Recommended heater for a 40 gal?

[FishyWarrior]

I'm really confused about what heater would be best for a 40 gallon tank. I bought a 200 watt aqueon heater but i'm starting to have my doubts that i picked out the right one, and i don't know if i fully trust the guy at the pet store who suggested it, haha. Is it bad to have a wattage meant for tanks a little bigger? Should i have gone with the 150 watt instead?

 

[Matthew C.]

I don't think it will make that big of a difference, except in your electric bill, because of the wattage, and that may be a few dollars.

 

[dougall]

My personal thoughts are surrounding safety, especially of the wildlife within the tank.

any heater that is big enough or too big will/should heat the tank correctly.

but you have to think about failure, what would happen?

Lots of heaters will fail, at some point in their lifetime.

Assuming it doesn't break open, and the heat stays on... what is the potential temperature of the aquarium water at that point?

And how bad would your room temperature be for the fish if the heater failed and didn't create any heat at all?


My personal preference is to use 2 heaters on a tank, each being able to heat the water on it's own to the desired water temperature, or a bit below, but still safe for the fish.

this should mitigate the potential for a failure like this creating an issue, another option is just just keep fish that will be perfectly happy at room temperature.

 

[FreshyFresh]

A 200w won't need to run as long as a 150w to reach your temp setpoint, so the difference in energy consumption would be nil. Wattage of the heater depends on how much you need to heat the tank over ambient temp. Usually more than 10-12degF over ambient takes a bigger wattage heater or two heaters like Doug suggested.

I know it's debatable, but I have the best luck with heaters when I keep their dial-ends out of the water at all times. I've always had water get in them when I keep them fully submerged and they don't last that way.

Keep the box and receipt for that heater! Most have lifetime warranties these days. An email with a pic of your receipt is usually all that is needed to get you a new one should you have a failure.