is my heater too big

[sushi]

hi. I"m in the process of buying another tank to raise my livebearer fry in, when there are some.
I've already got spare heater, pump and filters. So just buying a little tank.
It's about 16" by 8" by 10" whatever water capacity that works out as. basically, it's quite small.
My heater is the same as the one in my 200L tank. is it going to be too powerful for my little breeding tank or wont it matter. I tank change the temp etc on it and it's just a cheap one anyway. Please tell me. I don't want to cook my fish

 

[Stryker]

when using an over rated heater it does open up a multitude of possibilities for an accident resulting in dead fish. So you just have to be careful, IE get the temperature regulated before you put the fish in and never be tempted to play at adjusting it.

It will use the same energy as a small heater to heat and maintain the water at a temperature, thats the constant, its just that it wont be on for as long as a smaller heater.

Oh yeah, incase you wonder: The reason you want to get it setup before hand is a large heater has the potential to change the water temp of that volume of water rather quickly.

 

[sushi]

thanks heaps. I think i'll get it completely set up, heat and all and monitor it's temp for about a week before I put my fishies in there. Good to know I won't have to buy another heater. They're not cheap.