cuteusagi

Hi All!

I have a heater installed in my aquarium, and I have a quick question for you!! It's a very standard, generic heater, and as it is now, the little tape that has the squiggly line for the water level is no where near my water level and never will be - it's too high! In other heater experiences, is there a piece of the heater that the water level needs to be up to, or as long as it's on the tape will it be ok? The weather here is starting to cool down, and I would love to not be scared of turning this thing on!! (The guy at the LFS said that if the water level wasn't right, it could blow up - is this also true?)

Thanks everyone!!!

capekate

If you have suction cups that hold the heater to the glass, you can move the heater down to the water level so that the line on the heater is at water level. If you have the one that hooks to the tank itself, you would have to bring the water level up in your tank.

cuteusagi

It hook on to the top of the tank, but there's no way the water level can ever be that high, due to the line being as high as the black border going along the top of the tank. I can't adjust how far down the heater goes. Because the floor is not 100% level where the tank is, the water at the front of the tank would overflow for the water level to be high enough in the back.

capekate

I also have a heater that hooks to the back of one of my tanks. So I know what you mean. I believe that in a glass tube you can see the heater core, the metal that curls at the bottom. this is your heater filiment. that part must always be under water. I imagine that if you had to, you could leave at least an inch above the water line. If your squiggly line is just about an inch above the water, you should be ok. other than that, if that doesnt work, you may have to buy another heater and get one that is called a submersible heater. It allows you to put the whole heater under water, and it sounds like that is what you need considering your water level problem.
~ kate