The Tetra Submersible Heater will turn off automatically if the temperature of your fish tank gets between a range of 76°F to 80°F (or 24.5°C to 26.5°C). If your device keeps turning off before the water heats up to at least 76°F (or 24.5°C), then you can check out this troubleshooting article at Aquarium Blueprints to see how you can potentially fix this problem.
Before we begin, it is important to state that this guide should cover the following variations of this product:
- Tetra Submersible Heater – 2 to 15 Gallons (50 Watts)
- Tetra HT10 Submersible Heater (50 Watts)
- Tetra Submersible Heater – 10 to 30 Gallons (100 Watts)
- Tetra HT30 Submersible Heater (100 Watts)
- Tetra HT40 Submersible Heater (150 Watts)
- Tetra Submersible Heater – 30 to 60 Gallons (200 Watts)
1. For the first step, you should make sure that the heater is place near an area in your tank with high water flow.
By doing so, the flow will carry the heated water to all over the tank. As a result, the heater should end up getting a more accurate temperature reading and should not turn on and off as often.
2. If possible, you can try increasing the water flow of your filter and/or air flow of your air stone.
By having a better flow rate, the temperature should be better distributed across the tank water, which should hopefully lead to the heater working more consistently.
3. We also suggest that you place the heater either diagonally or horizontally. This is because the heat will rise up from the device.
By using the vertical position instead, the heater will end up getting an inaccurate reading of the tank temperature as the heat will dissipated directly to the heat sensor instead of be spread throughout the tank first.
4. Moreover, you should make sure that your tank is insulated, which you can do by putting a top on it in order to stop the heat from escaping.
You should also avoid placing the aquarium in places with that are exposed to direct sunlight or wind breezes as these will cause the water temperature to fluctuate.
By having a consistent range of 76°F to 80°F (or 24.5°C to 26.5°C), the Tetra Submersible Heater should not be constantly turning on and off.
5. If the ambient temperature of your room is too cold, then the aquarium heater may not be able to reach 76°F (or 24.5°C). Therefore, it may need to turn on and off constantly.
In this case, try to heat up your room to see if doing so will get the Tetra Submersible Heater to work more consistently.
6. If none of the potential solutions helped with fixing the constant shut downs, then your heater could be defective and may need to be replaced. If the product is still covered under warranty, then you can try contacting the customer service at Tetra to see if you can get a replacement.
This product should show a red light when it is actively heating the tank water.