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Hi. This is my first post, so I hope I'm posting in the right topic.
I have a juvenile res (Diego) in a 20 gallon long tank, I have the tank setup properly, but I recently purchased a heater and I need some help.
First off, I purchased the Eheim Jager 125 W heater, but like I said, I only have a 20 gallon long tank and that's only half full. Can I use this heater or would it not be adequate? On the box it says I should have a 75 W, but I know I'll be upgrading the tank eventually so I went bigger. (I probably should have asked about this before I bought it though.)
Also, if I can use this heater, is there anything I need to know? How does it work? Do I just put it in and go? I'll read the directions, but I want to make sure I'm doing everything right.
I was also wondering about it being shatterproof. Is it really or should I find some kind of heater guard? Do I need to worry about Diego crawling on it? Will it hurt her or burn her?
Thanks in advance. I've had Diego since the summer and have been learning as I go. Reading through this forum has always been a huge help and I appreciate any answers given.

The heater will work but it's a bit much and will take up a good deal of space. For safety reasons, there is a water line near where the power cord meets the thermostat dial. Technically you are not supposed to submerse it below that line but the box should state that it's fully submersible.

Some people use guards but it's pretty sturdy. Do make sure it's plugged into a GFCI outlet and that you use a "drip loop" that's shown in the instructions. I wouldn't worry about Diego crawling on it unless he can get stuck or trapped by the mount.

Thank you, Steve!

In my heater Jager that said line is a minimum of water, the aquedeodr should be connected to water is at least in this mark, and that it can be completely submerged. Seems to me that the older models was as Steve said. At least my manual says so. The packaging also says that he is completely submersible, if I remember correctly it can be submerged up to 0.5 meters.

When Eheim bought the Ebo Jager line, they were not allow to say they were fully submersible because they didn't have a UL listing yet. I'm probably missing a few details about that, but I've never had any problems when they had to be completely submersed.

Steve you are correct. If you call eheim support, they will tell you the heaters are fully submersible. I have all of mine completely underwater.

Eheim was not able to transfer the UL cert saying the heaters are fully submersible when they bought Ebo Jäger. Eheim has/is trying to get them relished with the UL submersible cert. Eheim in the mean time had to change the packaging, marketing message, and include the "water line" on the heater.

Thanks for clearing that up. I was a bit worried about completely submerging it.

Once again this thread is AWESOME. It seems every question I (the newby) have is already answered in here. I did the same, bought a Eheim Jager that is way too big for my current 45g tank because I have 2 baby RES and plan on getting a 200g tank in the very near future. I was confused about the "fully submersible" title with the maximum water level line.

Thanks again guys

One thing I noticed when I re-introduced my heater into the tank. It says the heater must be vertical, will it not work if its laid down horizontal?

I haven't heard of that being a problem, is this a new model you have?

Yes it is a new model, I believe. This is the link for it http://www.petstore.com/ps_ViewItem.asp ... ild=EJ1123

It does say to mount it vertically, but I don't see where it says it will not work if it's horizontal.

That's right Steve, and that's what I was curious about. It has a little red led that is supposed to light when its on, but I have yet to see it turn on. I'm hoping it's because the water temperature is already met.

Do you have an aquarium thermometer? That should be your check to see if the heater is behaving.

Veipa, I do have 2 thermometers. However, they have always shown that the temperature is 80 degrees. Thats the reason I bought the 2nd, I thought the first may be broken. I also bought a Digital Infrared Thermometer. I guess its the hot Texas air that keeps the water at that temperature.

I did increase the temperature on the heater to 82 just to check if the light would turn on, and it did. Set it back to normal, and now my mind is at ease