Lucy

I have a 5g hex
1st heater...Junior heater from walmart, supposed to be for 2-5 gallons..the water temp didn't budge.

2nd heater...TopFin 25w, on highest setting heated tank to 72 degress, woke up this morning, the temp is down to 69 the light that shows it's working is not on.

Sigh.....going to return the TopFin today and exchange it for a Marlineland 50w. (I had already read on this forum to get a 50w, stupid me, it's a 45 min drive)

Lucy

I don't know what to do, I exchanged the TopFin 25Watt for a Marineland 50Watt today, I've had it on since 2 this afternoon and the water hasn't gotten any higher than 72 degrees.
I used 2 different thermometers and turned the heater up to 82 and also checked my plugs.
Is it really possible I got 2 bad heaters?
Does anyone have any suggestions? I'd appreciate it any input, thank you so much.

lilsoccakid

are u sure its set up right?

Lucy

Thank you for your reply.
I thought I set it up correctly, I set the temp, put it in the tank and plugged it in. It is completely underwater, not touching the bottom, and placed near the intake part of the filter.
I'm going to unplug it and start all over again, just as if I took it out of the box.
I must be doing something wrong, but I can't figure out what.

COBettaCouple

It sounds like it is setup right. Would it be possible to post a pic of it setup in the tank?

Tavel

i've noticed those marineland (visitherm I'm guessing) heaters are very slow at heating a tank. They hold the temperature very precisely, but that means they're a little OCD on the way. Heat and check, heat and check, heat and check and so on. lol

Mine always take about 2 days to get to the set temperature...but they never budge even a degree after that.

Lucy

Sorry, I should have followed up on this long ago.
I took the heater out of the tank and started from the beginning and it's been fine ever since.
The only thing I did different the second time was set the temp befor putting it in the tank. Duh, thats what the directions said to do.