How to heat a 2.5???

[ChrisP]

I've got two 2.5 gallon picos. I'm trying to keep the temps relatively stable. They're in an air-conditioned room and the water temp goes down to 76 at night. During the day with the lights on, the temps go up to about 82. That seems to be too much of a temp swing for such small tanks. I thought I'd fix the problem with small heaters to keep the mightime temp up to about 80.

So far, I've experimented with the 25 watt "Neptune" by Marineland (too big); the 7.5 watt Junior Heater by jraquatics.com (small enough, but no thermostat - on all the time - heats water 4-8 degrees so overheats water during the day) and the Tetra/Whisper pre-set "2-15 gallon" (small, but only heats water a degree or two at night).

I'd really appreciate any ideas!

Chris

 

[extremepb319]

If you want you could always add a sump to it even though it would almost be a waste, but that would put more water and help keep it stable. Plus thats more room to put all your equipment in. I would say go with a 10 gallon sump or just make your whole tank a 10 gallon. Much more cost efficient
HTH

 

[zaki]

visitherm stealth (marineland) would prob work. If it will fit in my 3g, is should fit in a 2.5

 

[Kirin1]

+1 on the Visitherm Stealth. I have the 25W model in my 2.5g Mantis Only. Temps are stable at 77. Keep in mind that there isn't much lighting on this tank, just a 9W Coralife 50/50 mini PC.

 

[Daemonfly]

I've always used the 25w adjustable Hagen heaters. I recently had to get a Stealth instead, as Petsmart no longer carries the hagen, & I really needed a heater. I was hesitant, as every single past model from Marineland has stuck on & fried tanks (3), but the stealth is doing good so far. It's just growing FW plants though, so not a problem if it fries too.

 

[pwhofmann]

I have had 2.5-3.5 nanos for about 10 years now. Currently I have two 3.5 tanks each has fish, snails, crabs and 12-15 different live corals. My temperature range is 10-12 degrees during a 24 hour period. I would say the lowest temp is 72, highest 84. Although it would seem that this would negatively effect the tank I have not had any problems, everything seems to adjust quite well. These two tanks actually propagate coral so rapidly that I am harvesting regularly and transferring frags to my friends larger aquariums. I hope this helps.

Pam Hofmann