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I read from other sources that the submersible heater in a aquarium tank with a RES should be well protected. Due mainly to the nature of the RES of "always wanting to destroy things". Is this true? im hiding my heater rite now behind 3 rocks against the side of the tank so that my RES cannot even touch it.

Am i being paranoid? or am i really protecting my RES? if i can take it out, so that it doesn't have to be protected by the 3 rocks, should i get heater guards?

thanks a lot!

If the rocks are doing their job, and not taking up much swimming space then I'd say you're ok. I dont have a heater guard on mine and they've never gone near it. When in doubt tho, it's always better to err on the side of caution. Go get one if it's going to worry you that much. Make sure you know what kind/size of heater you have tho so you know the guard will fit. They're pretty cheap and lots of people use them.

I dont use one either. my turt used to sit on top of it to warm up, but that's back when the water was too cold. I bumbed the temp up, and put the heater straight up and down, now he doesn't bother with it. I may change my mind when he gets bigger, right now I don't think he could break it if he tried. (My g/f is another story---took it out of the water without unpluging it, then topped the end off when it went back in. Luckily no people or turts were electrocuted, but the tank needed a good cleaning)

oo, well ya the rocks are doing their job but i dun like the layout of the tank rite now. the RES (Trooper), is almost 4 inches now.
is that big enough to be worried if the heater is out?
yea i guess ill go buy the guards soon, before i take it out at least.
ill see how it goes after that.

thanks guys!

My 2 res are 4.5 and 4.75 inches and they dont bother with the heater. The only reason I don't have a guard is because I bought one with the first heater, then hubby cleaned the tank and didn't unplug the heater and wait 20 min before taking it out of the water and it broke. Got a new heater and the guard didn't fit. You might as well get a guard because you're better safe than sorry.

If the heater is glass, I'm not so sure I'd want rocks around it for protection, just in case (and some heater directions I've read have said not to have the heater near objects that would affect the flow of the water so that it evenly heats the tank). Unless your turt is really distructive and/or you're using a really high watage, you probably don't need one. If you do, Tronic heaters fit a variety of other brand heaters, but you need to know the length of your heater to get the correct size. Some people make their own heater guards using pvc pipe, drilling enough holes in it so that the water flows through evenly, and capping the ends.

I don't use a guard, and my turtles constantly stand on it or drag it around their tanks... (mine are Titanium)

yeaaa theres the difference.
i got the fluval tronic 100watts, so its made of glass.. seems very fragile too =(
is titanium ne good?

The titanium one I bought last Nov. lasted until March, then stopped working. And I don't think it worked that well when it did--I couldn't control the temp except to make it turn on or off by setting it at 78F. I've never had trouble with the Tronic.

My wife popped my first one when she pulled it out of the tank w/o unplugging it. I got a new one from Petsmart, some japanese brand, marked shatterproof. Supposed to be pretty strong. My turt is constantly digging under it and pushing up the side of the tank but other that that he leaves it alone.