How to heat water in an aquarium? Install the heater yourself!
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Why did we prepare this material and who might find it useful? This question will only be asked by those who do not have an aquarium at home. The answer is simple: aquarium fish for the most part are tropical inhabitants, so the room temperature of an apartment on the 3rd floor in Mytishchi is definitely not suitable. It needs to be warmed up.
In this article we will talk about how to install a heater in an aquarium, as well as other ways to heat your beloved pets. Make yourself comfortable, we're starting!
The content of the article
How to make an aquarium heater with your own hands
In this section we will talk about the oldest means of heating a glass bulb - a reflector. It is not so difficult to make, so it can be made at home using improvised materials. To do this, take a tin half-cylinder and secure the socket with an incandescent lamp at the end. It should turn out that the lamp is inside the reflector.
Then we hang the device from the edge of the aquarium in such a way that the upper part of the reflector is below the water level. This way the glass will heat up evenly and will not burst due to temperature changes. The method is still good today, especially for tanks up to 30 liters.
How to heat water in an aquarium - method No. 2
For this we do not need a tin reflector. Simply immerse the incandescent lamp in a container of water.We attach the cartridge to the lid in such a way that it does not come into contact with the liquid, but only the glass flask is placed in water. The method has more advantages than the previous one, since nothing needs to be tinkered with. But one small drawback is that over time your light bulb will become overgrown with algae and will need to be cleaned.
Critical option when nothing is at hand
If, God forbid, the temperature drops by more than 10 degrees, then ordinary vodka will help quickly stabilize the situation. For this:
- pour a little liquid into the tank (ratio 3:10, 10 liters of aquarium water per 3 ml of vodka);
- After the procedure, install a carbon filter until your pets are stabilized;
- then replace a third of the fluid in the tank.
Installing a heater in an aquarium
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There is probably no better way than buying a ready-made special heater in a store. It looks like a long test tube containing an electron spiral. Quartz sand is also filled inside. The coil terminals are located at the top and are carefully sealed. The device is powered with 220 volts using a wire.
The power of the heating element is different. Choose one for yourself so that the upper area of the test tube with all contacts is at least 2 cm in height from the waterline. In this case, the lower part should not touch the bottom. The power can be calculated by eye: for a 30-liter tank, 30 watts is suitable.
To secure the system inside the aquarium, use rubber suction cups or plastic rings with fasteners. For simplicity, if you do not find the components, install the test tube using a simple wire. Only it needs to be mounted at the top of the tank, and not in the water itself.
Heating an aquarium cannot be done without a high-quality thermostat. They should be sold where you found the lamp bulb. Monitoring the temperature will be much easier if you have a special thermometer at hand.
It also doesn’t hurt to buy a filter system so that warm water circulates evenly throughout the entire surface of the aquarium. You can try installing a small compressor - also a very good solution.
Do you know how to heat water in an aquarium? Tell us about your techniques in the comments!
