heaters for large aquarium

[Aquarijen]

Hi All,

I am trying to select a heater for my new fish tank. It is 135 gallons. I
have read that you need 3 or 4 watts of power per gallon, so that's 405-540
watts. I keep my house at about 68 degrees year round. I found a 500 watt
titanium heater with controller and separate thermostat sensor (thermometer
looking thing) for a rather inexpensive price. Can I just use one of these
or should I buy two 250 watt heaters? The 500 watt one I was looking at is:
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?aquariumh&1096346700
I have seen these around other places too for about the same amount of
money. Anybody have any thoughts on this? The heater would be behind a
rigid plastic mesh to keep the pl*cos off.

Thanks as always!
Jennifer

[Andy Hill]

"Aquarijen" > wrote:
>I am trying to select a heater for my new fish tank. It is 135 gallons. I
>have read that you need 3 or 4 watts of power per gallon, so that's 405-540
>watts. I keep my house at about 68 degrees year round. I found a 500 watt
>titanium heater with controller and separate thermostat sensor (thermometer
>looking thing) for a rather inexpensive price. Can I just use one of these
>or should I buy two 250 watt heaters? The 500 watt one I was looking at is:
>http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?aquariumh&1096346700
>I have seen these around other places too for about the same amount of
>money. Anybody have any thoughts on this? The heater would be behind a
>rigid plastic mesh to keep the pl*cos off.
>
Two heaters are pretty much always preferable...helps keeps the fish from
becoming fish & chips when the thermo sticks in the "ON" position.

IMHO, a couple of 200W heaters for your setup should be more than enough --
remember, once you add substrate, plants, decorations, etc., you've got a lot
less than 135 gallons of water to heat.

[Nikki Casali]

Aquarijen wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am trying to select a heater for my new fish tank. It is 135 gallons. I
> have read that you need 3 or 4 watts of power per gallon, so that's 405-540
> watts. I keep my house at about 68 degrees year round. I found a 500 watt
> titanium heater with controller and separate thermostat sensor (thermometer
> looking thing) for a rather inexpensive price. Can I just use one of these
> or should I buy two 250 watt heaters? The 500 watt one I was looking at is:
> http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?aquariumh&1096346700
> I have seen these around other places too for about the same amount of
> money. Anybody have any thoughts on this? The heater would be behind a
> rigid plastic mesh to keep the pl*cos off.

On the subject of heaters, I bought an external heater for my 75 gallon
aquarium:
http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/he/HEHY-T08203.asp?E+scstore

This replaced a submersible one that started to leak and became unreliable.

Now I don't have to worry about where I place my ornaments or plants
that may have reduced flow around the heater, or cooking fish that
decide to sleep on it.

Nikki

[Aquarijen]

"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...

> On the subject of heaters, I bought an external heater for my 75 gallon
> aquarium:
> http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/he/HEHY-T08203.asp?E+scstore
>
> This replaced a submersible one that started to leak and became
> unreliable.
>
> Now I don't have to worry about where I place my ornaments or plants that
> may have reduced flow around the heater, or cooking fish that decide to
> sleep on it.
>
> Nikki
>

Ooo. I like the look of that. Did you get that particular brand? How long
have you had it and how does it regulate the temperature - does it have a
probe of some sort or does it detect the temperature of the water coming
into it? Does it adjust well when you have a warmer than normal day or
forget to turn the hood light off?
Sorry for all the questions, but I have not really heard how these work.

Thanks,
Jen

[Aquarijen]

"Andy Hill" > wrote in message
...

> Two heaters are pretty much always preferable...helps keeps the fish from
> becoming fish & chips when the thermo sticks in the "ON" position.
>
> IMHO, a couple of 200W heaters for your setup should be more than
> enough --
> remember, once you add substrate, plants, decorations, etc., you've got a
> lot
> less than 135 gallons of water to heat.
>
I forgot about the rocks. I have large rocks in this aquarium - probably 35
"gallons" worth in volume.

If you have two heaters, do you have two controllers?

Thanks,
Jen

[Nikki Casali]

Aquarijen wrote:

> "Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>
>>On the subject of heaters, I bought an external heater for my 75 gallon
>>aquarium:
>>http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/he/HEHY-T08203.asp?E+scstore
>>
>>This replaced a submersible one that started to leak and became
>>unreliable.
>>
>>Now I don't have to worry about where I place my ornaments or plants that
>>may have reduced flow around the heater, or cooking fish that decide to
>>sleep on it.
>>
>>Nikki
>>
>
>
> Ooo. I like the look of that. Did you get that particular brand?
Yes.

