Hi everyone,

My goldies never had any problems w/o a heater, but I am using one for the first time for medications. Have some silly Qs about it, but hope someone can point me out in the right direction

I turned on my heater according to the instructions. Asked my husband to do a test on the water with his multimeter with it (voltmeter I think....hmm no idea), and he got a 0.3-0.4 reading instead of a 0. Actually...I also had the light and filter turned on then. Should be normal, right? (My husband says something to do with induction, but do others experience this too?)

I noticed that there is a small condensation area inside the heater...it's just a small patch though...is this most likely just to be the air within the heater, nothing unusual?

Do you usually turn the heater knob (say, to increase the temp) while it's turned on, or switch it off and do it? Any specific reason why I should do which?

I set the heater for 26C, but the max I've seen on my termometer on the opposite end so far is 19C. Should I increase my heater knob to say 32C if I really want a 26C in the water? Or is it usually already near 26C at the heater area.

Thank you lovely kokos people

Well, I'm not sure about all your questions, because I don't have a heater in my aquarium. I have one sitting on my shelf, but I have never used it. Anyway, so if I am right, please anyone correct me if I am wrong, but like an oven or some other things - I would turn off the tempeture and put it up to increase or decrease the temp.

Kat, I've got no clue about the whatever-o-meter, as I don't even know what that is. :-) But I do have a heater on my tropical tank and there's no condensation and the temp (as read on the opposite end of the tank) is always exactly 78F, which is what the heater is set at. I'm pretty sure a functioning heater should give you the temp you set it for. I've never adjusted it since turning it on, but I would think you could adjust with it on or off. One thing I always forget: be sure to unplug it before water changes! If the heater goes on while exposed to air, it could crack. I usually wait about 15 mins after the change before plugging it back in, just to be sure. HTH!

Heaters shouldn't have condensation on the inside of them normally that means there is a leak some where in it.

Then to set it you should turn it to the temp you want for goldfish some were in the 76-78F (24.44-25.56C) then once you have the heater to that you want to gentle tap it this will set the heater.

The light that is on there is telling you that its turning on and then off when the light is off. If the temp goes higher than what you want then you gently turn it down a click then tap the top of it again.....This is how I have done mine for years.

A tip always set the temp for goldfish for what you want the tank not to go down to. So like goldfish I would set it for the lower end of the temp

about the electricity in the water. i agree with your hubby, it may be just induction. it could be many things, if you were to test on yourself you will get some sort of reading besides 0 more than likely, unless you are absolutly grounded. nerdy science talk i know, but Im just saying that things are fine. that is just an insignificant amount of electricity and shouldnt do any harm, no matter where it is coming from. try testing it without anything plugged in and see if it changes any and let us know. this may be an interesting thing to learn about fish, maybe they discharge electricity.

Cool thanks for the feedbacks. Koko, I didn't read anything about giving the heater a tap...I have a Natsura brand 100W heater btw. It's glass. Oh, so there really shouldn't be any condensation in it? So heaters are actually vacuumed? I was wondering maybe it's normal to have a bitttt of condensation (I could see the paper part of the heater's inside having a small drop of dampness elsewhere btw). I am a shy person when it comes to getting refund/replacements, so would like to make sure it's really not right.

I also wanted to know if it's normal for the 19C vs 25C difference between the water and the heater knob readings. I actually have a subction-capped on cannister filter, and have put the heater horizontally on the back glass, with a bubbler ventilating the heater lengthwise. I put the termometer on the front glass of the tank. I will measure the temp on the back glass this evening to see if it's anywhere neat 26C I suppose. Perhaps the heat is not spreading evenly in my case.

Take it back hun that means theres a leak in it some where

i misread the part about the water inside of the glass. when i read it i just thought you were meaning ...well not really sure what i was thinking...maybe wasnt thinking...hahaha But yeah, I agree with the mother of knowledge (koko) i think there may be a small crack in the tube or maybe in the knob part at the top and water has leaked in. is it a submersible heater? well that still doesnt explain the water in the tube because sure enough it is a vacuum...like a light bulb. ok im confused about what it may be. if I had a gun to my head and I had to choose weather it was broken or fine i would say broken.

