Heater Question

[ArtsofMurder]

Ok a few weeks ago I bought a 20 Gallon tank along with a heater that works up to 30 gallon tanks. Also, for my 10 gallon tank I have a heater which can be used for up to 15 gallon tanks. The problem is..neither of them do what they are supposed to do. I set them to the right temperature, then plug them in..but they dont warm up. The light on both heaters will go on whenever it feels like it but then goes off after about 10 seconds, leaving the water cold. I'm having very bad luck with both of these heaters/tanks..I have bigger tank with a seperate heater and works perfectly fine, but with these 2 tanks and heaters they just dont seem to want to warm the water..any ideas of what i'm doing wrong?

 

[Big Vine]

I often have to set the heater about 4 degrees warmer than I actually want my tank water temperature to be (right now the heater is set at 72 degrees in my 12 gallon tank, but the thermometer reads "76 degrees").

Maybe that's the problem?

Big Vine

 

[Toddlee]

What brand of heaters are you useing?

 

[TLM4x4]

Where did you buy the heaters at? I recently got one at my LFS too for my 55 that just simply would not work so I called the store and told them what was going on and they told me to just bring it back and gave me a new one...is it possible for you to do the same? What kind of heaters are they? Do they have temp numbers on the dial or just an arrow pointing which way to turn them up? Hope this helps...

 

[ArtsofMurder]

Thanks for the quick replies, they both seemsto be working now...I did the opposite of Big Vine I just turned them down a little bit, it does show the temperature it just shows high and low..so I turned it a little lower and now the light and seems to be staying on, and temperature rising to what it should be..I feel stupid since thats all I had to do, but thanks for the help guys


and also I got them both from Petco

 

[Big Vine]

I did the opposite of Big Vine

Woops...now that I read your reply, I realize that I meant to say what you just did. I got it backwards. I meant to say that I set my heater about 4 degrees lower than what I want the actual temperature to be (hence, the heater now being set at 72 degrees, which in turn keeps the tank water temperature at 76 degrees).

Thanks for clearing that up. Glad it's working for you.
Big Vine