Heater Trouble

[mikedeb]

I have a marineland visitherm 100 watt submersible heater in my 20 gal high tank. It is placed in the corner of the tank behind some plants. It was set at 76 degrees and the water temp was around that as well. Recently the water temp has dropped to 72 and I have to set the heater to 85 to get the tank temp up to 75. I am assuming that something is wrong with the heater but was wondering if I could be doing something wrong (i.e. wrong placement of heater). Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks.

[blitzen25bm]

do you have enough circulation around the tank, you will need good water flow for even heating, where are you taking the temperature from, it should be the furthest corner away from the heater. is the heater completely underwater? it might be a faulty heater.

[Oakley]

from what i have read, if you have the heater vertical it can sometimes give a false reading to the stat, as the heat rises and it turns off before the water reaches the correct temp.

Dont know how right or useful this info is, just thought i would share it with you.

[blitzen25bm]

yea you are right about that, but if the water is moving and distributing the heat enough it wouldn't matter too much.

[125gJoe]

I think all tanks should have some water movement...
Placing the heater horizontally can help too.

[NJ Devils Fan]

You want the heater horizontally near filter intakes. That is the best way to make the heated water circulate.

[OrionGirl]

Heaters can get out of whack every now and then. I would try unplugging the heater for 15 minutes, and then plugging it back in. This will basically reset the heater, and it should work again. If not--replace it. Unreliable heaters are very bad for fish.