Habitat - Indoor :: Submersible heater question! Help! Please!

[focus12221]

Alright, today when I woke up I went to the turtle to turn on the lights on and saw the temp was down to around 70 (usually its at around 72-73) I checked my heater and it is broken, no idea what happened but it was old, no electrocution thank god, turtle seems to be happy and was moved into a warmer room and his tank will stay above 70, I am going to get a new heater as soon as I possible can,

my question is: Can I get a 300w heater for a 30 gallon tank, reason being I am going to eventually upgrade the tank size, and I found a 300w digital titanium one that I really like? The heater will be in the 30g for awhile though and am not sure if its going to be too hot or something, also any solution to a guard other than pvc piping?

[Vtolds]

I would say it would be fine just watch the temps and adjust as needed. I have a 200 watt in a 30 gallon and it is perfect for the amount of water in it which is full.

[troubleinpgh]

I had a similar problem, when my RES (named Trouble for a reason) broke the heater and it almost melted the plastic (he is in a pond set up) because it did not turn off and the heat unit was exposed. I now have a 200 watt heater by All-glass Aquarium that is shatter resistant and will turn off if not properly submersed. It has been over 6 months and working excellent. Trouble has tried to damage it on occassion but with no luck - gave up.

[marisa]

If by chance, the digital titanium heater is an Aqua Via with an outsider temp control, I wouldn't buy it. This is the only heater I've every bought that I can say was a piece of crap.

Rather than pvc piping, you could buy a Tronic heater guard. It somes in two sizes that I've seen. Make sure the larger size is long enough for the heater you buy. A titanium heater shouldn't break, though.

[RunninWideOpen]

I went through 6 heaters in 3 months. I got the stealth plastic heaters and have since had no problems for 4 months.

I'm not familiar with the titanium heaters, but I would trust marisa's opinion. The only problem I foresee with a 300W heater in a 30 gallon tank is if for some reason the thermostat stuck in the on position.....it would cook your turtle. Although that's not a common problem to have, one of the 6 heaters I had problems with did do that. luckily it was only a 120W heater in a 50gallon tank, i caught it at about 84F so it didn't do any serious damage.

[N4784N R4613]

Here is my experience with titanium heaters...

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9441

[marisa]

I had the words transposed---the heater I spoke of above was the Via Aqua. I was in an aquarium shop this am and couldn't believe that they had a slew of them hanging up for sale (along with Stealths and a few other brands).

My experience with the one I bought was similar to N4784N R4613's---the heater worked for a short while, then wouldn't even go on unless I set it at around 80F. It would click on and that would be it---no way to control the temp other than on and off. It worked that way for a very short while and then went dead. That was it.

I had my suspicions about it when I sent in the warranty card right after I got it and the card came back to me "addressee unknown." One of big al's staff later told me the heater only had something like a 6-month warranty.

Perhaps they've improved the product, but I wouldn't chance it.

[focus12221]

I did lots of research and ended up with a 200w stealth heater, from MANY opinions ive seen online they are Great, out of maybe 200 reviews... I saw one bad experience, I shouldnt have any problem with a 200w in a FULL 30g tank....

Thanks All!!!

[focus12221]

Oh and all titanium heaters (as least all ive seen) have out of the tank controls