The Heat Is On Installing & Using Your Heater Choosing A Heater For Your Aquarium The Heat Is On Tropical and Marine Fish require temperatures of about 78 degree or higher (82 degree for discus). To achieve these higher temperatures and sustain them in an aquarium, heaters are used. Aquarium heaters have a variety of features and elements that help them function. It is important to know that the temperature within an aquarium should only ever fluctuate 1-2 degrees in a 24 hr period, so make sure the heater you choose is reliable. Submersible heaters are completely under the water. They are usually placed at an angle so that a lower water level won't cause them to break. (If a heater is functioning under water and then taken out of the water, it will usually break because of the sudden temperature change.) These heaters are also usually placed under the filter output so that the water entering the tank is heated just as it enters the aquarium. This helps to evenly heat the tank.

Hanging heaters hang over the side of the aquarium like a filter, although the heating tube is inside the aquarium. The temperature dial usually sits right on the hanging part. As with the heaters above, you will have to make sure the water level never drops down to the glass part of the heater, it might break! External/Inline heaters are connected "in-line" with water pumps, etc. The water usually comes through the filtration and is on its way back to the main tank when it passes through the "in-line" heater, where it is heated to the appropriate temperature before it gets back to the aquarium. fish tank gravel pets at homeThis type of heater is great if you have aggressive fish that may damage an internal heater. fish tank heater 20lIn-line heaters are also more accurate, insuring your temperature does not fluctuate.fish tank filter noisy bubbles

Installing & Using Your Heaters Most heaters include suction cups to keep them against the side of the aquarium. The temperature dials vary greatly on all models. Some simply have a dial that can be turned + or -. In this case, a customer must rely on a thermometer to tell the temperature and for making any adjustments. Other heaters have pre-selected temperatures that you can just switch the dial to, and supposedly the heater will reach that temperature and maintain it. Of course, nothing is perfect, so a thermometer should also be used to make sure the heater is staying at its set temperature! Make sure you allow the heater to sit in the water for a few hours before turning it on, so that the glass can get used to the water temperature, and won't break. A basic rule of thumb is 3-5 watts per gallon. To heat a tank thoroughly, and maintain that temperature, the heater must have enough power, i.e. wattage, capable of affecting the number of gallons in the tank. If a 100 gallon tank only has a 100 watt heater, that's 1 watt per gallon, which is not enough power to keep the temperature where it needs to be.

A correct example would be: A 65 gallon aquarium will need a heater capable of about 200-300 watts. 65 x 3 watts/gallon=195 watts total 65 x 4 watts/gallon=260 watts total 65 x 5 watts/gallon=325 watts total * We recommend you use 2 heaters rather than one super-strong one. Make sure you aren't purchasing a heater that is much too strong for your aquarium. A 100 watt heater will certainly be too much for a 10 gallon aquarium! Article by That Fish Place - That Pet PlaceAlways Use a Thermometer Inside the Tank No matter what type of heater you ultimately decide upon, you need to always monitor the temperature. Stick-on thermometers that mount to the outside of the tank are recording the ambient room temperature and not the water temperature which can have a very different reading. For the most accurate water temperatures, use a glass thermometer that mounts to the inside of the glass with a suction cup! Are you considering purchasing a new aquarium heater for your small freshwater tank?

We recently purchased a 5 gallon aquarium which would become the new home for my daughter's Betta fish. While we wanted to upgrade him from the temporary bowl she was using to a larger home, more importantly we knew that with the fluctuating evening temperatures we needed to get him into an environment that included a heater before the water temperature got too low than the tropical temperatures that we needed to maintain. In the evenings, the ambient temperature inside our home began to drop to about 70 degrees. We rarely use heat in the house as we live in Florida, but in an effort to keep the bowl warmed, we were running the heat at night to maintain a 76 degree room temperature which would help keep the Betta at the lower end of the tropical temperatures he is meant to be kept in. As an additional precaution, we wrapped the bowl in thick towels to help insulate it as much as possible. While the new tank was cycling, I began researching the aquarium water heater options and was getting even more confused with all that was out there.

