Elite 6-Inch Mini Thermostatic Heater

Better in than some, worse than others. The dial allows you to set the temperature and is good at keeping the temp. consistent which is great. However, aside from the actual heating is the construction. Because of its shape it will not work for a anything smaller than a 2.5 Mini Bow or for tanks w/o straight sides.

This is not because you can't control the temp. finely enough, but because the large mounting piece needs to be above water, outside of the tank and attached to a straight edge. While the package does say non-submersible, I didn't think there would be so much of it that wasn't submersible, and the thumbnail for this isn't helpful at all. The water line is also very high. You will have to keep a careful eye on evaporation.

Also, when the water temp. is close enough to cause the heater to shut off, there is a period of hesitation where the heater is almost on but not quite. When this happens, there is a buzzing sound. It reminds me of old horror movies when the characters turn on the bare bulb in the basement or in the defunct asylum.

I bought two of these because they were cheap and would seem like a good fit for my aquariums, a 5 gallon and a 10 gallon. There wasn't much information provided, which would have helped me out and kept me from buying it--it's not the kind I needed, or so I thought.

*Unfortunately it's not submersible. (I didn't realize not buying submersible would mean needing to reach a water line indicator.)

*This heater's range is 67 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Even though the range is low, when I had the heater on the first few hours, it got the 5 gallon tank water over 90 degrees. I've kept it in the 80's range as much as possible.

*It requires the tank to be full to cover the water line indicator (I'm breeding snails so I can't have the tank full if I want my snails to lay their eggs on the tank's glass, and if I want to keep them from escaping). The water line indicator also rises above my power filter, so I'll never be able to get the water to the height it's asking.

*The power cord is much shorter than I thought it would be. I had to get an extension cord to plug it in. The picture on the back of the packaging suggests to make a drip loop, but the cord is barely long enough to do that, and the top of the aquarium is only a couple feet, give or take, from the socket. Very inconvenient.

*It's only good for aquariums up to 5.5 gallons. I haven't tried my second heater in the 10 gallon yet, mostly because the cord is so short, and the tank is much farther from the socket.

*Temperature control knob seems really sensitive, and even turning the knob a quarter of an inch seems to cause the temperature to shoot up. But as soon as the desired temperature is attained, it will maintain.

Overall it's a decent product especially considering the price. I was surprised and thankful it worked so far outside of its range.

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Seeing how there was just a dial and no numbers to see, it was kinda hard and just plain guesswork when I started to use it. I'd scroll the dial to the left and wait awhile(just to make sure it wasn't on high setting already and fry my fish), and then scroll the dial to the right little by little. This took a span of a couple days before I finally got felt some heat coming from the water. I measured it by feeling the amount of warmth I got from it compared to my other aquarium that had its own heater and already set at 75F. So far it's been consistent and doesn't seem to fluctuate too much or at all in temperature. :) Nice buy I say!

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I don't know if this product is actually capable of heating the water correctly because it is very difficult to use and you have to have just the right set up. First of all, it has to hang on to the side of your aquarium, so this means that you either can't have a hood, or you have to have a hole in your hood large enough to accommodate the heater. The original aquarium I wanted to use it with didn't have that, so I didn't even try to use the heater with it.

Also, the heater has a minimum water level which is extremely high. You will have to keep the aquarium completely full to use it, which means often top offs to fight evaporation AND the risk of fish jumping if you can't use your lid due to the fact that there isn't a space for the heater.

Despite these two inconveniences, I recently bought a five gallon aquarium that I could use this heater with. I got it all set up and then unwrapped the cord . . . it's less than three feet long! Way too short to reach the plug from the top of the aquarium on top of a table.

So, if you have a small tank with a hood with the proper opening, the lip of the tank narrow enough to hold the heater, are diligent with your top offs, and have a nearby electrical outlet for the plug, then you might get this heater to work for you. I'm going to have to put this on the shelf and spend more money on a submersible heater with a decent length cord.

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I didn't buy it from here but i got it from my local pet store. I have been using this in my 10 gallon tank for about a year now and it has not failed me yet. The temperature knob is very sensitive and touchy so it takes a little work to get the temperature set correctly. Other than that i have no complaints, it works great and has a great price.

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