Confused

[Khole new fish]

I have my temperature in the fish tank @78.3 it is a 3.5 gallon Betta tank question should I get a 10 watt heater or 25 watt? Please help

[Fish Folk]

On 11/27/2021 at 11:33 AM, Khole new fish said:

I have my temperature in the fish tank @78.3 it is a 3.5 gallon Betta tank question should I get a 10 watt heater or 25 watt? Please help

My guess is that a 10-watt heater isn’t much quality. I’d recommend getting one of the preset heaters that come in a kit. I think they’re typically 50-watts. That way, if you upgrade to a 10-gal. tank, you’re all set.

 

 

[CalmedByFish]

There's also an argument for getting one that's "too" small, because heaters are notorious for not turning off when they should, killing the whole tank. 

My method is to use two that are each too small to quickly overheat the tank on its own. If one fails to shut off, I've got more time to notice and save the fish.

[Guppysnail]

I like this inexpensive 25 watt adjustable heater for my 2.5 gallon. I only use it as an emergency qt for guppies but it stayed vey stable for me. Longest consecutive time I used it was 3 months. I dislike preset heaters because if they do not hold the temp I want I can’t adjust up or down to compensate. I also found presets tend to overheat for me much more often than not. 

[Khole new fish]

Thanks hey i was told aquarium salt is good for all fish is this true.

[Colu]

small dose of aquarium salt 1 table spoon for 5 gallons will increase Gill function and add essential electrolytes if you keep some species of snails or certain types of scaleless fish such as loach or catfish are sensitive to salt at higher levels

[Torrey]

On 11/27/2021 at 11:24 AM, Guppysnail said:

I like this inexpensive 25 watt adjustable heater for my 2.5 gallon. I only use it as an emergency qt for guppies but it stayed vey stable for me. Longest consecutive time I used it was 3 months. I dislike preset heaters because if they do not hold the temp I want I can’t adjust up or down to compensate. I also found presets tend to overheat for me much more often than not. 

I can't stand preset heaters either. 

For my small tanks, the Aqueon flat heaters are not preset, just always on (what drove me to invest in my first pymeter).

Larger tanks, I prefer to select fish that thrive at our ambient house temps. Makes my life a little bit easier. 😅

 

[Odd Duck]

On 11/27/2021 at 10:33 AM, Khole new fish said:

I have my temperature in the fish tank @78.3 it is a 3.5 gallon Betta tank question should I get a 10 watt heater or 25 watt? Please help

I know a lady on another forum and she uses tiny 5 watt heaters in her 3.5 G tanks and they keep the temp steady at 76-77.  This is the low end of what I typically run for a Betta and I don’t think the 5 watt heaters are adjustable.  It would work, but it’s at the lowest end of what is typically recommended (3-5 watts per gallon).  She’s had the oldest one working for only about 3-4 months, but has not had any failures yet.  She’s getting Aqueon which can be purchased from several places.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of non-adjustable heaters since they can’t adjust for different species.  For this size tank, I would get at least a 10 watt or a 25 watt.  It’s much easier to find a 25 watt than a 10 watt.

[Torrey]

On 11/28/2021 at 12:54 AM, Odd Duck said:

I know a lady on another forum and she uses tiny 5 watt heaters in her 3.5 G tanks and they keep the temp steady at 76-77.  This is the low end of what I typically run for a Betta and I don’t think the 5 watt heaters are adjustable.  It would work, but it’s at the lowest end of what is typically recommended (3-5 watts per gallon).  She’s had the oldest one working for only about 3-4 months, but has not had any failures yet.  She’s getting Aqueon which can be purchased from several places.

Personally, I’m not a big fan of non-adjustable heaters since they can’t adjust for different species.  For this size tank, I would get at least a 10 watt or a 25 watt.  It’s much easier to find a 25 watt than a 10 watt.

Yup. That's why I invested in the Aqueon, because I got tired of heater failures. @Khole new fish I do like the flat heaters because they don't seem to have the same fail rate (I have various sizes, and the oldest 3 are over 3 years old and still work great!)

To get around the not adjustable part, I plug them into a pymeter.

One pymeter runs 2 nano tanks, or my 10 gallon and up tanks all have a dedicated pymeter if they need a heater.

Bettas are happiest around 78° F to 82° F, which will require 2 of the 10 watt flats just to get to the low end of their comfort range.

Personally, in a 3.5 gallon betta tank, for a betta, I would want an external temp control (I accidentally cooked shrimp once, it was horrible and I will not repeat) and enough wattage to get the tank to temp. I would also insulate the back and sides of the tank, if there is more than a 5° difference between the room and the tank water.

I am also occasionally asked if I am overprotective of my fish😅

I am merely a fan of Murphy's Law based planning, and redundancies have saved my fish more than once.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

@Torrey what pymeter do you use?

[Torrey]

On 11/28/2021 at 7:09 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

@Torrey what pymeter do you use?

This one. I unplugged the heater that was in the 5 gallon tank I broke down today, and put the sensor in the Q/T tank. Tomorrow I will move the extra heater into the Q/T and plug it in for sensor #2.