> How long have you had it
Only 6 weeks.

and how does it regulate the temperature - does it have a
> probe of some sort or does it detect the temperature of the water coming
> into it?
It has a temperature probe internal to the heater. Temperature stays
stable to within 0.1 degrees centigrade.

> Does it adjust well when you have a warmer than normal day or
> forget to turn the hood light off?
It can't chill water. If the aquarium lights or the room heats the
aquarium beyond the temperature set on the heater then it just switches
itself off.

> Sorry for all the questions, but I have not really heard how these work.

The water flows into a heated tube that also monitors the incoming water
temperature. It switches itself off when the desired temperature is reached.

I can't think of any drawbacks with this system, except that you need to
attached it to the outflow of the external filter system or a pump. Not
much of a negative really.

Nikki

[Andy Hill]

"Aquarijen" > wrote:
>If you have two heaters, do you have two controllers?
>
Typically. IME, the controllers go south a lot more often than the heating
elements, so you want the controller redundancy.

[Sean]

Aquarijen wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I am trying to select a heater for my new fish tank. It is 135 gallons. I
> have read that you need 3 or 4 watts of power per gallon, so that's 405-540
> watts. I keep my house at about 68 degrees year round. I found a 500 watt
> titanium heater with controller and separate thermostat sensor (thermometer
> looking thing) for a rather inexpensive price. Can I just use one of these
> or should I buy two 250 watt heaters? The 500 watt one I was looking at is:
> http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?aquariumh&1096346700
> I have seen these around other places too for about the same amount of
> money. Anybody have any thoughts on this? The heater would be behind a
> rigid plastic mesh to keep the pl*cos off.
>
> Thanks as always!
> Jennifer
>
>

I always suggest using multiple smaller heaters. The reason I do this is for
safety issues.

If you use 2x250watt heaters if one fails "off" the other will continue to keep
the tank warm. If one fails "on" it won't be large enough to overheat the tank
quickly, giving you a better chance of catching the problem before it boils your
tank.

I have always used Ebo Jager heaters and have never had one fail.

Sean
http://FishGeeks.com
http://FishBanners.com
http://FishClubs.com

[Dick]

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 13:47:57 -0600, Andy Hill >
wrote:

>"Aquarijen" > wrote:
>>I am trying to select a heater for my new fish tank. It is 135 gallons. I
>>have read that you need 3 or 4 watts of power per gallon, so that's 405-540
>>watts. I keep my house at about 68 degrees year round. I found a 500 watt
>>titanium heater with controller and separate thermostat sensor (thermometer
>>looking thing) for a rather inexpensive price. Can I just use one of these
>>or should I buy two 250 watt heaters? The 500 watt one I was looking at is:
>>http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?aquariumh&1096346700
>>I have seen these around other places too for about the same amount of
>>money. Anybody have any thoughts on this? The heater would be behind a
>>rigid plastic mesh to keep the pl*cos off.
>>
>Two heaters are pretty much always preferable...helps keeps the fish from
>becoming fish & chips when the thermo sticks in the "ON" position.
>
>IMHO, a couple of 200W heaters for your setup should be more than enough --
>remember, once you add substrate, plants, decorations, etc., you've got a lot
>less than 135 gallons of water to heat.

There is a recent thread discussing plecos burning themselves by
laying along side a heater. I think I may have one Pleco with such a
scar. The suggested fix was to put a guard around the heater. (A
follow up said she had put a netting guard around and lost 3 fish
whose fins got caught in the net, ironic) In addition to spreading
the risk of heater failure by having more than one heater, it would
seem desirable to limit the actual heat by having more than one
heater, perhaps two or three, rather than one.

dick

[Dick]

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 15:03:57 -0500, "Aquarijen"
> wrote:

