Lots of questions on mini heaters. My experience has been the temperature fluctuations in my Marina Betta 8W heater from 78F to 72F in the morning. I could be ignorant new owner then, but I decided to get an adjustable heater to satisfy the "control freak" part of me just to be sure that the temp is within 1F +/-.
Nevertheless, the adjustable ones are bulky and may not fit or look nice in a tank in a 1.5g to 2.5g. So I wonder if anyone has some preferences, especially if you are current or ex-owners.
My 4 Pre-set heaters for your recommendation, photos courtesy of PetSmart, are:
1. Marina Betta 8W : this is the one I had.
2. Marina C-10 (10W)
3. Aqueon 10W, courtesy of Aqueon.com
4. Hydor MINI HEATER Aquarium Heater 15W, courtesy of Amazon.com
Personally, I never trust anything as labelled for Betta fish without extreme inspection and multiple online reviews from trustworthy people. As for a heater, I love my Elite brand heater. I have a 25 watt heater that can heat small 1 gallon tanks to the larger 5 gallon tanks without problem. I would recommend it above all because you can adjust the temperature, it has a highly accurate thermostat, it costs under $20, and it has a lifetime warranty.
It also has a little light on it so you when when it is working and when it isn't. I've had mine for almost a year and have not once had a problem. Its sturdy and also easily fits into my 2 gallon tank, which is my boy's vacation house when I take him to visit my parents.
Well, I don't know about the other heaters, but I have 2 of the Aqueon ones... One in a 2.5 gal, & the other in a 1.75 gal bowl.... They are in relatively the same place in my house, (no cold or warm spots, no windows close by, same distance from heat/ac vents) & yet the temps in the tanks are VERY different.... In my 2.5, it's around 77*-79* F (I cover the tank in a towel at night, b/c I leave a couple lights on at night {I don't live on the safest of streets, is why the lights}) Yet, for my 1.75 gal, the temp goes from 86*-82* F if I cover his bowl at night, and if I don't, it goes from 80*-84* F it's kinda crazy (I am going to be moving him from his bowl, to a 7.9 gal, so the this is temporary-& always has been for the 2 wks I've had him) but the zoo-med betta bowl heater pad I had before this (which lasted a week, b4 poisoning the water) held a very steady temp 79*-80* F... Before it went in the trashcan
it's for 2-15gallons, it's a 50w pre-set heater and keeps my tanks at a perfect 78*F, it never fluctuates and I have it in 3 different tanks. Also has a 2 year warranty.
I personally had a bad experience with the Tetra Whisper and will never buy one again. They are not adjustable. I have bought two. One never worked and the other broke. And it didn't stop heating, no, it just kept on heating and almost fried my fish. But that is my experience with it. I only use Hydor heaters now. I have them in all of my tanks and have never had any problems with them.
I have non of the above I have Top Fin 15 watt and it keeps the tanks at about 81-82 in a room with good air circulation. In a warm room they can go to 84 but I remedied that by cracking the lid a little bit although 84 is still ok but not ideal.
I had one like the last one that could be placed under the gravel. Worked great in the one gallon tank for 3 days. Than got a 5 gallon tank and it worked for another 3 days an than stopped. My girlfriend went and bought an adjustable one
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