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An aquarium heater in a jar of water

Well I was at wallmart I asked the guy fi I could put a 100 watt fishtank heater(submersible) into a gallon ajr of water to warm up my terrarium he said no but he seemed in a bad mood(constipated) :-)) ) In anyones personal opinion what wattge for the saize of water in the jar like a 100 wat heater in a quart jar or whatever. I'd like the help my intermediates are slowly suffering.. :( And demand more that than cold days and cold nights.
 
I have been told if you raise your plants up by sitting them on post or getting some egg crate stuff for lights from lowes then *** some water to the bottom of the tank and then place the heater in that. The guy from walmart doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground and besides if he did he could not tell you to use something in a way the package doesn't intend. As long as you raise your plants off the bottom and add water to the tank then place the heater (submerseable kind) in the water and heat it, it is going to add humidity and heat to your tank. Just don't let the water evaporate out or you will crack your heater if it is glass.
 
Yes, it works. I had mine set to 90f... it would go from 1/4" up the pots down to barely covering the heater in just a few days. I ran no fan... This is when I first set it up... After they had been in there for a while the pets looked great. I even divided the D. ordensis approx 15 times and traded/gave away the portions... After I took the tank down and moved the plants to the (old) greenhouse, all of them died once winter came around. Lesson learned. Here is the picture, hope it helps!

http://aaadnedarn.home.comcast.net/~aaadnedarn/P1010248.JPG (sorry the picture is big.. it's old and was already online so I didn't resize it..)

My guess is that was a gallon or so... How big a tank are you going to try and heat? higher wattage could provide more heat with faster water evaporation... Honestly, I think mine was a 150w....

Good luck!
 
I think the rule for the aquarium heaters is 1 gallon = 5 watts... if you are going to just heat a couple of gallons inside of your terrarium look for something like the Hydor Mini Aquarium Heater, it is only 7.5W, can't be damage if is left running dry and can be used on plastic containers...
 
I have used the heater method for years in the winter to keep my lowlander terrariums nice and warm. Works very well. Also 100 watts is to much for a jar. I use a gallon jar with a 50 or 75 watt submersible solid heater ( not glass) . These cost more but if heater accidentally gets dry/won't break. I also run a air pump and airstone in the jar to circulate water around the heater.
I have also used the eggcrate metod, keeping about 3-4" of water in bottom of tank but also circulate water with a small powerhead.
 
You can do this, but IMO, using a false bottom with a water reservoir is way better. Little risk of the heater getting dry and breaking, increased area to give heat (more like a heat mat than a spot light, if that analogy makes sense), increases humidity better, holds more heat.

And best of all it doesn't take up any real estate that you could use for plants! Would you rather look at a gallon jar, or would you rather put a nice new plant there instead?
 
Andrew: That looks like a less complicated version of what Pyro has. Do you add water (top water) the pots or do you just let the evaporation keep the pots / plants moist?
 
Okay,I will look into getting something for the false bottom besides everything will get closer to the light and all. I have a 55 gallon tank in my room with a 4 foot light(2 tube 80 watts) I have lowlanderish intermediates,easy highlanders,pings,drosera,urtics and so on(nothing that hates heat).
Gilder pointed out(in the chat box) they they will be better this spring but even so I see them declining not just no growth. They are nice sized neps so I need more than 10 watts. I could just find a nice looking material for the false bottom then get the heater then fill the tank up a few inches(rain water its free) then put in the fully submersible heater.. My house gets cold like 57 nights or so it rarely hits 70 so I think I am not overeacting. I do have other CPs in there so I'd be happy with 70-75 in the day with heating.
Thanks for all the help I'll do that after I find a nice economical false bottom.
 
Jim, when I was using that, i would just fill it up so the pots were sitting in the water a little bit.. I would add water as needed to keep the heater submerged (although it went dry PLENTY of times and never broke... ) and would fill it up high enough to water the plants when I felt necessary.
 
  • #10
My dad will go crazy when he comes back home and finds out my aaurium heater goes dry(fire) so I will have to do a few inches atleast.
 
  • #11
I wouldn't worry too much about the water evaporating super quickly... Just make sure to use a decent amount of water. Heres a couple pics of my tanks with water on the bottom and a heater in them. I use a 100W for about 12 gallons under the eggcrate in my 40 gallon breeder tank:

Lowlander40TankWhole.jpg


And a 20 Gallon High:
TankLLWhole1.jpg
 
  • #12
That is really a great way to keep temperature and moisture for the plants..
 
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