Heater issue

[donjlegacy]

I was given a fish aquarium with all the goodies, one of which is a heater. What I can tell you about the heater is that it is 50W, the brand appears to be Elite, and the heater is only submergable up to a certain point. Now here is the problem... at the top of the unit there was a dial for temperature that says Higher / Lower, and the dial has been removed with just the gear there, which can turn indefinately in either direction....

so how do i know where to put the temperate

thanks in advance to any feedback,

 

[mfdrookie516]

get a new heater... preferrably a submersable one... 50w heaters are like $10 at walmart and those are decent, not much more for a good heater online like the visi-therm stealth

 

[dkpate]

I would go with the Stealth too. I bought the Tetra heaters at WalMart, and I was having to adjust the temp every few hours because it would go between 76-84 degrees in an hour or so. YIKES! I was just on drsfostersmith.com and all their stealth heaters are on sale. I think the 50 watt was like $17, which is a SUPER good deal! Good luck!

 

[donjlegacy]

So what you guys are saying is that my heater is broken?

I am a college student, I cannot afford new equipment...

 

[jim692]

electrical equipment with missing parts (and possibly seals) and water are not a good mix even if you could figure out where to set the temp.
A new one would be best.

please be careful

 

[donjlegacy]

You misunderstand me, there are no missing parts and the heater is in excellent condition... Someone just took the cap that turns the gear to set the temperature off and played with it... But I still have the cap... The rest of my original description was just trying to describe which heater I have in case someone recognizes my specific one...

 

[mfdrookie516]

Now here is the problem... at the top of the unit there was a dial for temperature that says Higher / Lower, and the dial has been removed with just the gear there, which can turn indefinately in either direction....

i just assumed that when you said "was a dial" and "has been removed"...it was no longer there. if its still there, its still questionable, you can play with it as you are cycling your tank though... since you wont have fish for a couple weeks, just play with it until you can adjust it to the temperature you desire... if it doesnt stay consistant, you need a new heater.. and if i were you, i would definately be careful, maybe even go to the extent of unplugging any time you stick your hand in there

 

[donjlegacy]

I'll just buy a new one that lets me pick the temperature, Being cheap isn't taking me anywhere lol...

Thanks for the help guys, I'll be sure to drop by to post pics of my tank when I get it looking nice.

 

[meegosh]

You may also want to take a multimeter and see if you are getting any stray current in your tank, just to be sure. Put the positive lead in the tank and the other lead to ground (outlet ground is fine). Instead of putting the actual lead in my tanks (never know what residue is on the leads), I put a paperclip in and touch the lead to it. Broken heaters are an easy way to electrocute your fishy friends!

 

[Jaybird]

I bought one of the new Fluval vuetech heaters for my tank. The one I have is rated to about 100G. I have a 90 display tank + 30 sump + 10 refuge. With the water displaced from live rock, overflow box, skimmer, blah blah, it's enough to do the job. It has a built-in thermometer to allow you to set and it's submersible. I've got it in the sump beside the skimmer. A second termometer on the display tank always shows the right temp, so it's doing a great job.

 

[dkpate]

Yayy! Glad you just went the "less headache" route and got a new heater!

 

[teapage]

I've got a heater question too but didn't see the point in posting a new thread. I do not have one at this moment and I'm not sure which one is ideal for my tank. It would be so nice if they just had catagories for tank sizes and say you need this one but they don't! lol I'm looking at a JBJ T3-150 True Temp Heating System w/Controller & Titanium Heating Element 150w at MarineDepot.com - is this a good one or more than I need? I've got a 46g bowfront tank. My temp right now w/out a heater is staying around 72 degrees F.

 

[Jaybird]

most of them do have a category for what size tank. If you check marine depot and look at the list of those jbj units you will see, in your instance, the last line before it goes to the next model where it has "30 - 50 G"

That means that it would be a good choice for tanks between 30 and 50 gallons. If you have a 46G, I would shoot for either that one or one model above.