I was about to do a waterchange on one of my 5 gallons today, before I did that I checked the temp so I could match it afterwards and I noticed that it had gone up by 6-7 degrees!!!!!!! I added colder water to the tank after the waterchange, not so cold that it would shock the fish but to bring it down a bit, on the thermometer it was 5 degrees above "safe zone". I left the heater plugged in and decided to wait and see what happens (the water was really warm to the touch and the fish were hanging near the surface). It started rising again so i've unplugged it now. So it looks like Im gonna need a new heater, the whole tank should b replaced actually since its leaking but Im still planning to try and fix it first. That tank is giving me so much trouble right now!! First it starts leaking, then the heater breaks, and the little stand thing that its on is cracking so I need to get that fixed tomorrow as well as repair the tank and the thing that one of the 10 gallons is standing on needs to b fixed too cause it bending in the middle where the tank is on with both of them. Looks like its gonna b a "fun" day tomorrow .

* the heater is some kind of submersible 7 watt mini heater. I dont remeber what brand it is, in the instructions it said that it would keep a tank as small as 2.5 gallons at 76 degrees, the lowest its ever kept the temp was 80-82.

it looks like this, same brand I think but with suction cups, thats the only difference I think

http://www.mmm.com/Assets/product_images...1421003191B.jpg

You definately want to get a new stand for the ten gallon. If it is warping like that you stand the risk of your tank cracking, and a whole lot of water and fish ending up on the floor.

The link you gave to the heater didn't work, but when I researched heaters before the small ones (7.5W) didn't have a thermostat, so the temperature couldn't be controlled. So it may not be that the heater is broken, it's just giving off more heat than you need. If you haven't yet replaced it I recommend you get a 25W heater with a thermostat. I've got one in a similar sized tank and it's fine. Because it has a thermostat it doesn't over-heat the water, and you can set the temp to what you need.

Just get a new tank and a heater that will adjust the temp itself. In my opinion, it is never worth the effort and time to fix a fish tank specially when it is a small tank. A brand new 10g tank will only cost $10-$15 and it saves you a lot of time try to fix the leak. So you can concentrate on the fish.

I had a heater with thermostat go bad on me one time. It cooked all the fish in my 55 gallon tank.

Might be better to get a new stand than try to fix the old one. Aquarium stands can be cheap and easy to make.

I had a heater that malfunctioned also, when I noticed it the water temp was a little over 90. It was in a 10 gallon tank with a female betta so she could handle it a little better then some other fish though. I wouldn't risk putting a tank on something that was cracked even if I thought I fixed it, it's so much safer to just get something new to put it on.

aquarium stands cheap? Not here! We can easily fix it though by placing a board of wood under the old one. Im not alowed to buy a new 5 gallon and I have aquarium sealant so i'll try that first, now 3 of my acrylic tanks r leaking so far i've fixed one, this is driving me nuts! I sealed the 3 gallon today hopefull that'll stop the leak, what is with these tanks? They're all one piece systems with no seals and yet they always leak!!!!!! I havent got a new heater yet, but might tomorrow.

Where are the tanks leaking from? Since they have no seals it sounds weird that they are leaking, are they broken?

2 at the bottom one near the top, dunno how they do that

Are you sure the water isn't coming from the very top and just leaking down? I have a 2.5 gallon hex acrylic tank and when I used to use it I had an airstone in it and for some reason the tank would leak from the very top, over the edge but under the black plastic rim.

that could b but it wasnt stopping when I took some water out so I sealed it near the rim, hopefully that will fix the problem, the 5 gallon is leaking at the bottom though

I didn't say aquarium stands are cheap to buy. I said they can be cheap and easy to make.

Yeah if you are handy with woodworking, it is definitely worth your while to build your own stand. Plus you know they are built right and won't collapse under the weight of a gargantuan tank.

You don't need to know wood working or have any speical skills to build an aquarium stand.