PascalKrypt
So I bought this heater, a fluval preset (to 78, I was told when buying), second-hand (guess I know now why it was being sold, whoops) but it has been doing something puzzling. Even though it only has 25 watts of powerhouse, it overheats even my 10 gallon to a whopping 86F.
Weirdly, it seems that it is actually the thermostat that is broken, not the heater itself. Because it heats anything to exactly 86F, I tested this in a 2.5, 5.5 and a 10 gallon. I don't have an empty 10+ without plants that would prefer not to be fried so I can't try any larger.
Should this be possible at all? I thought the limit of a 25 watt was pretty much 10 degrees in a 5 gallon or 5 degrees in a 10 gallon. My room temp is at 68-69, so it is heating a 10 gallon close to 20 degrees.
I've had it on for a while so it isn't like it is burning out either, and it does actually stop heating when the temperature reaches 86. Back in the summer when the room temperature exceeded 86 it stopped heating for several days until temps dropped again, so I didn't actually notice for a while how wonky it was. Now that autumn has come again I'm baffled it is managing to maintain that temperature.
(When I noticed what was going on with it I put it in an empty tank, so nothing is getting fried in there. I could toss it but it does function consistently so is there any fish that wouldn't mind that temp or should I just put it in a well-circulating 30 gallon and save on buying a more powerful heater?)
Weirdly, it seems that it is actually the thermostat that is broken, not the heater itself. Because it heats anything to exactly 86F, I tested this in a 2.5, 5.5 and a 10 gallon. I don't have an empty 10+ without plants that would prefer not to be fried so I can't try any larger.
Should this be possible at all? I thought the limit of a 25 watt was pretty much 10 degrees in a 5 gallon or 5 degrees in a 10 gallon. My room temp is at 68-69, so it is heating a 10 gallon close to 20 degrees.
I've had it on for a while so it isn't like it is burning out either, and it does actually stop heating when the temperature reaches 86. Back in the summer when the room temperature exceeded 86 it stopped heating for several days until temps dropped again, so I didn't actually notice for a while how wonky it was. Now that autumn has come again I'm baffled it is managing to maintain that temperature.
(When I noticed what was going on with it I put it in an empty tank, so nothing is getting fried in there. I could toss it but it does function consistently so is there any fish that wouldn't mind that temp or should I just put it in a well-circulating 30 gallon and save on buying a more powerful heater?)
