# Recommend a mini preset heater



## Otterfun (Dec 31, 2012)

Hi,

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


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## Sivan (Aug 30, 2010)

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.


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## mld02004 (Jan 4, 2013)

I have the marina and hydor and I like them both. I think I'd put the hydor before the marina in terms of heating.


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## Picasso84 (Feb 11, 2013)

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


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## Picasso84 (Feb 11, 2013)

Oh yea, forgot to add this, thank you for starting this thread! I have been wondering the same thing!


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## White Mage (Jan 31, 2013)

The first 3 are BAD. Tried them all, they overheated my 5 GALLON, tank. haven't tried the last one... First one fluctuated WAAAAAAAAY too much.

I personally recommend this one from walmart:








http://www.walmart.com/ip/10291808?...1=g&wl2=&wl3=21486607510&wl4=&wl5=pla&veh=sem



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.

3gal
5gal
and another 5gal

Works great!


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## Tabbie82 (Jan 24, 2013)

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.


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## VJM (Feb 7, 2013)

I tried a Cobalt preset, and had no luck. It really couldn't keep the tank above 60 in cold (for Florida) weather, so back it went. 

Now I have a Hydor Theo in my 3g and a Archaea Mini in my 2.5. Both adjustable, both work spendidly. The Archaea is really, really small.


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## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

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.


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## kyle89 (Mar 1, 2013)

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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## Lotte (Mar 3, 2013)

Picasso84 said:


> 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


Zoo med poisons the water?! I currently have that >.<


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## Aurie (Jun 22, 2012)

White Mage said:


> The first 3 are BAD. Tried them all, they overheated my 5 GALLON, tank. haven't tried the last one... First one fluctuated WAAAAAAAAY too much.
> 
> I personally recommend this one from walmart:
> 
> ...



I use this one in my 10 gallon and also my 5 gallon.. It keeps everything very very solid! Walmart is the cheapest place to get this hands down! 

They seem to be hit or miss but if you're looking for a heater and you're at walmart this is a good alternative till you can save up for a good adjustable heater. 

I used to have the zoo med one that lies flat, it was round not oval. I had it under the sand/gravel of my 2.5 and later my 5. It was IMPOSSIBLE to get it to sit down without massive amts of substrate over it and it only worked half the time. 5 degrees above room temp? I have my 5 gallon in my kitchen. The warmest room in our house (taking cooking into consideration) and even on Thanksgiving day with the oven on NON stop and the range burning... it was at 68. Petco (the place I got mine) has since stopped carrying it


Heres a picture of it.. it's horrible. Never buy it. It DOES work, but not well enough for a betta. Maybe a frog or something. Now that I look it up, it says for 1-3 gallons with might work, but it didn't work in my 2.5 at all (Acrylic Mini Bow). They used to advertise it for 5 gallons. You want to go higher on heaters than needed. Like filtration. With adjustable heaters you can always tone down the heater and it won't have to work often, but it'll be an eyesore in your tank.


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## Lotte (Mar 3, 2013)

Aurie said:


> I use this one in my 10 gallon and also my 5 gallon.. It keeps everything very very solid! Walmart is the cheapest place to get this hands down!
> 
> They seem to be hit or miss but if you're looking for a heater and you're at walmart this is a good alternative till you can save up for a good adjustable heater.
> 
> ...


What a pity. This happens to be the one I have! I've had it going for a week now and it's been going up to 84 degrees and stopping there. I'm trying to find ways to get it lower such as getting a lid with a lot of holes in it like some sort of netting. You guys seem to have very bad experiences with these so I'm anxious that it might fry soon or "poison?" My water as someone stated above.


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## Aurie (Jun 22, 2012)

Honestly, I'd go with a 50 watt adjustable for anything lower than 10 gallons. I have to be honest, I got a good preset heater, but I"m saving up for a mini hydor for my 5.5 and my 10 gallon is soon updated to a 20 so I'm going to keep my adjustable for a spare. I have 2 heaters in my 46. I might just run 1 of those and move the other to my new 20 and put the preset in the 46 near the outflow.


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## kyle89 (Mar 1, 2013)

Most pre set heaters are only afew dollars cheaper than a good adjustable heater. Number 1 and 3 are just around 15 dollars at my lfs. I actually picked up a nice adjustable heater at that fish place for 18 dollars with my rewards card


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## Picasso84 (Feb 11, 2013)

MuseBetta said:


> Zoo med poisons the water?! I currently have that >.<


Yes, it lasted maybe a week, then the water reeked of burnt rubber/copper pennies (wierd combo, I know) even with my 3 50% wc I had done up to that point (over 6 days) (I promptly did a 100% and threw that heater, *and my gravel* out b/c it stunk too, & didn't wanna risk it) and I had started noticing something was wrong, b/c the previous day (and a little bit the day before that) my betta had started getting lethargic, and just sat on the bottom, having some trouble breathing (well, starting to) and his fins were beginning to rot.... 

All of which completely cleared up w/in 36hrs (or less) of cleaning his bowl, and plants/decor & adding new rocks, & the Aqueon heater & (obviously) having pristine water helped

Oh, and there was this weird film on top of the water (kinda like what gasoline looks like floating around in water)


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## Lotte (Mar 3, 2013)

Picasso84 said:


> Yes, it lasted maybe a week, then the water reeked of burnt rubber/copper pennies (wierd combo, I know) even with my 3 50% wc I had done up to that point (over 6 days) (I promptly did a 100% and threw that heater, *and my gravel* out b/c it stunk too, & didn't wanna risk it) and I had started noticing something was wrong, b/c the previous day (and a little bit the day before that) my betta had started getting lethargic, and just sat on the bottom, having some trouble breathing (well, starting to) and his fins were beginning to rot....
> 
> All of which completely cleared up w/in 36hrs (or less) of cleaning his bowl, and plants/decor & adding new rocks, & the Aqueon heater & (obviously) having pristine water helped
> 
> Oh, and there was this weird film on top of the water (kinda like what gasoline looks like floating around in water)


 Thanks looks like I need to get a 25watt adjustable


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## LoriKeet (Feb 4, 2013)

I can personally attest that the Marina C-10 is a piece of crap (excuse my french). I bought one and followed the directions to the T; the thing never heated up past 75-76 degrees and I had to use a space heater in my room to keep the tank toasty till my 5 gallon tank and new heater arrived in the mail.

Although my experience with mini heaters hasn't been the best, I am head over heals in love with my Aqueon Pro Submersible Aquarium Heater - 50 watt; it's a real gem if you have at least a five gallon. <3


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## ANHEL123 (Jul 21, 2010)

Good ones that a lot of people recommending for 1 and up gall are 
Penn Plax Cascade 
Hagen Elite Mini Submersible 
Hydor Theo 
Marineland Visitherm 

Most of, if not all of these heaters have to be ordered online or found in a local fish shop. Petsmart and Petco generally don't carry them. Good places to order are www.amazon.com and www.drsfostersmith.com
I have Cascad,Petco , Visi-THERM in my tanks and i like them. Temperature in my tanks about 76* stable. You can keep betta in 76* it pretty good temperature for bettas.


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## kyle89 (Mar 1, 2013)

I have a 25 watt hyrdo adjustable heater in my tank and couldn't be happier. Small in size an keeping the temp at 80. Paid 18 at my lfs. I had one like the zoo med that said it would do 5 gallons an couldnt keep the temp at 74


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