Heater for 5 1/2 gallon

[GobyMan]

I have never used a heater on a 5 1/2 reef before but am now thinking about it. The reason being when I wake up in the morning, the tank temp (due to A/C and no lights during the night) seems to drop to about 74 degrees. When the lights come on, the temp rises during the day to 80. I think this also has to do with the fact that the A/C just doesn't cool the house as well as it does during the evening (espec with the 90 degree + weather we have been having).

 

So, I was thinking of adding a heater, but was wondering if I kept the tank at 80 degrees through the night, would it them rise during the day those same 6 or so degrees?

 

As far as heaters go, which brands/wattage should I be looking at. I was thinking 25 watts, but there doesn't seem to be many out there.

 

Thanks.

[lizbeth]

I use a 50 watt Hagen Thermal Compact heater in my Aquaclear 200 on my 5 1/2. It was a little hard to adjust in the beginning but once I got it set it's worked great. It's set to keep the tank at 79-80. The Visi Therm 50 watt heaters are also small.

 

As for the temp swing, 5 gallon is such a small mass of water it heats and cool very fast. I don't think it would rise those same degrees but you'd have to try it and see!

[mysk]

I would suggest a ebo jeager I feel they are the best heater I have ever used

[lizbeth]

The problem with ebo jager heaters is that they are HUGE. I'm running a 100 watt in my 20 and I got a 50 watt thinking I would try it in the 5. NO way it's too big for such a small tank. I wish they would make a compact unit!

[GobyMan]

Lizbeth,

 

Are you running the Aquaclear as a filter with some kind of media or are you just using it kind of like a sump? I was toying with the idea of adding something small like that to change the flow around a bit and to use as a small sump to put a heater in, etc...

 

All I have right now is my little Rio powerhead in the tank and even that looks huge!

 

Thanks

[lizbeth]

I run it with floss some of the time, when I do I make sure to rinse it every couple of days. I don't use the media basket, just some fused quilt batting. I have to run it on the low setting because the current digs a big hole in the sand in the front of the tank if I turn it up. I've recently added an zoo med mp-100 pump in the tank, I've had some algae problems so I'm upping the circulation. The mp-100 is very small 1.7"x1.2", it pumps 30 to 55 gph. Great for small tanks.

[GobyMan]

Do you think I could run it empty and use it for the heater? Or would I be better off hiding the heater in the tank behind the rocks. I am actually looking at the Hagen Tronic 50W heater. It seems to be pretty small.

[lizbeth]

If it will fit I would run it in the filter. Try it in the store before you bring it home.

 

The only problem I've run into with this method is one time the filter impeller jammed and quit during the night. In that case it meant the tank was without circulation and heat for a few hours. I caught it in the morning and everything was fine. If I was going to leave town for a few days I would drop the heater in the main tank while I was gone .

[GobyMan]

Thanks for the advice, I think I will give it a try!