that it stays submerged when I am doing water changes. It is also easier to hide the heater behind plants and such if it is closer to the bottom of the tank. The red clicky thing lets you adjust the temperature before you put the heater in the water. The 4 steps are adjust to the desired temperature, place the heater underwater in the tank, plug the heater in and finally come back in a few hours and make sure the heater is maintaining the temperature that you wanted.

Thanks oldman47, you talk my language, and nice also that your comments often include helpful steps like that which may be good to look back at some day. I happened to avoid the whole issue this time around as we opted for a hydor inline heater that is spliced into the return hose of the external filter.

I'm still nervous about having no backup heater. Years ago when I had lots of tanks, I had heaters lying around all over but now since I've gotten back in we have just the one tank and its equipment so far. Oh well, I guess the stuff will slowly accumulate again.

~~waterdrop~~