5 gallon acrylic aquarium NO Heater??

[strongfish]

Hi all,
i was about to buy a 5 gallon acrylic tank but LFS scared me today. They told me that I can not use any heater in my 5 gallon acrylic tank as it will melt the tank.... ???
Is it true?? They told me that I will have to leave my tank on a warm place..
Any advise?? I really like the tank design. It is a wide long bow front tank.
thanks

 

[wrassecal]

My research shows that is true also. I just started a 2.5 gallon and there is no heater that will work on it either from what I hear. I had a little piece of glass cut to fit the top so I can put the pc lighting on the glass and the heat from that keeps the tank in the right temperature range. It also helps it retain the heat at night. Lastly, I have to keep it in a room where the temp stays warm enough overnight. And WELCOME TO THE BOARD!

 

[cprdnick]

put a sheild of somesort around the heater. Either go get some of those guards made specifically for heaters, or find something to stick between the heater and the tank. However most heaters come witha rubber separator with a suction cup attatched which should prevent the heater from touching the acrylic.

 

[daniel411]

Welcome to the board Strongfish.
Wrassecal, where have you heard this from? I can understand the cheaper plastic aquariums melting. Or "possibly" low quality/thin acrylic. I can't see some of the higher quality small acrylics melting though. As the acrylic can be as thick as an acrylic 30-40g.

 

[strongfish]

Thanks guy!! Happy to see all of your nice reply.
I am going to buy a 5 gallon acrylic tank that come with a side filter, fluorescent hook with buld and will get a little 25W heater.
What else should I get for my nano tank??
What kind of light do I need?
I want to keep some coral ( of coz easy one for my little tank) and one clown fish.
Please advise! Thanks again!

 

[daniel411]

I'd utilize sand as a substrate. Livesand, southdown, caribsea aragamax, your choice. A few pounds of nice live rock. For lighting, several manufacturers have power compact lights designed for nano's. Which will allow you to have some corals.

 

[strongfish]

thanks.
Could you please telle me which brand power compact lights you may suggest?? and how many WATT of lighting should I use??

 

[marvida]

I'm glad I didn't read this before I set up my 5 gal! It's a Galaxie & has got to be one of the lightest ones around. It's had a 50w submersible in it for almost 4 years now. It's simply suction cupped to the side with no extra precautions taken.
Ken

 

[strongfish]

Hi MarVida,
May I ask you what do you have in your little 5g tank? and what accessaries do you have? lighting?? watt??
thanks

 

[marvida]

It used to be my office nano, just a rock, 1 shrimp & 1 fish. Right now it's a CC star jail. After almost a year of peaceful co-existance the starfish developed a taste for zoo's a couple of months ago. It has something like an 8w NO. I'm going to change it to a 13w PC this month. I would like to put a 28w on it but I'm afraid of heat build up.
To comment on the heater thing again; as long as the heater is not touching the acrylic, it would be virtualy impossible for the heater to melt the side of the tank.

 

[overanalyzer]

If you are worried about the heater in the tank then put one externally (like the tetra-tec (yes the folks at tetra are related to satan) or through a sump/refugium).
I had a 5 gallon with 3 very small LR and one clown goby and one long filmanted prawn goby .... very nice tank ... had 26 watt of PC lights in a DIY retrofit canopy with a HOB filter .... about 1 pound of LS ....
Nice tank but not worht hte effort after a while (filled it up too fast with corals).
Good luck!