Help Please :-)

[ianhayle]

hi there im new here and new to fish and hope i am putting this in the right place, i picked up a tank last week and a pump, i put in some api stress coat and stress zyme+ witch was recomended to me buy my lfs. it has been running for a week now, i got my heater in the post today i have a fluval e100. i have had the heater on for aprox 2 hours now and the temp has hardly gone up aprox 2c. i was expecting this to heat a bit faster as only a 45ltr tank. ( i brought 100w as have intensions to go for a bigger tank in near future as long as i get on with this 45ltr tank for couple mouths)
the heater is ment to give a colour led display, blue for to cold,red for to hot, and green for perfect, the display is reading the temp of 20.5c but no colour is showing, has anyone had any experances with this heater, it just seems werid how i have no colour screen showing, witch is making it hard to read the temp. i was going to go into lfs for them to test the water for me a possibly bring home some fish to start me going but i wana make sure the heater working before hand. thanks ian

also the temp has sat at 20.5 for the last hour and not moved, im gueesing the slight incress of temp at the start was the heater just ajusting its temp read out to the water temp.

 

[KittyKat]

Hi & welcome.

1. Please, please, please fish-less cycle your tank! It does take 4-6 weeks of adding ammonia to the tank every day, but IME, in the long run it means less trouble There is more information about it on this forum.

2. If a 100w heater fails, it will fry your fish I hope it doesn't and I do hope you get a bigger tank

3. You should aim for 22-23°C for an average tropical tank

4. You should get your own liquid test kit, it is the easiest way to success, API make a good general one.

 

[ianhayle]

one last thing to add, should i be able to feel the heater being warm? as the top that sits just above water level is warm but the rest of the heater that is sitting in the water feels the same temp as the water. thanks

 

[walkers101]

all of it should be submerged

 

[ianhayle]

thank you for the reply, i was only planing on having this tank untill just after the new year and then going to a bigger tank, slowly taking the wife into a bigger tank .
the first lfs i went to didnt even tell me to put any thing in the tank, they just said add water and pump leave for 3-4 days and then add some fish, i know im new and dont know anything about fish yet but i new it wasnt right, i was shocked as the shop was ment to be a well known and highly rekomend shop.

walkers are you 100%, obv you have a lot more knowlege than me but in the intrustions is shows pics of heater installed and has a cross next to all of the heater in the water, and a tick with the top out of the water, the heater is sitting just lower than the min mark on it. thanks

 

[KittyKat]

Who is the heater by? Model?

 

[ianhayle]

it is the fluval e100 sorry i didnt think to put up what the heater was. its the one with the digi led display with colour led to indcate if temp to cold or hot, the display is giving me the temp but has no colours showing, so i am usure if it is atually working or not, dure to the no colour,

 

[KittyKat]

Reading the manual.. it actually says: "don't sit it on the gravel", submerging it completely is fine. Here it is, in case you want a PDF: http/www.hagen.com/pdf/aquatic/Fluval-E-pamphlet-Eng.pdf

Have you set the temperature on it?

 

[ianhayle]

thanks for clearing that up it is preset to 25c but i have just changed it down to 23c as you said above. im still unsure about no colour led still as of yet witch is making it hard to read, i have the pump and heater sitting oposite sides of each other so the flow from pump is flowing towards the heater iteslf, is that ok or shall i move it right next to the heater. thanks your replys

 

[KittyKat]

It is best for the heater to be either near the intake for the filter or the outlet.

 

[ianhayle]

the pump/filter is a interpet pf2 i think it is, so i will move it next to the pump. thanking you for your help.

 

[BusyMumof5]

Maybe the LED is not working because it's blown?
Just an idea.. the heater may work perfectly normal and just because the LED is not working doesn't mean the heater isn't...


Have you got a thermometer on the tank - and what is that reading?

I absolutely agree with what's been said as above - FISHLESS cycling is the way forward.
Unfortunately not many people are told this in the pet shop (I wasn't) and BUT rather cycle the tank properly than kill off all your fish.

Hope that's helped - best of luck.

 

[ianhayle]

i dont think its blown becuase if you turn it off and and then turn it back on the led lighting comes on for a second or 2 then goes out. atm my guess it that i may see colours once its got up to temp and becomes steady temp. maybe i shall put off getting some fish yet then and cycle it fishless,

 

[BusyMumof5]

i dont think its blown becuase if you turn it off and and then turn it back on the led lighting comes on for a second or 2 then goes out. atm my guess it that i may see colours once its got up to temp and becomes steady temp. maybe i shall put off getting some fish yet then and cycle it fishless,

Maybe a lose connection then?
Is it actually designed to stay on all the time? Otherwise I stand by the lose connection theory, lol.
Maybe you'll put it off? You should without a shadow of doubt put off buying the fish, unless your main intention is to harm them and potentially kill them all off!

 

[Tropicoll]

I have a 100 watt in my 54 litre (as was recommended by the LFS). I recently completely emptied the tank and then cleaned and refilled with cold tap water (no fish!), dumped the heater and filter in and left it. It took more than 24 hours to heat the tank to 26 degrees from the tap temp of around 18.

Give it 24 hours and if the temperature still hasn't changed then I would consider returning the heater to the shop. I make the assumption it's new of course!

Oh, and those that mention the fishless cycle are absolutely spot on. Have a read of this article:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113861

On how to do the fishless cycle. This process will take up to 6 weeks to complete before you put ANY fish in so consider whether you actually want to start the process if you're only going to replace the tank in the new year.

Please don't do as most LFS suggest and get a couple of danios and "chuck them in".

Good luck!