Tank Heaters

[bdls]

I had my tank heater go out sometime Saturday and realized it on Monday afternoon, I normally try to keep my water at 78-79 degrees. But whenI noticed it, my water was at 72 which I think cause may have hippo tang to get ick. My question is what is a good heater for a 75 gallon tank. I bought a Visi-Therm Stealth heater from AD yesterday rated up to 75 gallon at 250 watts. Can I put a smaller heater in the sump to help the one I have in my tank or just stick to one heater, or should I go with a heater rated of 100 gallons.
Thanks
Bobby

[erikharrison]

You should be able to sump the one that you bought. You should have one rated for the correct water volume of your tank, so you should probably be ok. Once the tank temp stabilizes you can monitor to see how long the heater is staying on for to determine if another one is needed.

[bdls]

Thanks Erik. I put the new heater in yesterday and my tank is just now reaching 78 degrees, I'm trying to get the water to 82-83 degrees pushing 83 to kill off any ick in the tank. I noticed today that my Coral beauty has ick on it. So I'm going to just try to raise the water temp and hopefully it will kill the ick. The fish are eating OK, I'm using garlic in their food and I also have a uv hooked up. I noticed awhile ago my heater was off and the water temp is 78 degrees, the heater is set for 82. Again if may take awhile to fully reheat the tank again..
anyway thanks for the reply Erik.
Bobby

[txstateunivreefer]

stealth heaters are great i have one as well bought it after my glass one shattered and just about fried not only my fish but me too

[alton]

I bought a stealth on Sunday. It is amazing that it took 35 years to get away from a glass heater. bdls 82-83 will not kill your ich, just get your tank back to normal, feed food soaked with garlic, and this should pass.

[erikharrison]

Heating a tank will only speed up their life cycle. You have to use that in conjunction with other treatment techniques. I agree with Alton that your tank should just go back to normal. It may get a little worse as the ich get to the stage where they cover the fish, but after that you will probably be ok. You may want to have your salinity verified on a refractometer just in case. A higher salinity will make it easy for the ich to survive!

[bdls]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I checked my salinity with a refractometer and it's reading 1.023.
I'll try what you guy's say. Hope it works. The Fish are eating good except my Hippo tang
he has it the worse so I put him in a hospital tank.
Again thanks for the info.
Bobby

[JimD]

"Heating a tank will only speed up their life cycle."

Sorry Erik, thats not 100% correct. Due to the lesser ammount of oxygen in warmer water, Ich cannot survive as well as in cooler waters with higher O2 levels. Warm water Ich treatment has been around for many years and is still a favorite amongst many veteran aquarists.
http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/CuringIch.htm

.

[bdls]

The heater I just bought only heats up the up to 78 degrees,I have the temp set for 82
so should I put a smaller heater in my sump to help heat the main tank? I'm trying to get the tank temp up to 83 degrees.
Thanks for the link Jim
Bobby

[Richard]

"Heating a tank will only speed up their life cycle."

Sorry Erik, thats not 100% correct. Due to the lesser ammount of oxygen in warmer water, Ich cannot survive as well as in cooler waters with higher O2 levels. Warm water Ich treatment has been around for many years and is still a favorite amongst many veteran aquarists.
http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/CuringIch.htm

.


Sorry Jim, that is not 100% correct. The article you linked is talking about freshwater ich. The idea behind speeding up the life cycle is to hasten treatment time using meds, since most meds only kill the parasite in the free swimming stage.

Saltwater "ich" or white spot disease is usually cryptocaryon. It's optimum reproduction temp is 86. So warming the water will only speed the life cycle. Not real beneficial unlees your treating with meds. There are some other protozoans which can cause white spots similar to "ich" which can be treated by raising the temps.

[JimD]

Sorry Richard, Ive always used this method in the past with great success so it seems to work even without the use of meds but hey, youre the expert my friend.

[bdls]

Now I'm really confused ???????

[JimD]

Richard is the biologist here so I would be inclined to follow his directions. Im just offering information that seemed to have work for myself in the past.
I suggest doing your own in depth research and possibly draw your own conclusions.. Rarely is anything cut and dry in this hobby.

