heater and water test kit for newb

[arrow1234]

today, i felt noobed, i think the staffs in the petstore play some jokes on me.

today i wanted to buy a heater and tester kit. i asked the staffs about the heater, and she recommend me to buy the most expensive one which can automatically shut off and water-proof(the whole heater can be dump under the water). she said that the other cheaper heaters can only be shut off manually and it can be exploded while too hot PLUS i will get electric shook if i water the heater.
my question is , will that explode? sure nobody want some explosions in the fish tank. but i really think the heaters are designed to NOT go up to 100C to boil water and cause explosion, this is rofl.

i also want to know how the manual heaters work (the type that has a water-line marked on the glass tube and was hanging vertically on the side of the tank)
eg, let say, if i want the temp stay around 80F all the time, can i just turn the button to the middle(or somewhere depends on the heater) and leave it? Or i have to keep turning the heater on and off every hour??
my tank is 10g, is 50w or 100w or 150w recommended ?
can most heater go up to 86-88F to treat ich?


the other thing, i read some post and saw the following tester kit is recommended
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19383;category_id=3111;pcid1=3233;pcid2=
are they good? accurate?
are there some other kit using strip method? solution method? or meter method?
are they accurate?

however i have never seen kits for testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate using meter measurement.....like the way thermometer measure temperature.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The heater that she showed you, was it the Visi-Therm Stealth? If so, that is one of the best heaters on the market. The characterists that you listed above are huge pros. I would have to agree wtih the lfs employee. You're heater won't "explode" exactly. If water gets inside of the tube, it will short out and stop working. The glass heaters are more suseptible to this. That's why the non-glass ones are preferred.

The manual heaters that you refer to are non-submersible. Both submersible and non-submersible are the same thing, except for the fact that one can be completly underwater whereas the other one can't. I personally would not purchase anything but the submersible. They can both be turned up to treat diseases such as ich. The general guideline is 5 watts per gal so you're looking for a 50 Watt heater.

The AP test kit that you linked is the best IMO. It is accurate and easy to read. The strips are not recommended because they are highly inaccurate the longer that they are open. They are also very expensive.

 

[malkore]

Yes, a heater can 'explode'. When a glass heater doesn't shut off when removed from the water, it significantly overheats. The heater is designed such that water removes the heat, preventing overheating.

So the glass gets extremely hot, and you don't realize it and drop it back in the 74F degree tank, and the glass instantly shatters.

I've done it, once. You really only do something like that once, cuz the sound of a cracking heater will scare the bejeezus outta you. In my case, it was the original Visi-Therm's, which didn't auto-shutoff like the Stealth's do.


The Visitherm Stealth heaters are good ones, as are Ebo Jager. Expect ot pay a pretty penny at the LFS, or even a retail pet store like PetCo (who likely won't have anything but tetra tech, or really bad brand names...skip these).
A cheap heater will malfunction...sometimes it cooks fish, sometimes it freezes them.
A quality heater is needed, and if you buy online you won't get charged an arm and a leg.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Yes, as Malkore stated, the glass will break but I thought you meant along the lines of flaming fire ball. lol Sorry for the confusion.

 

[europas_ice]

I guess these submersible tank heaters don't get hot enough for the fish to burn themselves?

I think I should get one. I've got a Betta and his water is staying about 70 degrees right now. I've heard they like it better closer to 80.

Thanks for the 5W per gal tip, too.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

No, the heater won't get too hot to burn them. Our pleco usually hangs out on it and munches on the algae. The betta should be at a constant temp so a heater is a good idea. 76 is the standard for Tropicals.

 

[arrow1234]

ty, i will order them online so soon

btw, the testing kits is for salt water only right? my fresh water tank wont have use of it
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19383;category_id=3111;pcid1=3233;pcid2=

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The test kit that you linked is for Freshwater. It can be used for Saltwater, but the values are different.