Heating A 1.5 Gallon?

[SouthernCross]

Hey everyone

You might have seen my new thread about my new blue-eyed betta . Anyway he's in a 1.5 gallon hex (although he will be alternating into the 5 gallon my other betta has - it only seems fair to me they both get turns in it). I was despairing about the current flow in the hex (blowing him around way too much, no room to get away from it) but it looks like I've managed to solve it with a 600ml Coke bottle cut up very creatively - the filter is small and right in the corner of the hood, flow came out sideways -it was very awkward to block off! I was THIS CLOSE to just taking the filter out and letting him live in it unfiltered - but I'm glad I fixed it, I guess a filter always provides that bit more stability.

Anyway, I'm now wondering about heaters...is it possible to heat a 1.5 gallon? I'm worried about putting one in there and it cooking/burning him, not to mention it might take up a bit too much space....also, the smallest heaters I've seen so far are 25 watt, recommended for 25 litre aquariums - this one is just under 6 litres! (I'll get one of these for the 5 gal though - its about 18 litres) It's still quite warm here at the moment so the room temperature is fine, but in a month or two I think the air temperature will be too cold and I'll need to do something. I'd thought about keeping him under a desk lamp but that seems to risky as you can't control the temperature...I know my lamp gets so hot if I accidently touch it it burns me!

Do you guys heat betta tanks this small? How? Any other recommendations for me?
Also, say if my coke bottle fails - should you heat a tank with no filter as there's no water flow to distribute heat? Or it doesn't matter?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Dan-25]

Not ideal, but you could use a desk lamp to heat the 1.5 -

when i had a real emergency i had to put one of my bettas in a glass container and heated it with a desk lamp in the day and at night i put him in the airing cupoard which is always warm . he was really happy actually and would always have a bubble nest on the build.

just keep a thermomitor so you can monitor the temp and make sure if you put him in the airing cupoard that it doesnt get to hot in there

 

[SouthernCross]

Hmm, thanks for the tip....but we don't have an airing cupboard! Actually no one I know does - I don't think we have them in Australia! I guess they're an English thing? I'll admit it, I just googled it to find out exactly what one was!

I do always have the lamp as a last option...but I'd like to avoid it if I can (also, the way it gets so hot I'm not sure if I'd be comfortable leaving it on all the time when I'm not home).

Anyone else got any other suggestions/input?

 

[dmarie04]

I have used the 7.5 watt heaters in as small as 1 gallon before. They say they are for 2-5 gallons, but I just keep an eye on the temp. I see you're in Australia so don't know if you have something like Walmart. I got most of mine from Walmart. They're called Junior Heaters. But I also bought one of these: http/cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...em=200086858618 and it works good in a 1 gallon.

 

[Jonz]

I saw some really small heaters in Petco the other day. I think they were 5 or 7 watt, dont remember

 

[SouthernCross]

We don't have Walmart or Petco in Australia. The Walmart style chain stores we DO have don't sell live fish - only very basic simple setups and a crappy cheapo brand of basic aquarium items. Pretty sure they only had 25 watt heaters too. I've just done a quick search of all the heaters online Australian aquarium supplies stores sell - STILL cannot find anything under 25 watts. Are there any Aussies who know where I can get a little heater?

 

[Phaedra]

What kind of light does it have? Florescent by any chance? I ask because the florescent light I have in my 3g gets pretty warm, so much so that I don't even have a heater in there anymore. I just keep the room he's in warm and leave his light on during the day and it really seems to do the trick.

Glad to hear the pop bottle trick worked for you too. Funny, it sounds like you had the exact same problem that I did at first with it. My filter is on the side, so when I closed the lid, the plastic would shift over and only 1/2 of the filter current would be slowed. Luckily with my handy pair of scissors, I pared it down and now it works like a charm.
I'm about to try it in my 10g to give my guppies less current. I just hope my wily little shrimp doesn't decide to use it as a stairway to get into the filter, which is his favorite place to eat.

 

[Don Trinko]

I used a 7.5 watt in my 1.5 gal tank. They do not have a themostat so you have to watch the temperature. Since then I bought several of the 2.5 gal betta tanks. I use a 50 watt Theo heater in them. I know it's to big but I couldn't find a 25 or lower. I am 64 years old and I have had fish since my teens and so far I have not had a heater stick on. I like the Theo because it is short and submersable. I can do a partial water change without unplugging the heater. Theo also makes a 25 but I can't find anyone who sells it.
Don T.

 

[faithless1294]

Its worth getting a 7.5 watt of ebay or another online shop they are fine for that kind of tank. You could get a 5x7 heat mat? just an idea.
Good Luck.

