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I just bought a new heater..my question is

how should i start it up?

do i take my turtle out? or is it ok to slowly increase the water temperature while he is in it?

its safe while he is in it. but if u want to just do it while heisnt in it to make sure nothing goes wrong wwith the heater or something thats fine too

Just set the heater to the desired temperature and leave it. When you first set it, just check your thermometer every half hour to see if the setting is too high or to low.Once you established it's just right, don't touch it anymore.

i agree with the above. once you have it set at a good temperature and you start tampering with it, it gets hard for it to stabalize again.

Set the water temp and put it in the tank. It's good to leave the heater in the tank for about 15 minutes (especially is the water is cool) to let it get acclimated to the water temp. Then plug it in.

thanks marisa

If its a glass one (not sure if they even make those anymore) make sure to unplug it when you drain the water for what ever reason if the heater is out of the water by a few inches. I had one that I forgot to unplug and when I put the water back in the heater shattered.

Yes, they do still make glass heaters---I use 5 of them.

Actually, if you're taking them out of the tank, it's good to do the reverse---unplug the heater and let it sit for about 15 minutes before taking it out of the tank.

Yeah haha its a glass one i got it running perfect