Types of Aquarium Heaters (Heater basics)

Types of Aquarium Heaters (Heater basics)

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Hi everyone! For this weeks video we’re gonna be talking about some of the different types of aquarium Heaters!

So we’re gonna be starting off with the Tube Heater, just the good old Regular, Bog-Standard, Vanilla Heaters that first comes to mind when you think of an aquarium heater. The type probably 9 out of 10 people are gonna be using.
There are a million different models and sizes from pretty much every manufacturer who makes Aquarium equipment.
They are a glass tube with a heating element inside, and most are adjustable with a knob or dial on top where you can turn the temperature up or down. The usual recommended temperature for most Tropical Fish is 25°C
This is the type I normally use. A couple tips for ya are to turn them off before doing a water change, as they can overheat and crack if not underwater, usually about 10 or 20 minutes before is good, and then you can do something to remind yourself to turn it back on after you’ve finished your water change. What I’ll do is with my cabinet door which has the electrical switches in it, I’ll leave that open just a few inches and that’ll remind me to turn it back on. Or you could always set yourself a timer on your phone or something to remind you.
And with these being glass they can be damaged easily, either during installation or when being removed from the tank; or even by the fish if they’re big enough.
You can get around this by using a heater guard, which’ll protect it from knocks and will also help it blend in and not stick out as much.

Next is the Preset Heater, these are similar to the tube heater except they aren’t adjustable and as their name suggests, they are preset to a certain temperature, usually 25 degrees in most cases.
These heaters usually tend to be smaller and marketed as being for Nano tanks, normally about 20 litres or smaller.
I’m not as keen on this type personally as if the temperature is wrong they’re rendered pretty much useless. For example when I bought one when I first got my Quarantine tank, the one I bought said it was set to the usual Tropical temperature of 25 degrees, but when I measured the temperature of the water with a separate thermometer, it was actually over 30 degrees! Which is too hot and Ihad to drive all the way back to the pet shop to return it.
So keep this in mind if you’re looking at these.

Next up are the heaters with an LED display, sometimes referred to as an LED Heater.
These are another type commonly seen in smaller sizes for smaller tanks. I like these as they are easy to read, and in the case of my one, the temperature control is in-line located on the wire, so you won’t get your hand wet turning it up or down.
Something I’d make sure to look out for before you buy one is the colour of the LED display, make sure it’s red or something that won’t light up your tank and the room at night, rather than a White light that will.
This can keep both you and your fish up at night when you’re trying to sleep, and can even cause algae to grow on the clear viewing panel obscuring the display and making it hard to read.

Another type of heater like this are those Fluval E Heaters, which have an LED display, but if you get one of these, make sure to place it in an area with a high rate of water flow, such as near a filter outlet, as they will show an error warning if they are in an area with too little flow.
It is good practice to do this with other heaters too, but not essential.
Another good way to make sure your heater is working efficiently and to get the best performance out of it is to angle it diagonally at an angle of around 45 degrees.
This’ll ensure it doesn’t turn off prematurely before it’s finished heated up the water to your selected temperature.



Next are heaters with a controller, how these work is by having a tube heater and a separate thermometer plugged into a controller, which has the heating controls and temperature display on it, and will read the temperature from the stat and then once it’s detected it’s reached the set temperature, it’ll cut power to the heater, and then return it once the temperature drops below the setting again.
The good thing about these is that you can mount the controller inside a stand or cabinet, and saves you getting your hand wet if you need to make an adjustment.
Also if the heating element malfunctions and won’t turn off, the controller will still be able to cut power to it, stopping your tank from overheating.

And the last type of heater we’re gonna be talking about is the inline heater, or also called an external heater.
These are typically used with a canister filter, and are installed onto the filter hose that returns the