Yes it is inside of the heater (the glass area above the elements). I've actually put my hand in the water before while the heaters turned on and didn't feel anything (the ultimate test?), but I guess I will go and get it exchanged. The condensation patch was there the whole of yesterday, but this morning I noticed there's less...(probably got too cold overnight and it 'de-condensated'). I hope I can show them that if it's there and they'll believe me. I look enough like a freak in my lsf I believe .

I would come with you if I could hun......Hold your head high and just tell them that you got it from them and just started to use it and now its got water in the inside of it.....Im sure they will understand

Also if you have a receipt that would be great too

Thanks koko, I will go there probably today (if I make it before they close) or this weekend. Should leave the heater turned on in the meantime though? Didn't experience anything dodgy yesterday btw, other than it not heating up as much as it should.

How cold is your tank normally? If its not that cold and you think the heater isn't causing harm then I say it would be okay, but my main concern is it might have a problem when your asleep.....since its not totally sealed

Good point...my water is really cold at the moment (winter here), so I'd rather leave it turned off until I get a replacement. I've just called the lsf and they confirmed it's bad, and will replace it when I go see them...now to go home in time after work...if only they don't close at 5.30pm ahh....

I also hope my goldies don't mind the sudden temperature drop now...it rose from 12 - 19C yesterday..and will now drop back to 12 before I get a replacement (if not today...tomorrow or weekend ), after which I'll increase them up to mid 20s again...my poor babies!

I always have an extra heater on hand just incase the one I have breaks or stops working. This is a good practice, you should buy an extra one and next time you will have one to replace the broken one. Even if it a cheap one, it will be a temporary one until you can get a better one. Right now I am debating about getting another, because the one I have in my tropical tank makes the temp go up and down too much giving my fish ich and lost 2 fish to that. It is very frustrating with heaters to make sure they are at the right heat, I am constantly checking out temp and adjusting the heater.

Good point about having spare heaters handy love_goldfish I would prefer to avoid heaters for my gf tank normally though, since I'm happier if I have less electrical items to worry about (besides safety, reducing the electricity bill etc). I really have no problems with my goldies in winter, they're as feisty as ever

Some updates you might be interested to know. I got the heater replaced, my lsf had a look at it, and there were obvious faults in it, water patch and lose top (!!!). I actually used it for a day! I got it replaced with another "more sturdy" looking heater branded Rena Cal. (I also asked if it's normal for the ambient temperature to be 19C when the knob is at 25C my lsf says it's not right. The temperature difference should be ~1degree no more) And this time....when I put the new heater in....measured with the voltmeter and got -- 0.0! Goodness so there wasn't an induction with the first one...it was faulty But I guess I wouldn't have known if it was too dangerous because I did handle the water with no problems .

Oh, and the next day, the ambient temp was 23-24C, when the knob was set to 25C. Sounds right now doesn't it? koko and everyone here for their advice, I'm glad I've consulted you all before any one of us (fish or me) gets hurt.

I'm very disappointed with my heater experiences so far...out of 4 heaters I have ever got, 3 of them condensates water (one of them leaking it in in fact - it's a 2nd hand heater, and the other one giving small ACV reading in the multimeter - which I ended up returning as in this post above).

I've tried buying a 4th heater, a Tropix brand (made in China for Australia), but the moment I put it in, it condensates inside. I told the lsf heaters are not supposed to have air/water inside, but he said a bit of condensation is ok ( ?), but they will test this heater anyway to see if it's faulty. I am hoping he won't think of me as a freak just because of "a little bit of water in the heater"

I still think it's a decent amount of money spent though $AU33 - am I supposed to live with a potentially leaky heaters for not spending more money for an even more expensive branded heater (which I don't mind spending for my goldies anyway, but for a fair reason!)?

Is a bit of condensation really ok? I'm just so confused.... Wish me luck everyone - I hope the lsf guy will accept my refund request after testing the heater...I think I'll stick to the $36 RenaCal heater brand from now on. I'm so afraid of submergible electrical equipment