[captexas]

As for heaters, I've always thought it better to have two smaller heaters than one big one. That way if one fails the other should still prevent the temps from dropping too low. I've had two Ebo-Jagers for the longest time, but I'm thinking of getting new ones so I'll have to check out the Stealths. My biggest problem with the Ebo-Jagers's I have is they are the older ones and are not fully submersible. And being glass is always a worry.

[Richard]

First I'd like to say that I'm not a biologist nor have I ever claimed to be an expert on anything. I have always been interested in diseases so I read a fair bit about them and I've been in the position to experience an awful lot of them.

My point wasn't that raising the temp was never going to help. Rather it depends on what exactly your fish have. We refer to white spots on a fish as "ich" because it's a carry over from freshwater where there is an actual parasite named ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, you can see why it was shortened to ich). In saltwater those white spots can be caused by a variety of parasites. Keep in mind that you can't actually see any of them without a microscope. The white spots you see are just the fishes response to the parasite. Much like you might develop a red bump on your arm from any number of things.

As I said, Cryptocaryon is the most common parasite that causes saltwater "ich". It is a very well studied parasite and according to the research it reproduces best at 86F. You can read all you ever wanted to know about it and the various treatment approaches in this 5 Part Article (http://www.marineaquariumadvice.com/aquarium_fish_1.html). Just remember that there are other parasites which can cause very similar external signs. Unless you're using a microscope you can't ever be 100% sure what bug your fish has and how effective any particular treatement will be. For example, there is one called ichthybodosis (Costia), recommended treatment is to increase water temp to 86F (per Noga).


Now I'm really confused ???????
Well don't feel bad about being more confused. It's a confusing topic and there is no 100% correct answer. Bottom line, don't be married to any one piece of advice. If you try something and it works then great. If it isn't working then you need to try a different approach.

Oh, ditto on captexas advice. I will never use a single heater large enough to cook my tank because the 50 cent thermostat on it failed in the ON position. It took me 3 cooked tanks to come to that conclusion. Two were caused by Stealth heaters.

[bdls]

Thanks for the info. Richard.
I tried JimD way and it seem to be working, my hippo tang is looking better and swing more.
I wasn't sure about the heaters though. I like the stealth heater only thing is it's hard to tell when it goes out. How small of a heater does anyone recommend in a 75 gallon tank.
I have a wet/ dry sump that I purchase at AD. I have a heater rated for a 29 gallon would that work in the sump?
Again thanks for the help. Everyone has shared some good info.
Bobby

[erikharrison]

Like Chris stated, I also have two heaters. They are both underrated for my tank, they are also not on all of the time. :)

[bdls]

Checked out my fish this morning when the lights came on, and they seem to be ICK free.
Thanks for all the help guys. I think in Jan. I'll become a member.
Thanks again for all the help.
Bobby

[JimD]

Hope things continue to work out for you.... treasurer@maast.org PayPal address for future reference.

[TexasTodd]

Ditto on cooked tanks. I've had a couple cooked by Visi-Therm heaters...interestingly the same company that makes the stealth.

My most trusted is EboJagger submersible.

FWIW, best way to be ick free-----UV or Ozone. :)

Todd

[bdls]

Thanks for the link Jim D.
I have a uv hooked up, but got ick. I know the uv's help about 90% of the time, it's the other 10% i need to worry about.
Bobby

[erikharrison]

Bobby, how old are the bulbs? What kind of pump is pushing it? What wattage is it?

[bdls]

Erik
I replaced the bulb in July, the wattage is 9 watts and the pump is a Odyssea 700
Bobby

[razermouse]

My new 180 gallon tank has no heaters at the moment. I'm running two external pumps which in the last week have raised the temperature from 70 (brrrrrrr) to 77 degrees. I touched the main pump and wow is it hot. And this is with no lights yet.

I agree about having two heaters just in case. I bought two 300 watt heaters but we'll see if they get used. I'm more concerned in my set up that I'll need to chill the water.

That's excellent that it seems to have cleared up. Great job!