View Full Version : Heater recommendations?
AngelThoughts
08-29-2003, 7:49 PM
There are so many heaters on the market! how do you know which one to get? I am getting a 30G ... I have heard various answers on wattage from 100w to 150w. What do I get and what brand?
ChilDawg
08-29-2003, 7:54 PM
How warm is the room at its coldest, and how warm does the tank need to be? Once you know that, go to www.skepticalaquarist.com where WetmanNY has the formula for determining right heater for your tank.
ChilDawg
08-29-2003, 7:56 PM
Specifically this page (http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/setup/heaters.shtml).
If the room gets cold, and youre running high temperature tank (eg 30C) get a higer rating (eg: 150 not 100, 200 not 150) depending on the size.
I recommend the stainless steel ones, they are expensive but look good and there is no fear of cracking them.
NJ Devils Fan
08-31-2003, 10:49 PM
A genaral rule is 5 watts per gallon, but it mainly depends on room temperature. If the room is rather warm around 75-76 and you keep the temp at like 78, than you probably would want something like a 100 watt. But I would go with 5 watts per gallon because if you have a bigger heater, it won't have to work as hard as a smaller one would.
The danger in an oversized heater for the job to be done is that if it should fail in constant-on mode (the commonest failure mode IME), it will overheat the tank more quickly and thus be more likely to damage the livestock. I would not ever oversize a heater significantly.
ChilDawg
09-01-2003, 9:40 AM
I'd rather double up on half-powered heaters for the reason that RTR stated above...and for the fact that if one failed on, the other one will probably not turn on...and you'd have more time to catch the runaway one!
NJ Devils Fan
09-01-2003, 9:45 AM
2 heaters in larger tanks not something like a 10 gallon because that would be, for lack of a better word, stupid. But I wouldn't worry about that happening to tronic and ebo-jager heaters.
ChilDawg
09-01-2003, 9:47 AM
Okay, yes, there is a limit...especially since half-powered heaters don't exist for anything less than a 20. However, she does have a 30, so I'd seriously considered half-powered ones for that.
The rule of thumb is supposedly that a heater fails annually. I realize that there are some great ones out there, but we've spent all this money on fish and equipment...I'd rather not have it all go to pot because of one heater! :)
yhbae
09-01-2003, 10:24 AM
Has anyone managed to "cook" the fishes as a result of the heater failure? If so, what was the brand of the heater and how long did it last?
PumaWard
09-01-2003, 10:47 AM
In 7th grade my science teacher had a 10 gallon tank full of feeder guppies. We came in one morning after the heater failed to turn off, the guppies were completely cooked (a big, fuzzy mass). So, it basically happened in like a 10 hour period :(, but I guess there are worse ways to go.
ChilDawg
09-01-2003, 11:30 AM
Can't think of too many...they probably asphyxiated from the low O2 levels in the water.
I have cooked a long-horned cowfish, a very large anenome (different tank, and the clowns survived!), and Jack Dempsy fry. Two out of three were Ebo-Jagers, failing in "on" mode of course. All were several years old.
NJ Devils Fan
09-01-2003, 7:05 PM
Wow, now thats surprising
No kidding - I thought Ebo-Jager are one of the best...
How long did it take before it finally gave in?