Hagen Aquarium Radiant Heater Mini 25 Watt 6 inch

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.