Tiny tank heaters?

[captmicha]

All the heaters for tiny tanks that's I've tried are awful. Tanks like 2.5-5 gallons.

Are there ANY decent ones out there?

 

[ddavila06]

hey, how many tanks are you plannning on heating and where in your house are they located? why are you heating them??

ok, I had a similar issue, when I was more into breeding corydoras I had many 10s, 5.5s and the basement gets cold during winter ( I use no heaters most the year except on the coldest of winter). So in my previous house I would leave the furnace room open and that was sufficient..on this new place it is not, but for some reason there is an opening for air (in the laundry room/weird) so i opened it ). last year, before i realized there was a vent opening, I used a room heater set up at 74..was fine, but i feel i used too much power for it..

so yeah. if its multiple tanks in a room you can do something like that?

 

[mchambers]

You might consider the Cobalt min-therms. The downside to them is that they are made without a temperature control: they are designed to raise the temperature in an appropriately sized tank 10 degrees. They're not too expensive:

https://www.amazon.com/Cobalt-Aquat...1482944904&sr=8-2&keywords=cobalt+heater+mini

https://www.amazon.com/Cobalt-Aquat...1482944904&sr=8-1&keywords=cobalt+heater+mini

 

[AndyNarwhal]

Heaters below 50 watts are generally not thermostatically controlled. They are generally of such a low wattage (7-10 watts) that they aren't physically capable of heating water up much more than a few degrees above ambient. In which case, the volume of the tank and the ambient air temperature will have a great effect on what the water temperature is. A 10 watt mini heater will heat up a 2.5 gallon tank about 5 degrees above ambient, a 5 gallon tank about 2.5 degrees above ambient.

If you are just looking to get the water above ambient then this is fine. If you are looking to maintain a specific temperature then a 50 watt heater with an adjustable thermostat is the best way to go.

Andy

 

[captmicha]

Thanks guys! It's just a couple of back up tanks. Not in a fish room, just a bedroom. I stick some established filter media in the sponge filters when I need to have one up and running.

I like the 2.5 for QT for small fish bc it's exactly the size that one scoop of my QT med doses. And easy to change 25% of the water daily pre-dosing.

I have a few mosquito fish in it right now.

 

[mchambers]

Heaters below 50 watts are generally not thermostatically controlled. They are generally of such a low wattage (7-10 watts) that they aren't physically capable of heating water up much more than a few degrees above ambient. In which case, the volume of the tank and the ambient air temperature will have a great effect on what the water temperature is. A 10 watt mini heater will heat up a 2.5 gallon tank about 5 degrees above ambient, a 5 gallon tank about 2.5 degrees above ambient.

If you are just looking to get the water above ambient then this is fine. If you are looking to maintain a specific temperature then a 50 watt heater with an adjustable thermostat is the best way to go.

Andy

Nice explanation, Andy!

 

[AndyNarwhal]

Thanks Matt.