There were a few things I knew I wanted in a small aquarium heater: Low wattage for small tank Aside from those features, I was clueless. After reading more reviews of different small fish tank heaters than I can remember and after posting on a fish forum without any responses, I set off to the local big box pet store looking for a solution from the advice of the store employees. Betta Bowl Heaters Can Kill Fish While companies do manufacture heaters that indicate they are safe to heat small 1-gallon fish bowls, they're not safe. After much research on what could have been a simple solution, I learned that these flat, round bottom heaters can literally fry a fish as can be read in the numerous reviews on sites such as Amazon. Although they may be 7.5-watt heaters, they're not reliable and certainly not for use with a 1-gallon bowl. How to Determine Fish Tank Heater Wattage Needed A good rule of thumb to determine what size heater you may need for your small aquarium is:

5 Watts for every 5 Gallons This is not an absolute rule as different heaters may work more effectively than others, but this will help guide you to finding a heater that is better suited for the size tank you need. Not All Low Wattage Aquarium Heaters are the SameSince we were upgrading to the 5-gallon tank, I did not even consider a temporary solution such as the Betta Bowl Mini Heater made by Zoo Med. While companies may advertise they're safe, a heater in anything as small as a 1-gallon bowl is too dangerous for any fish, especially if you can't maintain a tropical temperature. I would not advise using these at all, unless you're willing to sacrifice your fish. During my research, many of the reviews I read suggested a 25-watt heater. So, I went looking for one at my local big box pet store. What I found was that some 25-watt heater labels indicated they were for up to 5-gallons, some were for no less than 7 gallons, but no more than 10 gallons. It got so confusing and frustrating!

On the market, there are 7.5w, 10w, 15w, 25w aquarium heaters- all indicating that they will work just fine for a tank 5 gallons and under. Not all low wattage heaters are the same! After looking carefully at all the packaging and sizes and wattages, I picked up a 25-watt heater, a Top Fin® Submersible Aquarium Heater, which, according to the box was advertised for tanks up to 5 gallons. It had an internal thermostat, was adjustable, and fully submersible. It wasn't quite as small I was looking for, but we could have made it work. When the store employee asked if I needed help, I explained what I was doing and she said that the Top Fin® heater I had in hand was too powerful. She handed me an Aqueon Mini 10 Watt Heater. And, so I gave it a try. Aqueon Mini Heater (10-Watt) ReviewThe Aqueon heater was inexpensive enough (about $14) and I had several weeks to try it before the Betta would be added to the tank, so I decided to give it a try. The features of the Aqueon Mini Heater 10 Watt included:

Preset temperature to about 78 degrees Small size - about 8 inches in length Rated for up to a 5 gallon tank The heater came with two mini suction cups that were easily attached. The installation was simple - put it in the tank, slightly push to engage suction cups, then plug it in. After several hours, the temperature of the water increased from about 74 degrees to about 78 degrees where it maintained most of the time. I installed the heater on the side close to where the bowl with the Betta was and touched the side of the bowl to the side of the tank. The Betta hung out there as he could obviously feel the warmth from the heater through the glass. This would have been the heater that I kept, except for one small issue. It indicated in the manual that if the ambient temperature reached 78 degrees, to unplug the heater. Since we were still cycling without the fish, we could test what happened when the room temperature increased. Here in Florida, it's not unusual during the winters for us to have outdoor temperatures in the 40s in the morning and 80 in the afternoon.

What we found was on the warmer days, the tank's temperature was increasing up to 86 and at night was dropping to about 76-78. The room temperature was about 78 and 69 respectively. We decided to look for another solution for a few reasons: Nearly 10 degree temperature swings in the water on the warmer days Someone is not always home in the afternoons when the temperature is much warmer to unplug the heater to prevent the water from overheating the fish Concern was also there that someone would forget to plug it back in In climates where the winter temperature doesn't fluctuate as much and a home is heated consistently throughout the day and night to maintain a comfortable temperature, I believe that this would be a good solution that would work well. Hydor Theo 25 Watt HeaterWith the concern of the fluctuating temperatures using the Aqueon Mini 10-watt heater, I did some more research and even asked a question here on Hubpages. My research and the answer given resulted in a common product - the Hydor Theo 25-Watt heater - an adjustable heater for a 5 gallon tank.

None of our local big box stores, nor any of the several local fish stores carried this, so I ordered it on Amazon. The features of the Hydor Theo 25 Watt heater include: Horizontal or vertical positioning Adjustable temperature with 1-degree click graduate scale Small size - 7 inches in length Rated for 2 to 7 gallon tanks The tube of the heater is approximately inch in diameter which was thicker than the Aqueon, but it came with two large suction cups that attached to C-clips which, in turn, clips to the Hydor Theo and holds in place in either the horizontal or vertical positions. In my tank, it is installed vertically with the dial completely submerged. The temperature dial is located at the top end of the tube and stands about 1/2 inch high. It is easy to turn with clearly marked degree increments. I love that the tube has an "on" light indicator which you can easily tell that the heater is on. I have an internal glass thermometer inside the tank on the right side (about ten inches away from the heater) and I can easily see that the tank is maintaining a consistent temperature.