water heater

[fish don't sweat]

I notice that the water in my tank fluctuates quite a bit and was thinking about buying a heater, but the only heaters I could find were non adjustable ones for tropical fish tanks. What do you recommend ?

[suphi]

What do you mean by nonadjustable ones...fixed temp?

Personally, I like Rena smart heater with plastic shell (don't break when dropped). It also has a hole in the middle that can be used as a filter intake.

[fish don't sweat]

Yes fixed at 78 degress f . I thought that was probably too hot. What's the optimum temperature ?

[Sabine]

I've never seen a heater with a fixed temperature. My heaters are all adjustable. Search for Visitherm or Ebo-Jaeger heaters - they are good and both adjustable and are available online.

[suphi]

Most heaters that I know of have adjustable temp settings. I leave mine at 80 (real-world measured around 78). Goldfish can tolerate wide range of temp, just not wide swing of temp. Temp of 78F is not too hot at all, when they're sick I even go above 80F. Actually, imported fish from Thailand (if you order from Paul) are used to temp over 80F as they are raised outdoor that way.

[Casper]

The only fixed temp heater I've found is a cheap $10.00 heater from Wallmart. It looks like it is filled with sand and there is no adjusting the temperature. It's only good for small sized tanks.

[fish don't sweat]

It was wallmart:)

[fish don't sweat]

On the subject of water my ammonia level is now much more under control. I discovered my nearest neighbours ( 3 miles away) have goldfish. I nipped home and got my test kit to see what their ammonia level was and got a zero reading. I got them to give me one of their disposable filter things which I tore apart and added the guts of it to my filter media. Instead of doing complete water changes each day I am now just doing a 25% water change. Every day I get a lower reading.

[cowiche ponder]

I buy a lot of my heaters on ebay. I use them for the koi tanks as well as goldie tanks.

[OldMarine]

I have found that the higher the wattage of the heater in an aquarium the more stable the water temp will be. I.E., a 300 watt heater in a 50 gallon aquarium will maintain a steadier temp than a 150 watt heater would.

[OldMarine]

On that note, I use a 300 watt submersible aquarium heater in my skimmer/pre-filter reservor that keeps the water temps in all of my 365 gallon pond above freezing even when the temps drop down into the teens at night.

Happy ponding,:coffee: