Heater for less than 1gal pico

[non-photosynt]

I'm setting less than 1 gal acrylic pico tank, water movement - by Red Sea smallest HOB filter, but heater is too big - 6" submersible, around 1" diameter plus suction cups holder, 50W. The only small heater I saw was 7.5W flat heater, Hydor, without temperature control. It's written that it will keep temperature in the tank 2-5F above ambient temperature. Sounds not good enough for keeping temperature at 78F.

What are you using?

[brent-konieczny]

The hydor will overheat a small tank very fast. There is no temperature controller so it is always on. The 2-5 above ambient is estimated for a larger tank. I use my powerhead for heating in my 1gal jar (.75 gals of water in it). It is turned all the way down and keeps the water at a constant 78. It does go up to 80-82 when the room is warm. Then I just take the light off the top a little (it's a flexible desk lamp). If you are interested it is an Elite mini pump/ submersible filter (I took the piece off that hold the sponge because really, who needs a sponge to mess with?). http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx?R=6...familyID=13796&

It comes with a cool flare nozzle and is really small. The more you turn the flow down, the more heat it will add to your water.

Here is a vid when I was doing a water change. The thing is half out of the water just to show the flow with it turned all the way down.

http://www.wildernessvoyage.com/files/MVI_5649.AVI

EDIT: Here is another video just to show the flow with the tank filled all the way.

http://www.wildernessvoyage.com/files/MVI_5380.AVI

 

Hope all that is helpful

[Ricky@3rdshift]

Those hydor heaters suck for a small tank just to back up what he said. I bought a full submersible/adjustable 25watt which was over kill. but it works great!!

I also have the Elite unit Brent is talking aboutand that thing pushes water like there is no tomorrow.

[non-photosynt]

This is a big help, thank you!

[doncb]

I use the Hydor heater in both of my 2.5g tanks with no problems. I know that when the room temp goes over 76* to unplug them. So I only use them in the winter. No problems at all.

[The Hound]

Hey, this is a little off subject but not much.

I currently have a Red Sea Nano HOB filter. It seems to add pretty decent water flow, I can see my Kenya tree swaying in the current in the corner of the tank. Would it be recommended to get the pump that Brent recommended? or perhaps use both the pump and the Red Sea? I'm just concerned I don't get enough flow.

[brent-konieczny]

It depends if you need a heater. If you already have one don't get the extra pump. If you wouldn't mind extra flow and some heat you can get the pump and dial it down.

[The Hound]

Well I do need a heater, in the evening, and extra flow is alwasy good.

[jane of baden]

I did that pico project. with the red sea .8 gal thing, its tons of fun. But anyway:

 

I used a 6" heater and learned to jiggle it right. takes a few days but my temp was a stable 77 degrees. Works like a charm, just a little big.

[The Hound]

The trick of course is the 18 watts of lighting. They heat the tank up just perfectly during the day, but at night of course they go off and the tank temp drops. I suppose I could use a heater, but I am quickly running out of real estate in that tank.

[Argent]

just picked up the one brent-konieczny posted from my local PetCo -- tested it in a bucket when I got home -- seemed to have really nice flow -- will install it in my pico tomorrow at work.

[The Hound]

Sweet, looking forward to hearing how it turns out.

[non-photosynt]

Thanks!

doncb: How water temperature changes during day/night, when room temperature changes a lot? My southern window gives a lot of heat.

For now I'm still using 6" submersible 50W at lower experimentally checked settings, it took a few days to check stability of it's work. Later will try to improve this as was adviced.

[Argent]

I pulled the heater out of my 3 gallon tank and just put the Elite mini pump in there -- the water circulation is crazy! and so far it's maintaining the tanks temperatures too. I had found out that even the stock pump on the eclipse filtration setup generated enough heat to keep my tank around 78-80 degrees.

[The Hound]

Man, I bought the little pump and I don't think mine is working well, or it's not priming. I get no water circulation and it's loud as hell. Perhaps I need to put it in a bucket of water and mess with it a bit first. I dunno.

[Argent]

sounds like you have some air trapped in it somewhere -- just need to get that cleared and you should be golden.

 

EDIT: Here's a pic of it in my tank

 

http://www.dodgemotorsports.com/images/pau...%20(Medium).JPG

[The Hound]

Ah sweet. Are you using the air hose to make it venturi? I can't imagine one would want too...lots of extra bubbles.

[Argent]

nope, the valve can close itself off and I just removed the hose for it.

[brent-konieczny]

Yeah, I don't know who would want to use the venturi in any application.