# Quick Heater Question



## BostonBob (Apr 24, 2010)

Is this heater enough for a 2.5 gallon Betta tank ????










Someone over at Noah's Ark said that this heater was not enough for a 2.5 gallon tank and that I should get a 17 watt heater. I should mention that the Betta tank is kept in our bedroom which gets a bit colder than the rest of the apartment due to keeping the doors closed to keep the cat out.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

It depends on the differential. How warm is your bedroom and what temperature do you want the tank at?


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## BostonBob (Apr 24, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> It depends on the differential. How warm is your bedroom and what temperature do you want the tank at?


The bedroom gets pretty cool this time of the year ( no thermostat so I don't know the exact temp ) but I think that the advertised 2 to 5 degrees bump should be enough. I am hoping that somebody here that has used one could give a quick review.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Here's a review. I think you want to look elsewhere: Hydor 15W mini heater - does it work?

My bedroom is 19 and I heat my 15 gallon to 25 degrees and I can tell you that the 50W SmartHeater I have struggles. If I had to do over I would never use anything less than 100 W for anything bigger than a 10 gallon. So if you want to heat the tank more than 2 or 3 degrees C I would get something else than that 15 W heater.


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## BostonBob (Apr 24, 2010)

OK - so it looks like the Hydor heater is out. I'm heading down to J & L Aquatics later tonight so was wondering if anybody here has any opinions of these 2 heaters:

*Jaeger 25 watt*









*Marineland Stealth Pro 25 watt*


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## djamm (Sep 25, 2010)

Jaeger 25 watt I like better but I am sure in such a small tank both will work!

Cheers,


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## kelly528 (Apr 21, 2010)

Personally I like the stealth... I tried the Jager but apparently it is not comparable to the older 'Ebo Jager' model. I think the problem I had was that it was overheating my tank, even though it was only 150W and my tank was 50g. Bear in mind I wanted the water temp to be in the high 60s, but still... the Stealth did the job a lot better. Also, I believe they are shatter-proof. Oh, and the black blends in a lot nicer.


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

I also rely on the Stealth ones. Noticed my 50w wasn't doing enough for my 15G at work, so I think I'll be upgrading it to 100W like 2wheels suggested.


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## gklaw (May 31, 2010)

The smaller stealth will likely sit/fit better in a small tank.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

BostonBob, I think Graham at Noah's Pet Ark is right, and I'll know for sure by tomorrow morning how a 17 watt heater will work out in a 2.5 gallon tank. 

Right now, I have a 10 watt Marina heater in a 2.5 shrimp tank in my cold house. I can't get the tank over 70 degrees and it sometimes goes to 68 -- that's with our furnace running.

I would really like to see this tank at 74 or 75, so this evening I put a 17 watt into it. I hope that it won't make it too warm. But the 17 watt couldn't keep my 5 gallon betta tank (Eclipse) over 70, either, so I've upgraded to another heater, which I took out of my 8 gallon (because it wouldn't warm up, either). 

In other words, I'm upgrading the wattage of all my heaters and experience tells me that if the 10watt Marina isn't enough power for an open-topped 2.5 gallon tank, then the 7.5 Hydor isn't going to be, either. 

Let me know what you end up with, though. I'm still experimenting!


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## BostonBob (Apr 24, 2010)

First of all - a big thank you to everyone that left a response. It never fails to amaze just how helpful people are on here and not just trying to boost their post count. I ended up buying the Marine Pro Stealth 25 watt heater even though the staff at J & L Aquatics said that they had sold a bunch of the Hydro Minis without getting any returns.



kelly528 said:


> Also, I believe they are shatter-proof. Oh, and the black blends in a lot nicer.


Two of the reasons I selected the Marine Pro model.



gklaw said:


> The smaller stealth will likely sit/fit better in a small tank.


And this was the most important reason I picked the Marine Pro heater. I only have 9 inches of water in my 2.5 gallon tank and on most heaters 9 inches won't get you near the water line on the heater. Fortunately the Marine Pro fits perfectly. Another thing that I really like about the Marine Pro heater is that there is a light on top that is red when it is working and turns green when it has reached the temperature that you set



Morainy said:


> BostonBob, I think Graham at Noah's Pet Ark is right, and I'll know for sure by tomorrow morning how a 17 watt heater will work out in a 2.5 gallon tank.
> 
> Right now, I have a 10 watt Marina heater in a 2.5 shrimp tank in my cold house. I can't get the tank over 70 degrees and it sometimes goes to 68 -- that's with our furnace running.
> 
> ...


I'll let you know in a couple of days how things work out.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Hydor works great for those of us who hate a 21 degree room temp  so if you keep your room temp at a steady 19 or 20 degrees, it'll suffice. the best part is you can place it under the substrate. Of course the downside is that it isn't a closed loop, so you'll have to unplug it on warm days

the stealth pro heaters are great, some always mention the shattering of a couple lots, but that is history and recalled long ago


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

So,here's the result of my experiment with the 17 watt heater in a 2.5 gallon tank. It didn't do any better than the 10 watt Marina heater! The tank was still at 70 degreesF this morning (room temperature 60). 

The 10Watt Marineland heater kept the other 2.5 gallon tank at 25degrees C (about 77 F). 

The 10 watt Marineland heater is too big for this particular tank because of the way that it's been planted, so I'll try to get one of the 25 watt heaters that you're recommending. I know that the room temp will get lower, so I want to make sure that the shrimp don't freeze! (Or bake, though)

I think that the Hydor Minis are often used for betta bowls, where there is no other option. It's probably an ideal heater for those very small setups.


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## BostonBob (Apr 24, 2010)

Morainy said:


> So,here's the result of my experiment with the 17 watt heater in a 2.5 gallon tank. It didn't do any better than the 10 watt Marina heater! The tank was still at 70 degreesF this morning (room temperature 60).
> 
> The 10Watt Marineland heater kept the other 2.5 gallon tank at 25degrees C (about 77 F).
> 
> ...


Even though it's only been running for about 12 hours I can fully recommend picking up the Marineland Stealth Pro 25 watt heater. The last couple of days my Betta has been pretty lethargic but this morning he was swimming around like mad just like his old self. It took about 6 hours for the heater to bring the temperature up to 78 degrees and while the light does turn red occasionally it only take a minute or so to go back to green. There were a few of these heaters left at J & L last night and if you need something stronger the 50 watt heaters are only a couple bucks more.


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## kelly528 (Apr 21, 2010)

Morainy said:


> So,here's the result of my experiment with the 17 watt heater in a 2.5 gallon tank. It didn't do any better than the 10 watt Marina heater! The tank was still at 70 degreesF this morning (room temperature 60).
> 
> The 10Watt Marineland heater kept the other 2.5 gallon tank at 25degrees C (about 77 F).
> 
> ...


Just keep in mind, the Hydors have no temperature adjuster. I believe they are preset to run at about 74-76. Whereas you have the option to turn the 10w up to compensate for cold room temperatures. Therefore the Hydor may be perfectly suitable for people with warmer rooms.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

If you have multiple small tanks/bowls that you need to heat to the same temperature it may be worth your while to get a controller/heat controller to regulate the heaters so that you are not relying all the low end thermostats on the individual heaters to keep your fish from being boiled.


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## luckyfind (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 what controlers would you suggest for 20/50 gal tanks?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I haven't hooked it up yet, but I'm really liking the Digital Aquatics controller that I got at J&L. It'll run the heater, my lights, and moonlights.

I also have a Ranco that I got from Jehmco that will run up to 1500 watts. That's hooked up to 2x 250 watt heaters in my 125 gallon and keeps my tank +/- 1 degree from 26 C.


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