Tank Heater Inconsistent

[Chunandler]

I bought a 5-15 Tetra Whisper Heater for my 10 gallon tank because in the morning after the light behing off all night it would be close to 70 degrees and by afternoon, with the incondesent lights, it would be up to 75. I put the heater in on the default setting, which according to the manual should place the tank at 78 degrees, but by night the tank was up to 80 and it looked like it was climbing so I lowered it. I now have it at the second to lowest setting and in the morning it is at about 73 but by afternoon it is up to 78-79. I thought heaters were suppose to stabilize ? It keeps saying the manual will stabilize after 4-6 hours. What is the deal? I have a feeling had I left it at the origional setting with the light on it might have fried my fish. I have this same heater, only the bigger version, in my 30 gal and it has a florescent light and it is the same temperature night and day. Any ideas on this? I don't want to leave for a couple days and have dead fish..

I know the incondescent light warms up the tank but shouldnt the heater adjust to it at night, and when it is on at day?

 

[fufanu360]

im thinkin its cuz of the incandesent lighting dude, get some flourescents

 

[Chunandler]

was thinking about doing that because the incondesencts dont light the tank for crap the florescent hood is like 30 dollars.. might head out tonight and ill see if i can talk myself into buying it

 

[yvez9]

your heater should maintain temp at minimum 78 all day long. I would understand your lights would heat up the tank but lights off wouldn't get the water cooler than the temp setting on the heater

try turning up the heater and monitor the temperature every hour for a day or so

 

[steelhealr]

Hi...if the change in lighting doesn't help, I'd consider changing the heater. I started out my 46 gallon with a Penn Plax heater and my temp was having, in my opinion, unacceptable temperature variations, low 70's to near 80. Someone recommended Ebo Jager. Since I bought it, the temp as been rock stable and I haven't adjusted it since putting it in. SH

 

[the caretaker]

Yeah I had exactly the same thing going on myself buy a new heater don't take the chance that one day it might just go! and then your stuck!

 

[ayobreezie]

The pet shop owner I spoke with said Whispers are very inaccurate.. and said that most of them are off by 3 - 4 degrees...

 

[rdd1952]

I agree that it's the incandescents. You said you had it on the second to lowest setting which means that is probably only in the low 70s so it isn't even having to come on at night. The temp is already high and just coming down to the thermostat setting.

Even at that, water usually holds temperature very well compared to the room temperature. It is odd that is would climb that much during the day and drop that much at night unless the room temperature is doing the same. The water should definitely not ever fall below the ambient room temperature. So if it's falling to 73 at night, you may need to raise the thermostat of you air conditioning.

One other option with the lights is to put them on a timer and break the time they are on. Put them on for something like 6 hours on and 6 off. That way the temperature won't climb as high and drop as low. Actually, if you don't have live plants, you really only need the lights on when you're there to view the fish anyway. There will be plenty of ambient light during the day for them. And if you do have live plants then you definitely need to upgrade to something besides incandescent bulbs.