Heaters

[This Old Spouse]

I have the regular cylindrical type heaters in all my tanks. Some are fine, others suck. I'm looking for information on various kinds of heaters, or is there just this kind?

The ones that I think suck I consider bad because whenever there's a change in the room temperature, the darn thing won't compensate. So if my room temp is 72ºF one day and the tank is at 77º, and the next day the room temp is 65º, the tank temp will drop to 70º! Why on earth wouldn't the thermostat on the heater compensate for the temp difference?

I'm getting concerned now because the holidays are fast approaching, and we'll be away from our house for days at a time, visiting relatives. We like to turn the heat down for those days we're gone, but of course that would drop the temp in a couple of our tanks.

Is there a better way??

 

[CezzaXV]

Are the heaters you consider bad adjustable? Do you have sufficient power? I.e 1W per litre of water.

Seems odd it should do that, since heaters should maintain a certain temp no mater the outside room temperature.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Yes, they are adjustable. And powerful enough for the size tank they're in. And that's what I thought, that they should be adjusting to the ambient temperature, but they're not! Case in point ... we went to our lake cabin to close it down for the season, and when we left it was around 70º in our house, cory tank was at about 76º. When we got back home, the room temp was about 62º (the cold snap hit) and the tank temp was only 69º. Granted, this spurred them on to lay lots of eggs, several of which hatched and that's all a good thing, but I'm just worried that I'll have a repeat of last year, where I lost almost all my fish in my 55g. Different circumstances but it still hurts to think about that.

Soooooo, is there another type of heater that's more reliable? Or am I just stuck getting a different cylindrical heater?

 

[CezzaXV]

How are you measuring the temperature? I've seen people before complain about heaters, only to find its actually the thermometer that's faulty.

 

[This Old Spouse]

 

[Livewire88]

Soooooo, is there another type of heater that's more reliable? Or am I just stuck getting a different cylindrical heater?

External Heaters are a different option.

On my tank I am using Hydor External Heaters, Hydor Heater they connect between the outlet pipe on my External Filters, as far as I am aware external heaters do well at keeping the temperture even throughout the whole of the tank, because the water is heated to the desired temperture before entering the tank.

 

[This Old Spouse]

That looks really good. I guess I should start saving my money to get one someday!

 

[Livewire88]

They arnt that expensive, I paid £30 for the 200W which fits 12mm pipework on my EX700, and £35 for the 300W which fits 16mm pipework on my EX1200.

I dont realy need both but I had the 200W first and ended up buying a EX1200 so felt the need to get a second heater. If I ever replace the pipes on the EX700 I will sell the 200W heater.

 

[This Old Spouse]

Wish you were here to sell me that extra heater, because the cheapest I can find one is $55!! A little too much strain on my pocketbook this time of year.

 

[Juggler75]

I'm using a Fluval e series in my big tank with a normal one as backup, isn't the 1w per litre or 5 gallons just a guide depending on how much lower the ambient temp is? table to show heater requirements