well it turns out the heater i had gotten had an annoying feature: basically if it gets to hot it shuts off permenantly and you have to discard it, that would be $16 down the drain every time. so i spent $20 to get a heater that is preset at 78 degrees and has an automatic temp. gauge so it turns of when the water is warm, and turns back on when it needs warming. this should be a permanent heater solution now. I was able to take the other one back and pay a difference of $3 for the new one.