Yowza! Nobody wants to believe it's possible to cook their betta until they've done it.
And no, I've never cooked a betta, but I know a lot of people who have.
And no, I've never cooked a betta, but I know a lot of people who have.
2 gallon betta bowl with 20 gal heater?
- Thread starter Shawna
- Start date
Like I and Kas said, a 25w heater is fine for a tank that size. That is what the visatherme is. It's better to use an (appropriately sized) heater to warm a very cold tank than to avoid one for the off-chance that something could happen. If we all subscribed to that kind of fear, we'd never leave the house. I'm even a "better safe than sorry" type person...but a 25w heater is fine. It's not much different than a 200w heater going haywire on a 40g tank.
Leopardess said:
See, that's where you're wrong. Because of the small volume of water, it's quite different than a 200w going haywire in a 40g tank. It's a physics/water chemistry thing. Think about it, why does the ocean not change much in temperature? Because of the volume of water, right? It's huge. You just cannot heat that much water that fast. If you lower the volume of water it heats quite quickly. Water has a very high specific heat index (which means it hold onto heat) and the water in your betta tank has low surface volume (which means it REALLY holds onto heat) ... that small amount of water is going to hold onto that heat much longer than water in a bigger tank would. Which means the water in the small tank will get much hotter than the water in a larger tank.
Even a properly working, small heater can overheat a betta tank real quickly. There just isn't enough water there to properly regulate the heat AND the betta cannot move away from the heat source like fish in a 40 gal tank can.
I'm not just blowing smoke and being paranoid. There's a lot of science behind my opinion. :dance2:
A heater suck in the on postion will have the same effect on a small tank as a big tank. Bottom line. A higher wattage just makes the process go quicker.
For the heating pads, since they are sticky, an old herper's trick is to put a piece of tile on it. Then, you can move it freely, and its heat is a little cooler.
I have a 2 gallon hex tank (no fish) that I put a Wal-Mart "2 to 5 gallon" heater in as a test. It's been running for about 2 weeks now in a 75 degree basement room and since day two I haven't seen the tank temperature ever be lower than 86.
I would use that heater in a 5 gallon tank, but I definitely won't use it with a fish in this 2 gallon. I'll have to find an adjustable one.
I would use that heater in a 5 gallon tank, but I definitely won't use it with a fish in this 2 gallon. I'll have to find an adjustable one.
