I ordered JBJ pico from Dr Fosters and Smith, went to the stealth heaters page and got the 10w heater because it was very small, low energy consumption, and supposed to be for tanks up to 3 gallons. Come to find out it does not have an adjustable thermostat like the other stealth heaters, which wasnt mentioned on the website so I didnt know that until I got it. It is supposed to be factory preset at 78F, after ~6-8 hours my tank was holding at~74-75F and still not going up after 24 hours. So it might be fine for a FO tank, but I wouldnt recommend using this for a reef tank if anyone else is considering it, get a 25w.

the 10w heaters are only really made to keep a tank 6-8degrees above ambient room temp's...

I know... It sucks.

check for stray voltage with that stealth. Mine "leaked" 20 volts into my aquarium.

how do you check for that?

I had done something similar in my 6g during summer but now that the room temp has a 12deg delta I've upgraded to two 25w compact Fluvals - they are so small and I can drop back down to one for summer. big recommendation
Listed in the accessories for $24

Stray voltage? Leaking volts? That's not how electricity works....


Are you trying to imply that it electrified your tank without shorting your GFCI?


Go with a slightly larger heater than you need, so that it can heat the water faster if it needs to. I would go with a 25W in your case and I've got a marineland stealth 50W in my main tank and a 25W in my fresh seawater bucket - both of which seem to be fine.

How long did you let the heater set in the water before you plugged it in?

+1

Induction. Some heaters (and all powerheads for that matter) have some pretty decent windings inside them, making weak magnetic fields that can generate current in the water if conditions are right.
Leakage is maybe not the best term, but it fits.

And any heater without a thermostat is risky IMHO, DFS and other retailers should state whether a heater is thermostatically controlled or not.

I have a 50W Finnex titanium heater in the AC70 of my Picotope, works great, hysterisis seems to be very stable, and no worries of overworking the thing if it gets really cold in the room its in.

I was thinking of buying the 10watt Stealth Heater...glad I didn't. The one turn off I had was the fact that it was preset...

I found a Petco near me that had a 50watt heater and put that in my fluval edge...so far so good!