Need Advice On Heater

[SeaWitch]

I moved my 150g Rubbermaid stock tank inside a few weeks ago. I am showing a bit of ammonia, and I know that the cooler temps we are having (along with no algae now) have compromised my BBs. My tank's water is at about 69 degrees right now and I wanted to keep it at about 74-75 degrees, so I purchased a heater.
It is a Visi-Therm 300wt. It is very long and the only place I can put it in the stock tank is on a side that is fairly smooth.
My questions are:

1. As this heater does get VERY hot, will it melt the Rubbermaid stock tank?

2. HOW do I keep my fish from getting burned on it?

I only plugged it in for a few seconds, then unplugged it. I will not plug it in until I know the answers to the above questions. I have never used a heater in a tank before, except when I was doing a fishless cycle on my 30g, and I am actually scared of them when it comes to my fish. Any advice is appreciated!

[Cincy Ranchu]

No problem, it won't melt or anything else bad, I would reccomend setting at the minimum of 69F instead of mid seventies

[SeaWitch]

Thanks so much, Cincy! I just found out that the heater will not stay put on the only side that is smooth in the tank, so can it be placed on the tank floor?

Also, wouldn't it be better for the BBs if the temps were at least in the mid 70's?

[jinyu_fan]

I don't believe that BBs need mid-70s to thrive. I do not keep a heater in my goldfish tank and during the winter, even with heat in the house, the tank hovers 70 - 72oF. I have never had problems with ammonia or nitrites in the tank.

[Cincy Ranchu]

If BB's are black baby ranchu, then a heater is a fine idea. If the fish are over six months I think you are wasting your monies and preventing the eggs from maturing. If you are afraid of rapid fluctuating temps, put the tub on 1/2" styrofoam sheet and wrap in a roll of insulation. Change water in part every two weeks and feed sparingly when the water is above 60F:exact:

[WakinAZ]

* Your fish will move away if they linger near the heater and become uncomfortable. Just make sure the clumsier ones are not able to become trapped in between the heater and the tank wall or bottom. In my limited experience, goldfish are very adept at exploiting opportunities for injury.

* Make sure you are plugged into a GFCI plug. If you're not handy, just buy an adapter at your local home improvement mart or hardware store.

*When I had an aquarium heater on a stock tank, I attached to heater to a flat rock on the bottom, because I had trouble keeping it stuck to the sides or bottom. I kept finding it floating at the top.

* The only heater that didn't make me nervous was the VisiTherm Stealth, which has no glass, only plastic. I switched to these when I was keeping foot long aggressive American cichlids, and a glass heater was just an invitation to disaster. The big drawback of this model for me was its relatively short life, about a year for several that failed on me. If I ever use heaters again, I would go with one of the titanium ones.

[marlin08]

Nickie,
I've got the VisiTherm Stealth 250 in my 150g stock tank that is ouside on my deck. Mine is very long also, but is staying put on that long flat area in the middle of the side that slopes down. I do have to turn it sideways a bit, I'll try to take a picture.
My tank temps have been in primarily in the 60s for a couple of weeks now and so far, no ammonia and params have stayed good so I guess the beneficial bacteria in the filter are still able to do their job. I did insulate it and put a water heater "jacket" type insulation around the outside and it seemed to really help keep temps from rapidly fluctuating.
When the heater is in the cool water, it doesn't feel nearly so hot as it would out of the water.

[SeaWitch]

@Cincy: By BBs, I meant the beneficial bacteria. I don't breed my fish as I am scared to death of raising fry! LOL! Sorry for the confusion!

I got a cycle bump when I moved the tank inside. The ammonia is low, but I still want to build the bacteria back up to take care of it. I am double dosing the Prime at each water change to make sure my fish are not affected by the ammonia. It has never gotten above .50ppm so far.

When I first started looking at heaters, I was on Doc Foster and Smith's website and they had the Stealth heaters then in the wattage I needed. However, when I went to place my order, they only had the small wattage Stealths. I also needed a few other things from Doc F&S and did not want to pay shipping at another website just for the heater, so I got the other Visi Therm they had. It is glass, so that makes me nervous and I will prolly switch to a diff. one soon. Thanks everyone!

[WakinAZ]

[Off Topic Warning]
Drs. F&S is *ok*, but I prefer Petsolutions. I did a comparison on both sites for identical items several times about a year ago and Petsolutions always came out with the lower price. F&S also has a strange (and somewhat deceptive IMO) practice of branding well known products as their own, so it is hard sometimes to know what you are really getting with them.

So Petsolutions is my choice among the big boys, Jehmco for more specialized or advanced stuff.

[SeaWitch]

I agree with you, WakinAZ. I usually get most of my fish supplies from Pet Solutions, too. However, there was a specific brand of bacteria that I wanted to try (was recommended to me by a friend) and Docs F&S was the only place that carries it. This specific bacteria is actually a gel that you place on your filter pads to help colonize beneficial bacteria and it does not wash away or get used up during water changes. I like to replenish bacteria in my QT tank and when I clean my filter pads and such. However, I refuse to buy the kind that you pour into the water because when you do a water change, you take it right back out again. To me, you may as well just buy it and pour it down the drain. LOL!
As I hate paying multiple shipping charges, I decided to get all the stuff I needed from Docs F&S, but normally I don't as they are expensive!

[WakinAZ]

Nickie,

I would verify the claims of *any* of those bacteria products with daily ammonia and nitrite tests until you are sure they are actually working or you have completed your cycle. The liquid ones kept on the shelf are known to be worthless, the refrigerated one from M-----land debatable if it is not handled correctly at every point in the supply chain.

[Alternative: use the same kind of filter (if possible) on your QT tank that your regular tank uses. Then rotate out the filter media from one of the filters on your regular tank to the QT setup when the need arises. This should minimize or eliminate cycle time. You can even things out with an ammonia binder, like Prime or ClorAm-X.]

[SeaWitch]

Thanks, Eric! The problem is that I have a pond filter in my stock tank and have used every spare cycled filter pad I have in it already. The cycle was fine until I brought it inside. I also use Prime, so I am not very concerned about the small amount of ammonia that is showing (I know it is just a bump). The bacteria was recommended to me by a lady who has kept fish (including very expensive show fish) for over 16 years. I, too, am very skeptical of those bottled bacteria, and she only uses this one herself. I figured that as I am only out $12 if it doesn't work, I may as well give it a shot.