Help with temps!

[scholls22]

First, my wife does not believe in using a heater in our home. My MH light comes on later in the day and does a good job of raising my temp. It usually is 76-78 during the course of the day. Now that the temps are dropping, it went down to the low 74's last night.

I was wondering if I set my lights on a little earlier in the day and it would keep the water warmer for a longer period of time and hopefully keep the water closer to that 76-78(79) range...

Oh yeah, I lost a very nice cichlid tank back in the day due to a heater. Im too freaked out by that experience to put a heater in this tank.

I have a 24g Nanocube with an HQI lid if interested.

 

[olemiss reb]

Buy a quality heater, problem solved.

 

[scholls22]

Buy a quality heater, problem solved.

name brand recommendations if you have any...

 

[zachfishman]

name brand recommendations if you have any...

I have several old systems running with Marineland Visitherm heaters for many years and have never had an issue. Just bought another one today, in fact (was considering their "Stealth" model for a new system, but decided to stick with what I knew worked).

 

[tkeracer619]

All heaters will fail. Make sure to use a quality controller like a ranco ect.

The reef keeper lite is only a little more but will let you control more then just a heater.

 

[zachfishman]

+1 on the RKL, I absolutely love mine. I have it controlling my lights (never again need to reset dial timers when power outages cause them to lose time), controlling a cooling fan (kicks on at 81F), and now controlling my heater.

 

[goober35]

good quality titanium heater is all you need. Dont go cheap and get a glass one.

 

[preef]

Avoid Marineland heaters like the plague. The plastic housing on the Stealth tends to split allowing water to reach the heating element. Several reports on here regarding nukes tanks because of them. I had a Stealth as well. That was causing me to get a shock when my hand was in the tank.

I have several Hydor heaters and am very happy with them.

 

[shifty51008]

i have been running stealth heaters for over 8 years and they have never faild me yet. I do have them on a ranco controller though