Bio Cube 14g questions

[Bekah413]

I recently purchased a biocube 14 gallon tank, even though it was brand new, plastics still on everything there was no instruction manual in the box.
I was wondering do I need to put a heater into this tank if I am planning on gettting tropical freshwater fish? And if I do need a heater what type should I get? This tank is completely enclosed and I am not sure what type of heater to get and the size.
The second question I have is at the top of the aquarium is two switches for the lighting system, one turns on and off the blue light system and the other turns on and off the aquarium lighting and a fan. What is the function of this fan? It only turns on when the regular lighting is turned on.
As you can tell, I am very confused...any advice is greatly appreciated,
thanks again, Bekah413

 

[Fishperson]

IDK what the fan is for, but you definitely need a heater. A 50-100 watt one probably.
And by the way!

 

[Fishanatic]

I think the fan is turned on to cool the water as the regular light might heat it up. How many watts is the bulb?
Also, as FishPerson said, i would recommend a 75 Watt heater for the tank. 100 Watt is also fine, but a 50 Watt might just not heat it enough. As i had a 75 watt for a 18-20 gallon tank, and it doesn't work very well to efficiently heat the aquarium. How tall is the aquarium? Preferably, place the heater beside the filter to spread equally the heat. Also, try getting a submersible heater.

 

[Fishperson]

Yeah, I tried a 100 watt heater on my 20gallon, and either it was screwy, or it was too powerful, because while fishless (thank god it wasn't fish-in!) it went up to 90 degrees! then I tried a 50 watt (which I have in now) and the temperature, even on "high" won't get above 76! I need a new heater!

 

[Bekah413]

Thank you for the advice, this bio cube set up is really neat..but kind of confusing with no instruction manual explaining everything.
The tank has 2 fluorescent lamps, one 24watt 10,000k bulb and
one 24 watt true actinic 03 bulb.
It also has one Lunar Blue lamp and one Moon Glow LED Light.
The tank is approx 18 inches in height.
I just don't want to have tempature issues with a heater, this is why I haven't added any fish yet. I want to make sure I have the perfect environment for the fishies!!
Thanks again everybody! I am so glad that I took the time to join this website!
Bekah413

 

[Fishanatic]

No problem!
Hope to see you more often around here!

 

[Fishperson]

I h8 to burst your bubble, but have you cycled the tank yet? If you haven't, or don't know what I am talking about, then you can't add fish yet. You should do a LOT of research. What I say is, research, research, research, then plan, plan, plan, and when you think you have done enough planning and research, you MIGHT be halfway done. But do you know what cycling is? There are gr8 articles about it online.