Titi

Hi, I have a 14 gallon tank with 5 guppies and a cory cat.

It used to stay at around 82* during the day, and 78* at night, but since I started to put on the lights on about 12 hours a day its gotten really hot.

The heater is suppposed to turn off after it reaches a set temperature, but I turned it all the way down and its still heating the tank.

Its about 85* now, how do I lower it? Should I take the heater out? I put ice cubes in for now.

Dino

First unplug the heater.
After about 15 minutes,take it out.
The fish will survive long enough for you to get a new heater.

Titi

Thanks! So the heater is definitely broken then? Does it matter what kind of new heater I get?

Dino

I prefer Rena's and Ebu Jager.
I am sure other folks will have suggestions on other good brands.

Titi

Sorry, another question- willl the fish be hurt if I put a plastic bag of ice cubes in the tank? The temp hasn't gone down.

Dino

Water changes temperature slower than air.
With the heater off, I would not add ice.

Cody

i like visi therm sleath heaters, if you shop at pecto or petsmart, go online and pring of the heater you want with the correct price and wattage, when ever i got new heaters i would save almost 10 dollars since they match there internet prices if you print them off

Titi

Thanks for the tip!

Lucy

I like the visi-therm heaters too, and they're guaranteed for life.

Petco doesn't match their internet price but petsmart does. By printing out their on line price for a heater and taking it to the store, I saved $14.00 on the 50w visi therm.

Cody

thanks for the correction, i wasnt sure, i only do that at petsmart, but yes its hard to believe the mark up on those things, but i use them in all my tanks, the types dino mentioned i have heard good things about to, what you need to learn also is, you will be tempted to buy the cheaper ones, but in the end they are in-accurate and break and dont last long, so your better to to spend more money up front. i had the same problem, my heater was at the lowest setting but it was pushing 90