>
>"Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
...
>
>> On the subject of heaters, I bought an external heater for my 75 gallon
>> aquarium:
>> http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/he/HEHY-T08203.asp?E+scstore
>>
>> This replaced a submersible one that started to leak and became
>> unreliable.
>>
>> Now I don't have to worry about where I place my ornaments or plants that
>> may have reduced flow around the heater, or cooking fish that decide to
>> sleep on it.
>>
>> Nikki
>>
>
>Ooo. I like the look of that. Did you get that particular brand? How long
>have you had it and how does it regulate the temperature - does it have a
>probe of some sort or does it detect the temperature of the water coming
>into it? Does it adjust well when you have a warmer than normal day or
>forget to turn the hood light off?
>Sorry for all the questions, but I have not really heard how these work.
>
>Thanks,
>Jen
>
One external heater is your house/room temperature control. Last year
I noted a fight between my air conditioner and the fish tanks. I was
setting the room temp to 74 and the tanks to 78. This summer I
decided to keep the room at 78. Saves on electricity too. I haven't
decided what to do about winter. The actual wattage needed is not
determined just by the tank size, but the also the differential
between the tank temp and the room temp. So, if I keep the room temp
at 74 this winter the tank heaters will have to heat the water volume
4 degrees, if I raise the room to 78 I won't even need heaters.

dick

[Dick]

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 21:46:28 +0100, Nikki Casali
> wrote:

>
>
>Aquarijen wrote:
>
>> "Nikki Casali" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>
>>
>>>On the subject of heaters, I bought an external heater for my 75 gallon
>>>aquarium:
>>>http://www.mops.ca/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/skus/he/HEHY-T08203.asp?E+scstore
>>>
>>>This replaced a submersible one that started to leak and became
>>>unreliable.
>>>
>>>Now I don't have to worry about where I place my ornaments or plants that
>>>may have reduced flow around the heater, or cooking fish that decide to
>>>sleep on it.
>>>
>>>Nikki
>>>
>>
>>
>> Ooo. I like the look of that. Did you get that particular brand?
>Yes.
>
>> How long have you had it
>Only 6 weeks.
>
> and how does it regulate the temperature - does it have a
>> probe of some sort or does it detect the temperature of the water coming
>> into it?
>It has a temperature probe internal to the heater. Temperature stays
>stable to within 0.1 degrees centigrade.
>
>> Does it adjust well when you have a warmer than normal day or
>> forget to turn the hood light off?
>It can't chill water. If the aquarium lights or the room heats the
>aquarium beyond the temperature set on the heater then it just switches
>itself off.
>
>> Sorry for all the questions, but I have not really heard how these work.
>
>The water flows into a heated tube that also monitors the incoming water
>temperature. It switches itself off when the desired temperature is reached.
>
>I can't think of any drawbacks with this system, except that you need to
>attached it to the outflow of the external filter system or a pump. Not
>much of a negative really.
>
>Nikki

One advantage to internal heaters is the distribution of the heat over
the length of heater. Some of the element is near the bottom. Since
heat rises convection currents from the rising heat will provide
better heat distribution.

The new electronically regulated heaters seem safer to me. The
mechanical thermostats always seem to become hard to change
temperature whereas the electronic dial always moves easily. The
thermostat mounts outside the tank and only the temperature probe goes
into the water. I put the heaters near power filters and air streams
to further promote heat distribution. I put the probe on the other
side of the tank so I am not just measuring the heated water.

I have "Via Agua" heaters in a 29 and two 10 gallon tanks. I have a
heater by "Pro Heat" by Won Brothers Inc. as a backup. Same set up,
but I haven't used it yet.

Electronic thermostatically controlled heaters are more expensive but
I believe more reliable. In the last two years I had one glass tube
internal heater thermostat fail (two in use) and none of the
electronic thermostats have failed (3 in use).

[TYNK 7]

>Subject: heaters for large aquarium
>From: "Aquarijen"
>Date: 9/27/2004 1:26 PM Central Daylight Time
>Message-id: >
>
>Hi All,
>
>I am trying to select a heater for my new fish tank. It is 135 gallons. I
>have read that you need 3 or 4 watts of power per gallon, so that's 405-540
>watts. I keep my house at about 68 degrees year round. I found a 500 watt
>titanium heater with controller and separate thermostat sensor (thermometer
>looking thing) for a rather inexpensive price. Can I just use one of these
>or should I buy two 250 watt heaters? The 500 watt one I was looking at is:
>http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?aquariumh&1096346700
>I have seen these around other places too for about the same amount of
>money. Anybody have any thoughts on this? The heater would be behind a
>rigid plastic mesh to keep the pl*cos off.
>
>Thanks as always!
>Jennifer

In larger tanks it's better to have a heater placed at either end of the tank.
So just divide the watts needed and buy 2 heaters. = )