7 watt heater

[Shaunna]

I bought a cheap little 7 watt heater for my 5.5 gallon last night. I filled up the tank, turned on the heater and waited for it to heat. It seemed to be taking forever, then I realized my thermometer was faulty. So, the water was at about 75 so I added my fake plant, a bioball, and some floss soaked in the filter from the 29. Let it sit for a few minutes and then started to acclimate the betta. Well long story short the betta loves it and everything seemed to be great except now it seems that my temperature won't stop rising. It is now up to 80. I unplugged it and thought I would let the temp fall a little bit overnight. My question is: is this something that I am going to have to do everyday or will this little heater eventually stabilize itself? I was also thinking that maybe it was the lighting. The only bulb I had around the house was a 15 watt incadescent. I eventually want to plant this tank so I will buy a screw- in flourescent. Do you think this will make a major difference in the heat since it is such a small tank? Thanks in advance for any help.

Btw, the Betta is still doing fine. Should I replace a couple of cups with some cooler water or is 80 still ok?

 

[Limi310]

Just in my experience - I had 2 screw-in incandenscents on my 10gal (I think they were the 15w) - that came with the hood and it REALLY heated up the water alot. It was to the point where I could only turn the light on for short periods. I now have 2 mini compact flor and am not having that problem.
I think in general incan. lights get very warm.

 

[Shaunna]

Yeah, you are right, they are the 15 watt bulbs. They came with my 10 gallon kit, too. That is why I had them. I replaced the ones in the 10 with screw in cf's. So do you think that is the main reason for it? Should I plug the heater back in tonight since the lights will be off? I know temps can change very quickly in such a small environment. I am afraid tho that it isn't just the lights, ya know.

 

[Limi310]

Do you have a thermometer? I know you mentioned above it was faulty? When I had the incan. lights, my heater hardly ever came on at all (probably did at night) because the lights kept the water so warm.

If you don't have a thermometer......What if you put the heater in one of your other tanks to figure out the right setting. Maybe turn it all the way down, put in in a tank and turn up the knob until the light clicks on? Then you can figure out about where to leave the knob.

I'm not really sure if that is a stupid idea or not.........does it sound stupid?

 

[Shaunna]

No it doesn't sound stupid at all.... But I do have a thermometer. I am just using the one from the 29 gallon on it for right now. The thing with this little heater is that you don't turn it on or off. You just plug it in and there you go apparently. It is designed specifically for 2.5 to 5 gallon tanks and it is supposed to "just know" somehow!! I don't know..... I have the lights off and the heater unplugged right now. Will just keep an eye on it and check it before I go to bed. Lotus... you have one of these don't you.... how does yours work?

 

[prettypleco]

80 degrees is fine for your betta. If you don't have time to stabilize your heater leave the lights on tonight until the am. Incandescent light is much warmer than florescent so you may have to monkey around with your heater again when you change lights.

 

[prettypleco]

We apparently posted at the same time. I have a 7 watt heater in my 5 gal but it does adjust. Do the directions state what temperature it is preset at?

 

[Shaunna]

This is the heater I have. http://photobucket.com/albums/d2/smymm/?action=view&current=heater.jpg

Unfortunately, I had torn this off the box to show someone else and then my husband threw the actual box away today. Luckily, this just happened to still be in my scanner. Is this the one you have? Well apparently not if you can adjust yours... crappy walmart!!

 

[prettypleco]

I have that one sitting here still in the box. I will open it and see what the deal is on the instructions.

 

[Shaunna]

Great thanks!! I do remeber that the instructions aren't much, just a bunch of talk about making sure you place it completely under the water. Thanks prettypleco!

 

[prettypleco]

No you cannot adjust this one. It tells you if it exceeds 82 degrees to unplug it. PITA. Until you put florescent lights on you probably won't need the heater. You are going to have to baby-sit this one for 24 hours obviously until you see it stabilize.

 

[Shaunna]

Well crap! I was hoping I maybe missed something in the instructions. Well, I will just leave everything off for tonight and see how it is doing in the morning. Guess I will just use the lights for heat right now until I get the cf's. Thanks PrettyPleco for all your help.

 

[prettypleco]

No problem. Here are the instructions in case you need them.

 

[Shaunna]

Kick *** man, thanks for going through all the trouble for me.

 

[Orion]

I've found those little heaters to be a waste of money. Out of the several that I went though before giving up on them, they would either not heat the water enough, or just keep heating it.

I managed to buy a hang on 25w heater from a LFS a while back that was the same price as that one for my 5.5 gallon shrimp tank. Best money I've spent on a heater in a long time. Rock solid reliable (which really surprised me if you saw the LFS it came from).

 

[Shaunna]

I may do that. I just thought that 25 watts was too high on a 5.5. After it wasn't acting right though I start4ed looking around about it and noticed just about everybody has a 25 watt on them. I am going to see if it is the bulbs though, too. Running some expiraments right now... Thanks for the replies everyone, will let you know how it turns out.

 

[Lotus]

I still have one of those heaters, but don't plug it in unless it's getting really cold here (rarely does). They are kind of a PITA, but bettas do like a warm tank Mine keeps the tank at about 82 if I leave it plugged in (which is less than the tanks get here in summer). They must be unplugged before a water change, or you can just toss it in the trash.

 

[Shaunna]

Well, I have been keeping it unplugged for the last couple of days and it has stayed at around 80. The tank is in my kitchen which is right off from the laundry room where our furnace is so that may have something to do with it, too. Iw ill leave it in the tank just in case the tamp starts dropping but for now I think the bulbs are heating it. Once I start planting it I will be switching the bulbs so I may have to start plugging it back in again. We will see. Thanks for the replies everyone.

 

[cassie2]

Hey Shaunna,

I have a similar 7.5 watt heater that I used in my 2 gallon tank. It is also NOT adjustable and does not have an internal thermostat. My instructions said to unplug it when the temp hit 80 degrees. Well who the heck has time to watch it and plug it in and out etc etc etc. (especially at night!!)

SOLUTION: I bought a LAMP timer - the rotating timer kind for when you go away from home and want lights to go on and off - I got a 24 hour one and set it so the heater went on for an hour, then off for an hour and on and off etc etc for the whole 24 hours. That kept the temp very very stable, which I wanted cause that was my fry tank!! (you'll have to fiddle with it to get the right time intervals for your situation - may be on an hour, off 2 or 3, or whatever)

Got mine at the local hardware store - looks like this:

http://www.goodcommonsense.net/lamti001.html

Good luck!!

 

[Shaunna]

Cassie, hey thanks for telling me about that. I knew you couldn't adjust it but I ahd no idea it din't have an internal thermometer. IT said on the box that it was designed to reach a certain temp so I ASSUMED (something I hate to do) that it would regulate itself. It seems to stay around 78-80 so I think that I may just not use it. However, I may get a timer eventually when I start planting the tank because I won't have incadescent bulbs in there then. I really think that is where the heat is coming from right now. thanks for the tip.