Heater Trouble Help

[ZachariahBeanz]

Hey, I’ve got a marine land heater, and I’ve set it in my tank. I’ve set the temp on the thermometer to 78°f and I checked the temp today and it was at 86°f? Do you know why this is, and how to fix it?
PS..my tank is 20 gallons

 

[esquare]

I have found that a lot of heaters, especially the cheaper ones, do not have accurate temp scales on them and need to be checked against a reliable thermometer. Some have adjustable scales that will let you change the reading to match your tank thermometer. Just adjust the temp until your tank thermometer reads the number you are shooting for and then leave it.

 

[Doctorgori]

20gal, Id set my heater for 72F and see what gives…
If I give no other advice it’s that it’s better cool than warm/hot …
nothing in any tank dies above 70F, but a lot will above 86F

 

[esquare]

I just looked up the heater you mention and it looks like it has a thermometer on the front. Just keep adjusting the temp dial until the thermometer reads what you want. Any scale that is associated with the temp dial I normally assume is incorrect. As Doctorgori said, starting at a lower temp and then adjusting from there is probably safer. It will take a while for the adjustments to show up in the tank.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Hey, I’ve got a marine land heater, and I’ve set it in my tank. I’ve set the temp on the thermometer to 78°f and I checked the temp today and it was at 86°f? Do you know why this is, and how to fix it?
PS..my tank is 20 gallons

Yep. This is quite common. As stated, just find the temp setting that gives you the desired result. Also, realize that heaters go bad quite often. Consider what the lifespan of that particular heater is and replace it BEFORE it is due to fail. With whatever I'll choose for mine, I'll replace it out when it is about 75% done with its expected lifespan. It really is a cheap part of the entire equation that can, upon failure, yield catastrophic results.

 

[Doctorgori]

Yep. This is quite common. As stated, just find the temp setting that gives you the desired result. Also, realize that heaters go bad quite often. Consider what the lifespan of that particular heater is and replace it BEFORE it is due to fail. With whatever I'll choose for mine, I'll replace it out when it is about 75% done with its expected lifespan. It really is a cheap part of the entire equation that can, upon failure, yield catastrophic results.

Exactly ….I’ve never lost a tank to cheap light, but I have lost an entire. tank to heater fails … personally I rarely use them, but when I do it’s “usually” titanium with a controller

 

[PharmrJohn]

Exactly ….I’ve never lost a tank to cheap light, but I have lost an entire. tank to heater fails … personally I rarely use them, but when I do it’s “usually” titanium with a controller

And that's the route I'm taking. Probably a BRS titanium with Inkbird. Another plus with titanium bodies is that it acts as a groundprobe. It's really a two-fer.

 

[Peair]

Hey, I’ve got a marine land heater, and I’ve set it in my tank. I’ve set the temp on the thermometer to 78°f and I checked the temp today and it was at 86°f? Do you know why this is, and how to fix it?
PS..my tank is 20 gallons

I think it's best to get titanium heaters, and put two in your tank in case one fails the other one will take over, and have some kind of controller that can send alerts to your email because the heater is very important, so invest into something good.