 

[laurasbetta]

the heater i use is a 25 Watt Hydor Theo with a built in thermostat. i have my betta in a 1 gallon (soon to be 3 gallons, hopefully) and it is WONDERFUL! you can set the temp to where you want it, although the numbers on the knob may lie, so when you have it set at 75, it may actually only be 70 or may be up to 79, but if you keep an eye on it and keep adjusting until it's where you want it, you're good to go!

 

[SouthernCross]

What kind of light does it have? Florescent by any chance? I ask because the florescent light I have in my 3g gets pretty warm, so much so that I don't even have a heater in there anymore. I just keep the room he's in warm and leave his light on during the day and it really seems to do the trick.

Glad to hear the pop bottle trick worked for you too. Funny, it sounds like you had the exact same problem that I did at first with it. My filter is on the side, so when I closed the lid, the plastic would shift over and only 1/2 of the filter current would be slowed. Luckily with my handy pair of scissors, I pared it down and now it works like a charm.
I'm about to try it in my 10g to give my guppies less current. I just hope my wily little shrimp doesn't decide to use it as a stairway to get into the filter, which is his favorite place to eat.

No, not a fluro (my 5 gal has one, has kept it fairly warm in the meantime) but a cluster of little lights (forget what the'yre called) which have a blue tinge. It's not all that bright, I think the plants I put in are going to die cos its not bright enough but we'll see. But yeah, pretty sure they'll be useless for creating any heat.

Yeah, I kinda had to cut it diagonally cos the box went into a 'corner' of the hex so the piece of bottle couldn't be a rectangle, kinda had to cut it into a triangle with the widest part at the front over the outflow then coming back to a skinny point as it wrapped around to compensate for the shape of the tank. I've got it wrapped super tight around it - part is actualy directed over the powehead which is great, and the other part goes over to the side wall. Works great!

Its worth getting a 7.5 watt of ebay or another online shop they are fine for that kind of tank. You could get a 5x7 heat mat? just an idea.
Good Luck.

Just checked ebay.au, smallest heater for sale was 50 watt. Before you say order one from the states, our plugs are different. I have an adaptor from when I went overseas, but the damn thing sparks whenever switching on/off so I'm definitely not using one of those 24/7 around a fish tank.

the heater i use is a 25 Watt Hydor Theo with a built in thermostat. i have my betta in a 1 gallon (soon to be 3 gallons, hopefully) and it is WONDERFUL! you can set the temp to where you want it, although the numbers on the knob may lie, so when you have it set at 75, it may actually only be 70 or may be up to 79, but if you keep an eye on it and keep adjusting until it's where you want it, you're good to go!

So a 25 watt heater would be ok in a tank this small Wouldn't over heat it? I guess if it has a thermostat it wouldn't but I want to be sure. Is there much of a size difference between 25s and the smaller ones?

 

[laurasbetta]

i'm pretty sure that's the name of the one i use. i'll check when i go home on sunday and let you know either that night or monday.

 

[laurasbetta]

i went home tonight, so i checked out my brand of heater. i was right in my earlier post. it's a higher wattage because it's used to heat between 1 and 5 gallon tanks. this way if you want to upgrade to anything bigger, you won't have to buy a new heater! it's been excellent for my tank thus far.
oh and for size, it's very small and completely submersible. it's about 7 inches long.
here's a picture of it: http/www.ihome.com/show_product/87078
although i didn't notice you live in australia, so the plug probably won't work. but you might be able to find one that's similar that will work.

 

[cuticom]

LOl no we cant get the 7.5 w heaters here in aus, and boy have I tried to get hold of em.

Your bets bet would be to try a 25w with a thermostat control so they only click on when the waters not the right temp. www.theaquariumshop.com.au has excellent prices on all it's products and postage is fairly cheap to. I've been meaning to try my 25w in a 6l aquarium to see how it goes, but my only 6l has been taken over by baby snails and I dont particularly want to kill them if it dosnt work. I cant see anyway it wouldn't work though, the 25w are designed to heat liquid to a certain temp and then they automatically click off again till the temp drops, and they click back on.

Edit- have you tried crossroads? you never know the guy might be willing to order one in for you, he seems pretty open to new stuff.

 

[panicFREAK]

Hmmm im in Queensland and i was looking for a heater for my betta whos in a 2.5 Gallon tank. Anyway i went to Hawkins (Plant Nursery) as they have a shop called Wetpetz there and they deal only with Aquarium Fish. So i asked what the smallest size heater was and the guy said well we have a 7w heater especially for small tanks. And i was like oh ok can i see it? So he showed me, and all it was, was like a little heating pad. I asked how much it was and all it was over $30 maybe closer to $40, way out of my price range.

So maybe if you just ask around you could find a shop that could order one in for you?

Hope this helps