Heater not working?

[ECH2005]

I bought a 50watt heater with everything else I just got Friday (entire tank setup). It was working fine up until today. Saturday, I adjusted the heater to about 80-82 according to my thermometer. But today I noticed the light flickering, and I checked the temp and it was at 76-78 (just a few degrees above room temp). After messing with it a little, it doesn't seem to work at all! I just spent a lot of money on this setup and don't want to spend anymore (except for fish, ofcourse.)

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Is the wattage enough or too much for the tank? How deep should the heater be in the water? Theres a minimum water level line, but how its set up that puts almost everything underwater (the wire is almost underwater, and I don't like the looks of that...)

Anyways, any suggestions would be helpful. If you think that I will need to replace it, you please name from brands that are reliable so this doesn't happen again?

 

[lizard]

What size tank do you have? What brand is the heater? The thermostats on the heaters can have a degree or two difference from thermometers. On my heater (a Whisper), the light going on and off is normal. Not sure if that's how it is on other brands. I rarely see the little light on for more than a minutes or two (not that I stare at it all day...). The heater should be in the water at least to the minimum water line. Again, I'm not sure about other heaters, but mine are fully submersible and they're designed to have part of the cord in the water.

Hope that helps you some!

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[ECH2005]

Ok, thanks, I think that I just didn't have it deep enough. (I'm a little uneasy about electricity and water going together.) It seems to work now that it's deeper in the water. I'm at work now, but when I left about an hour ago it was upto 78-80ish.

Oh, and sorry I forgot a lot of info, I try not to do that but I was in a hurry. The tank is a 10gal, and its an Aquatic Gardens 50watt. I'm reading online about it now, and there seems to be something with the knob where you press it in and turn it to get to the desired temp... I'll just check when I get home.

 

[Lateral Line]

The knobs on heater/stats are hopeless for setting the temperature. If your thermometer says it is 78, then regardless of what the stat says, it is most likely 78, if you want it higher turn it up a bit unitl the thermomenter is constantly at the right temperature.

What can happen if there is little or no circulation in the tank is that the water around the heater/stat is warm, but the rest of the tank cooler.

Unless you have a special type of heater/stat, the bulk of the unit should be underwater. Having a length of it out of the water is not good - the stat may not react to water temperature changes, and in extreme circumstances, the heater will over heat and burn out, they use the water to keep cool.

80-82 is very high for a regular tropical tank, a tank for Discus maybe, but as a beginner, I assume you are going to start with things a lot easier to keep alive.

 

[ECH2005]

From what I've read it's good to have the temp a little higher while cycling. I plan on bringing it down to whatever temp is necessary for the fish I decide to keep. Plus I want to make sure everything works since winters coming, and it sometimes gets to the mid 60s or lower in my house overnight.