# How long should a heater take to heat 2.5 gallon tank?



## DSquad4 (Jan 17, 2013)

Hi! I'm realtively new to betta care. Recently I bought a 2.5 gallon tank (before you yell, it's only temporary) and my new lil guy seems to be enjoying swimming through the foliage and whatnot. I bought a Topfin 7.5 watt aquarium heater for the tank. I've had it installed for about 7 hours, and the water temp has only gone up from about 68 degrees to 74 degrees. I'm not sure if the temperature increase has just been from my room's heater being on, or from the aquarium heater itself. I reached in the tank and tapped the heater and it didn't feel that warm at all. Is this normal or should I return it for a different heater? I only ask because I've never used a heater with previous fish that I've owned. 

Link to product is here (7.5 watt):
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12264883#RatingsDetail


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## Surferjo (Oct 6, 2012)

Im not a huge fan of the non-adjustable heaters. I have 3 and only one that really works well was this one.










I have an adjustable for my Betta Condo and they are typically much better. That being said i have noticed that the non-adjustable ones will move the temp slowly. I think a 6 degree movement is most likely the heater and not the ambient temp of your room. I typically see a high temp spike in the beginning like 84-86, than they seem to settle out to a nice 78-82 area.


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## shellieca (Jul 12, 2012)

I have a 2.5g as well, I bought an adjustable fully submersible heater that fits horizontally along the wall. Invest in an adjustable heater if its possible. My experience with the ones like you have is they work great in a 1g so long as your room temp is in the 70's but can't hold the mid-upper 70's if your room temp drops I to the 60's.


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## DSquad4 (Jan 17, 2013)

I unplugged the heater and plugged it back in and it seems to be chugging along now. the water temp is up to 80 degrees and seems to be holding steady. thank you both for your replies!


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## Irishdancer (Apr 5, 2011)

I have that heater in one of my tanks, and to be honest I don't like it because it's inconsistent. Sometimes it'll heat the water up quickly and sometimes it takes hours, and then I have to turn it off at night unless it's really cold, because it'll sometimes make the water too warm. If I ran the heater constantly, the water would get dangerously hot.

I do remember that later when I bought a different brand of heater, it said on the packaging that the first time it's used, it'll take longer to warm. So I wouldn't return the heater, just make sure you keep a careful eye on the temperature so that you know when the heater needs to be turned on and off.


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