heater

[alan j t]

some guy is selling me a 30watt heater
is it safe to use in a 20 gallon tank

[kirkp]

Alan,

To answer your question, yes it is safe. I say that because a good rule of thumb is to plan on 5 watts per gallon. It could be more or less depending on the room temp and what temp you're trying to keep the tank at. So for your 20 gal tank, you should have in the range of a 100 watt heater. Considering they are pretty cheap, I would suggest you go buy a new one of the correct wattage.

Kirk

[Cosmo]

Never know if a heater is safe or not, especially when buying it used :confused: 30 watts is a little small for a 20 gal and may not be able to hold temp if the tank is in a cool area.
Jim

[Tropical Haven]

I wouldn't buy a used heater, from time to time even some new ones come defective.

[FishLover888]

A new heater should not cost you more than $15 for the 100W range. I will go for a new one instead. Many times a heater broke and killed all the fish inside a tank. A good quality heater is a must for fish keeping.

[alan j t]

well everyone here knows what they are talking about
i guess it is dumb idea to get a used heater
with the risk and all
so im off to the lfs for a 100 watt heater
its for my bolivian rams they spawned in my discus tank a week ago
and the odds of fry surviving are zilcho
so they will get a nice warm tank for spawning again hopefully
thanks for all the replies this forum and its memberss rock

[MSD]

And buy at least a Stealth quality heater or you will run into problems one time or another. Heaters are the weak link in our systems with all too high failure rates.

[alan j t]

stealth quality heater?
never heard of it
is that a brand or a type of quality heater

[rick.c]

vista - therm stealth heater is what hes talking about made by marinland

[happygirl65]

I use the visa therm stealth heater on my 55 and it keeps a VERY stable temperature even when the room gets very cold. I like that is is submersible also so it can't get "bumped"

I have another tank with an older glass heater and if you even breath hard it will change temp on you....I am replacing it tomorrow! ;)

I have gotten several used heaters and they are always hit or miss. You could keep it as a backup if he is giving it away but I wouldn't buy it. :)

Heaters are so inexpensive these days it seems silly not to get a good one. (You spend WAY more on one discus :) )

[alan j t]

are those kind of heaters sold at petco or petsmart

[jnguyen4007]

are those kind of heaters sold at petco or petsmart

you should be able to find stealth heaters there. I used stealth in the past but went back to using jaeger heaters pretty much exclusively. They're extremely reliable.

[Apistomaster]

I made the stealth heater my standard heater for all my tanks several years ago. I will break a glass heater sooner or later, whether it is working or not. The stealths also blend in to the backgrounds well in a planted tank.

I still like them but I have found after many decades of fish keeping, that all brands of submersible heaters have quite high failure rates at the end of two years. I experience about a 25% failure rate on every brand I have ever used except Jaegers. Jaeger heaters may be the most reliable self contained heater out there.

The two modes of failure I have had with the stealths are:
1. Thermostats sticking to constant on.
2. Sticking at a max of ~74*F
3. No heat

I still buy stealths but the product could use some better quality control and adding a pilot light feature would be desirable.

[MSD]

Its Visi-Therm heaters, you use Visa to pay for one.:p I agree with Apistomaster, the heaters these days in general seem to fail a lot and have poor, or no, quality control.