Marineland Stealth Pro Heater questions

[Veeshun]

Hi, I just bought a 50W Marineland Stealth Pro Heater for my 10 gallon tank last night because my old glass heater was not working properly. I've been doing some research and can't really find an answer. I have it set to 78F but my thermometer is reading about 73F. When I put the heater in I gave it time to adjust and then turned it on. Last night was pretty cold outside (around 20F) and the living room gets a bit cold on those kind of nights.

My first question is: is this normal?

Also I have an undergravel filter system in my tank with one filter in the middle. Would it be better if I submerge the heater to the middle of the tank and put it right behind the filter?

Off topic question: I've been reading up about undergravel filters and I haven't been having much success with mine, what would be recommended for 10 gallon?

Thanks!

 

[cmor1701d]

Aquarium heaters are rarely calibrated. You need to adjust the temp setting based on a thermometer.

Heaters are designed for about a max of a 9 degree temperature differential between ambient air temp and water temp. If you have a larger differential you need a larger heater, but if this only occurs at night you really want to add additional heaters.

I take it this a is fresh water tank. I thought that under gravel systems were a thing of the past, replaced by cannister and newer ho b filter systems.

 

[Andrewz00]

for a filter... i never had much luck with an under gravel... you may want to switch to a HOB... i know Aqueon's are fairly popular on this thread... i used to have a Whisper on my old 10gal....

as far as heaters... i have the same problem in my 90gal... the heater will be set at 72 and the thermometer on the opposite of the tank will read 78.. you really need to just set your heater to the thermometer reading.

 

[iDream]

lol nope cmor they're still sold.

but anyway it may very well be that because it gets cooler at night the heater has a hard time heating since its not too strong of a heater, just do like he did and adjust until you get the right temp, heaters are known to do all sorts of funny things somtimes.

look for a HOB (hang on back) filter, Aquaclear is a good brand, maybe an AC30 or AC50 ( usually cut the filter rating in half, and anyway overfiltering is almost never a bad thing!) and you want the heater to be near waterflow so the warmer water gets around the tank