Heater placement

by Sandman1969 Sun Apr 12, 2015 10:42 am

Never wondered about this til now. But with a 130 gallon tank, what is the best placement for the heater? Should it be at the end or the middle?
I currently have mine at the one end of the tank.

There's 2 different sticker type thermometers with one being a Marina which shows 81F while the other, bought from Big Al's shows a temp of 80. Both are at opposite ends of the tank.

Or should I just take the heater out of the goldfish/koi tank & put it at the opposite end of the 130?

On a side note, my 130G now smells fishy. It never has in the last 4 years have had a smell. Any ideas? It houses 3 ID sharks and a pleco.
And yes, I know about their size.

by **Sbenson11** Sun Apr 12, 2015 5:15 pm

I'm no expert on heaters, don't really have much use for them. However it is good to have one for your Goldfish/Koi in case of a Ich outbreak and you need to raise the temperature.

As far as the heater in your tropical tank is concerned, I would think somewhere in the middle. Somewhere where there is good water flow would be my suggestion. How many watts is the heater? Big differance in the heat put out by a 100watt as compared to a 300watt.

Steve

by GaryE Sun Apr 12, 2015 5:28 pm

I don't use many heaters, just in breeding tanks. I put them in an area where the water is moving to the rest of the tank, usually close to a powerhead or filter outflow.

The fishy smell says more water changes are needed. I've had it appear a few times here, and a good filter cleaning and increased weekly changes usually do the trick.
The only other reason is sometimes if you change the food, it can cause odours.

by Sandman1969 Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:01 pm

Maybe the lack of water changes as I tend to skip one or 2 weekly changes on it.
The heater is an Ehiem Jager at 250 watts. If it sits in the middle, it may end up against the pvc cave. Would that melt it??

Also, is there a time limit on making posts? Keep getting timeouts when I hit send.

by **CAAIndie** Sun Apr 12, 2015 6:13 pm

Sandman1969 wrote:Maybe the lack of water changes as I tend to skip one or 2 weekly changes on it.
The heater is an Ehiem Jager at 250 watts. If it sits in the middle, it may end up against the pvc cave. Would that melt it??

Also, is there a time limit on making posts? Keep getting timeouts when I hit send.

https://www.canadaquaria.ca/t2203-vanishing-posts#27853

by Corvette70 Tue Apr 14, 2015 6:52 am

I would recommend two heaters if possiable. With 2 heaters they work alot less and you always have a back up one in the tank if one fails,which I have had happen? The Jager heaters have thicker glass than most heaters do which make them alot stronger. I do however keep protectors on mine with larger fish such as fast moving ir sharks so they aren't broken buy the fish.

by mikebike Tue Apr 14, 2015 10:17 pm

I second the 2 heaters to have the fail safe back up if one quits.

by Sandman1969 Sun Apr 19, 2015 4:03 pm

Corvette70 wrote:I would recommend two heaters if possiable. With 2 heaters they work alot less and you always have a back up one in the tank if one fails,which I have had happen? The Jager heaters have thicker glass than most heaters do which make them alot stronger. I do however keep protectors on mine with larger fish such as fast moving ir sharks so they aren't broken buy the fish.

I had a protector on mine, but it got broken enough to where it no longer stays on the heater tube.
Would having the heater on the glass sideways make a difference?