We were gone to a Nature Center with friends all day yesterday, so didn’t pick up the mail until after 7pm. I was amazed and pleased to find that the heater I ordered had arrived! So the tank did not have to go through another cold night. I ordered it from Premium Aquatics on Tuesday; I thought it shipped on Friday—because that’s when they sent the invoice with the shipping info, but it arrived Saturday.
It’s a Finnex ultra-compact 25 watt submersible heater. I didn’t measure it, but it looks like it’s about 6 inches long. The instructions said to attach it to the glass near, but above, the substrate, parallel with the bottom. It makes an ugly, but warm paradise of my picoreef. Ideally, it should be hidden behind the rock, but there isn’t room for it behind the rock, which comes within a half inch of the glass.
As always, click for larger images.
There is a control to set the temperature which is on the plug and is in two degree increments. When the light is green it is at the set temperature.
The temp last night was 70 degrees when I installed it. I set it for 72, checked in a hour, it hadn’t gone up. The light was green. There were no instructions about the light or setting, only that it would keep the temp within 2 degrees of what was set. So I turned it up to 74 and a red light came on. When I checked it an hour later, the light was green and the tank temp was 72. The reading on the thermostat is consistently two degrees lower then my thermometer. I adjusted it in two degree increments until the temp was 76 and seemed to be holding steady there. Then I went to bed.
This morning the temp was still 76. I upped it to 80 on the control to get a tank temp of 78 which it has now reached and is holding steady. Given the water tests this morning—and the new heater–conditions in the tank are almost perfect. My only concern now is what damage may have been done by the tank being cold for a few days.
Besides the white spot I photographed a day or so ago, I also noticed yesterday that there seemed to be some fuzziness on the rock at the base of HH#2. I wasn’t sure if I was seeing something or not. I photographed the worm this morning, but nothing shows up and it looks OK.
I’ve made some mistakes in setting up this picoreef and it hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped. Now, however, the tank has all the equipment it needs, the water chemistry is good and perhaps I can have some stability in the tank now.
