Equipment Review and Discussion :: need help on choosing a good heater...

[kc]

i need some suggestions on choosing a heater for my turtle. i have a 10 gallon tank, what is the best heater? the tank is not big but i always have a whole bunch of stuff crowding inside. i need a heater that occupies less room but efficient. i never used a heater before. how does it work anyway? i hope it won't burn my turtle cause my turtle is a very curious little thing. also, do i have to take the heater out everytime i use it or leave the heater inside 24/7? what if it malfunctions and over heats the water?

[xsavingsaturdayx]

The visi therm stealth heater is amazing.They should have it in the fish section at petco etc..The heater has NEVER burned my turtles and they even rest on it sometimes sleep on it,and yes you leave it 24/7.But anyways its simple just set the temperature on the turnable dial and fully submerge and TADAH!

[cam722]

Ok, in your other post about winter feeding you say your turtle is 4". Just so I'm clear, you have a 4" turtle in a 10 gallon tank that is too crowded with stuff to fit in a heater? am I understanding this correctly?

I also recommend the visi-therm stealth heaters. Never had one break and it's been pushed around by the turtles.

[kc]

lol yea, a 3" turtle in a 10 gallon tank. that's the best i can do. i just bought the 10 gallon tank yesterday. before it was a 5.5 gallon. i like to make room for my turtle to play around so thats why i dont want to keep on adding stuff in the tank since i already have a whole bunch of stuff in it like different kinds of rocks big or small. toys, caves, filter and a basking area floating on top. i'm a student, so a 10 gallon is the best i can do and it seems that my turtle is perfectly fine with it. i just cleaned up my tank so it's now less crowded. besides, a huge tank would be too much work when comes to cleaning.

[cam722]

Well if you aren't going to upgrade the tank to a size suitable for the turtle I strongly urge you to get rid of some of the "stuff" that's in the tank. like toys and caves and such. They need the swimming space much more than those things. A submersible heater should attach to the side of the tank and not take up any valuablel swimming area. What sort of filter do you have? You may think about getting an over the side tank because those also don't take up any swimming area.

and as for the "a huge tank would be too much work when it comes to cleaning" .. I can tell you this from personal experience. I've had turtles in a 20g and a 75 gallon and it took just as much work if not more to keep the 20g clean. I only had to clean the tank once every 2 weeks with the big tank.. just partial water changes compared to the weekly full cleanings with the smaller tank. Just so you know

[kc]

yea i will get rid of those "stuff" next weekend after i finish my exams. as for my filter, i use a fluval 1 plus. those really small and basic one.
thanks for all the advice and i will buget a little more this holiday season for my turtle

[Kallistos]

That's great, there's nothing wrong with the 10 gallon tank as a temporary enclosure. I know how much it costs to be a student nowadays. As long as you plan for the future I'm fine with that.

[kc]

hey, i cleaned up the tank and removed as much things as possible. how can i post a picture here to show you guys my set up?

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Rubbermaid setups are great and realy cheap!

[cam722]

Here are the instructions for how to post a picture. If you have trouble you can email the picture to me at: cam722@redearslider.com and I'll post it for you.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1811

[cam722]

Here's is kc's picture.

[marisa]

The gravel is pretty, but I'd ditch it. It's a temptation to eat it and if a turtle does, there's always a chance of impaction (which will require medical attention). A member's turtle died suddenly from eating blue gravel similar to yours. Besides, not having all that gravel will make it easier to clean the tank (and gravel can trap odors which will make the tank smelly).

Is the rock on the right supporting the basking area? If not, I'd get rid of that too. How much water is in the tank? It's difficult to tell from the downward shot, but it doesn't look like very much.

[kc]

okay i bought a heater today. i couldn't find visi therm, so i got elite. not sure how good that is. one thing i'm afraid of: will it burn my turtle? when i put my hand on it and immediately take back, i won't feel a thing. but if i leave my hand on the heater for about 5 seconds, it really starts to burn.

[marisa]

What wattage did you get for the 10-gallon tank? It's generally recommended to allow 5 watts per gallon of water, so a full 10-gallon tank would really need only a 50-watt heater. If you got one with a higher wattage, though, you'll be able to use it when you upgrade the tank.

I have to ask---did you put your hand on it when it was submerged in the water? (If you didn't you risk having it explode.) In the water, it really shouldn't feel that hot. The heat quickly dissipates into the water. If you're really concerned, you could make (out of PVC pipe--drill enough holes so the water can circulate freely) or buy a heater guard (Fluval/Tronic makes them). Can you adjust the temp? At a temp of 78F, the heat shouldn't be that warm in the water.

I use heater guards in some of my tanks, but it's more to protect the heaters that are glass from being hit by rocks when my turts move rocks around. And, I use a guard with a high wattage heater (like 400 watts) that's in a stock tank as insurance that the stock tank won't melt if there's a malfunction. But I've also got a glass tank with a heater that has no guard, and the turtle in it has never gotten burned, even when he's stood on it.

Remember, it's good, when you first put the heater in the tank to let it sit for about 15 minutes to allow it to acclimate to the water temp before turning it on. Likewise, when you unplug it to clean, let it sit for about 15 minutes after unplugging before you actually take it out of the tank.

[kc]

okay i'll follow those tips. and yes, it was under water when i put my hands on it. it's not like hot HOT but more like sting. i've watched my turtle hanging around the heater a few times today so i guess SHE(that's right, it's a she, and a beautiful one) is fine with it.