timwag2001
Aquarium Advice FINatic
what do you think is the best way to have one in your tank. vertacle or horizontal?
submersible heater
- Thread starter timwag2001
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
angeltank
Aquarium Advice Regular
i would have to say vertical one its easyer to hide behind plants and it also makes it easier to adjust the temp of the heater by having it at the top of the tank
OP
OP
timwag2001
Aquarium Advice FINatic
that's i think like that too. and it's how i have mine set up. but i would think that it would be more efficient laying down, kinda like a baseboard heater in your house
angeltank
Aquarium Advice Regular
i once tried to put it horizontal and i really did not see any difrence in efficiency. i think it is because water does not act like air in the respect that heat rises as much or as fast as it does so in the air. i think that as long as you have the heater on the oposite side of the tank as the filter inlet is i think that you should be good. i have a 35 gall with a heater for a 25 and it still works well with the heater virtical, it keeps it at a warm 82 degrees
OP
OP
timwag2001
Aquarium Advice FINatic
so you keep your heater on the opposite side of the filter?
angeltank
Aquarium Advice Regular
opposite side of the tank yes that way the heat from the heater gets pulled to the other side of the tank instead of getting cooled down in the filtration system right away and re entering the tank up to a few degrees lower
OP
OP
timwag2001
Aquarium Advice FINatic
awesome. i have a 300w topfin in a 55. and i've never been able to get the temp past 78. but i guess that's because it's sitting under my emperor 400
angeltank
Aquarium Advice Regular
yea im guessing that would keep it from heating up like you want it to
I run a 150w in my 30g long horizontally placed right in the center along the back glass. I ran it vertically first and I noticed in the corners, mainly the front corners, I would get a different temp(+/- ~2 degrees). I simply hid mine with some java moss.
kreesdqban
Aquarium Advice Regular
I have my heater setup vertically right next to the intake tube of the filter and it does a great job of heating the tank. A powerhead will also help circulate the heated water around the tank.
bs6749
Aquarium Advice Addict
I place mine horizontally in my breeding and growout tanks. They are placed this way so that vertical spawners such as angels and discus don't spawn on them. I also keep them horizontally and near the bottom 2 inches of the growout tanks so that when I do a 90% water change every other day or so I don't have to unplug the heater.
Heater placement in the tank shouldn't matter. If you have to place it near the intake of the filter to keep the tank warm then that either means you have lots of heat loss or insufficient heating for the tank. Overfiltering can sometimes compensate for underheating but in a perfect situation you would be able to place the heater anywhere in the tank.
For a tank longer than 30 inches I suggest splitting the heating power and placing two heaters on opposite ends of the tank. A rule of thumb is 5 watts of heater for every gallon. For a 55g I'd recommend two separate 200W heaters instead of a single 300W. That way when one heater sticks "On" the other will stay off and when one dies on you the other will still be able to maintain decent temps until you can replace the other one. I've heard many stories about heater malfunctions causing deaths of prized fish. If you are keeping "inexpensive fish" then it won't be as big of a hit when you encounter a heater malfunction. But if you have $100+ of fish in the tank I'd strongly recommend 2 lower wattage heaters.
Heater placement in the tank shouldn't matter. If you have to place it near the intake of the filter to keep the tank warm then that either means you have lots of heat loss or insufficient heating for the tank. Overfiltering can sometimes compensate for underheating but in a perfect situation you would be able to place the heater anywhere in the tank.
For a tank longer than 30 inches I suggest splitting the heating power and placing two heaters on opposite ends of the tank. A rule of thumb is 5 watts of heater for every gallon. For a 55g I'd recommend two separate 200W heaters instead of a single 300W. That way when one heater sticks "On" the other will stay off and when one dies on you the other will still be able to maintain decent temps until you can replace the other one. I've heard many stories about heater malfunctions causing deaths of prized fish. If you are keeping "inexpensive fish" then it won't be as big of a hit when you encounter a heater malfunction. But if you have $100+ of fish in the tank I'd strongly recommend 2 lower wattage heaters.
