How to Setup an Aquarium Heater – Submersible Fish Tank Heater Guide

If you are planning to set-up an aquarium at your place then the first thing that you should go there and after that take care of is that the tank is being heated properly. Fishes are very sensitive to heat. All breeds of fishes need the optimal temperature for their proper growth and development. The aquarium heater helps in maintaining the correct temperature inside the tank.

The temperature shouldn’t go above the optimal mark or lower even. The installation of the fish tank heater is also another tricky topic. Everything has several factors attached to it. Whenever any beginner thinks about developing a saltwater aquarium, there are some doubts that arise in their minds.

The saltwater aquarium can be a reef tank or a fish only tank. Many people favor a fish only tank because the reef tank is apparently very difficult in maintaining. However, this article will help you decide the right one according to your needs.

We recommend you to not be intimidated from the very first. The very first thing that should be kept in mind is the heating arrangement of the water tank. A considerably large location is needed for the tank. The location should also be leveled and best supported for the aquarium and also the stand.

How to Take Proper Care of the Aquarium Heater

Proper care must be taken so that the tank is not kept very close to a heat source. The fish tank water heater should also not be placed very close to a region that is too cold. Ideally, you must keep the tank at a constant temperature of 76 to 80 degrees.

What is most important is that the aquarium must not receive direct sunlight. Direct sunlight aids the growth of algae and heat problems. These are detrimental to the healthy environment of a saltwater aquarium.

A good fish tank heater and a thermometer are the key aspects of any well-maintained aquarium. The heater should also be in a very effective water environment. There should not be any direct heating or sunlight.

Quick Read: How to Clean A fish tank?

The heater which should be installed should be of an approximate size of 4 to 5 watts per gallon. After this system is set up you just need to adjust the temperature of the heaters accordingly.

This following article will let you decide what to do with the heater and the tank. It will give you all the steps that you need to follow in order to have the maximum efficiency of the heater. The submersible aquarium heater may sound complicated but we promise to make it simple for you.

If this is the question that you have in your mind after you had the idea of a submersible heater then we have the correct answers for you.

They have a temperature dial control. The temperature dial control helps in fixing the temperature that you want. It has a rotational knob which will let you change the temperature with ease whenever needed. 

The calibrations of the submersible aquarium heater will let you understand which is the temperature that the heater is trying to establish. The temperature range that the tropical fishes need is 68 to 88 Fahrenheit.

This presetting is not always 100 percent precise. The accuracy level has to be checked. The temperature of the tank should always be checked with a thermometer. This thermometer will give you the precise reading of the temperature of the water.

As we have already discussed that the fishes are very sensitive to temperature hence it is very important to cross-check the temperature inside the aquarium setup.

The other heaters have to be clipped to the rim of the tank. It should also be safely guarded against any water splashes. Splashes of water may disturb the performance of the heater and thus cause problems.

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inside the tank. Proper positioning will enhance the performance of the heater. If you are using any other heater then there is a different procedure that you need to follow for its positioning.

The positioning of the Submersible Aquarium Heater

We find that most of all the aquarium heater that is available in the market now are submersible ones. They are constructed in such a marvelous way that the heater can be operated from under the water always. It can be operated like that for its entire lifetime.

In fact, proper care must be ensured that the heater works properly from under the water only. Exposure to air will damage the components of the submersible heater and thus it is advised that it is not at all exposed to the outer air.

If by any chance they come in contact with air then there is a chance that the product is damaged by overheating of its internal components. So the most important question that comes to your mind now is that where they should be installed?

The answer to this question is supplied to you in this article. You do not have to worry about it. What has to be done is that you should not install them at a place where the heater tube touches any object.

If the heater tube touches any object then there might be several repercussions arising. In order to prevent any casualties, proper care must be ensured that the fish tank heater tube is not touching any object.

The aquarium heaters tube must have just water off the tank surrounding it. Only exposure to water will prevent any type of hotspot in the apparatus. Also if there is no object surrounding the heater tube then there will be no worry of the breaking of the fish tank glass

Fish Tank Glass Can Break Due to Unusual Heating by the Aquarium Heaters

The aquarium glass can break due to unusual heating. By unusual we mean uneven heating. The uneven heating can take place due to a rock or an ornament which prevent the tank walls to be heated evenly. This same thing will take place if you keep your submersible aquarium heater buried deep down in a pile of gravel.

If you obstruct the tube of the heater then the tube will simply burst. The tube busts due to the uneven heating that takes place due to the gravel pile.

Another thing that you should ensure is that the aquarium water heater should be placed in the path of direct water flow. When there is a direct water flow then there will be lesser chances of obstruction for the heater.

Lesser obstruction will mean that the heating is uniformed and no detrimental situations will arise. The water that comes out of the fish tank heater should be very nicely mixed. This outflow water must also be kept in motion at all times.

If this water is in motion constantly then the heat gets pulled from the tube of the heater and gets distributed uniformly over the entire volume of water. If there is a proper current then there will be no occurrence of thermal layering.

There is one special trick that we will share with you inquisitive readers now. When you are placing the submersible tank heater make sure that you are placing it slightly diagonally instead of vertically placing it.

If you place it vertically, it is seen that the heater is not very accurate. The accuracy reason is not very much understandable though. However, we have seen the accuracy rates go up quite a bit when the heater is placed at a slight angle.

A fish tank heater takes time to understand the temperature of the water that it has been put into. After the installation process is over you will have to give the heater some time to get adjusted to the environment after which it can start functioning properly.

A submersible heater should ideally be placed inside the water tank for about 30 minutes. These thirty minutes should be those thirty minutes before the power is applied to the heater.

Time is very much needed for the proper functioning of the heater throughout its lifespan. The time is the reason for the heater to adjust itself to the surrounding water temperature. Proper time is essential to the good installation of this aquarium water heater. Thus, the user must not hurry too much and gently complete the procedures.

When you purchase a fish tank water heater you will mostly see that there is an indicator light. This indicator light is actually integrated into the unit of the heater.

This light starts glowing whenever the heater starts its work. Again, after the heater has worked for some time, it tends to trip. Once the temperature which is required is attained, it stops heating the water.

All breeds of fishes need the optimal temperature for their proper growth and development. The aquarium heaters help in maintaining the correct temperature inside the tank.

The temperature shouldn’t go above the optimal mark or lower even. So, after the temperature which is optimal is obtained the heater stops working temporarily. During this time the light stops glowing.

Thus we can safely say that the light indicates whether the submersible heater is working or not. If it is not working then the light will be off and if it is working then the light will be on.

Working of the Aquarium Heaters Lights

Lights on means working and lights off means not working temporarily. This feature makes the aquarium water heater very user-friendly. The user will not have any trouble understanding the current state of the heater.

The way the heater is heating and for how long it is heating, depends a lot on some primary external conditions. One of those conditions is the heat retention capacity of the fish tank.

The more the heat retention capacity of the aquarium the lesser time is required for the aquarium heaters to stay on. The room temperature plays a huge role in maintaining the temperature.

There is one way in which you can reduce the power consumption by the fish tank heater. If you put a canopy over the water tank then the heat will not escape from the water tank.

If the heat does not escape this means that the heater can function for some amount of time and then turn off temporarily. A canopy also prevents evaporation from the water tank. Overall, we mean to say that installing a canopy over the water tank is beneficial in multiple ways as mentioned above.

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