Heating

[miskairal]

After spending many months learning about keeping a reef tank I've come
to the conclusion that no two people do it the same and no set up is the
"right" way necessarily. I really wish someone would just say, you do
this, this and this as us women aren't too good at making decisions.

Anyway, I'm stuck now on the heating. I really want to start trying to
keep costs down so thought I might get the heaters on ebay after buying
almost everything else new.

My tank should hold about 683 litres or 180 US gallons so what heating
do you all recommend? I've heard 2W per gallon, 3 W per gallon and 5 W
per gallon so anywhere from 360W to 940W apparently. I'm in Oz and it
doesn't get too cold where the tank is, maybe down to 10°C (50°F) in
winter at the most, mind you it's meant to be mid winter now and the
temp is about 20°C there. Should I use 3 heaters even? I will not be
having a sump at this stage.

The biggest heaters I've seen on ebay are 300W. Are there any brands to
stear/steer clear of? Resun seems to be the most common.

Thankyou

[Marc Levenson]

Hi Miskairal,

You need 3w per gallon, divided by two. If your tank is 180g, you need
540w of heating power. I always recommend dividing that number over two
or even three heaters, so if one sticks on it can't cook your tank.

Two 250w heaters will do the job adequately, especially in your climate.

Marc


miskairal wrote:
> After spending many months learning about keeping a reef tank I've come
> to the conclusion that no two people do it the same and no set up is the
> "right" way necessarily. I really wish someone would just say, you do
> this, this and this as us women aren't too good at making decisions.
>
> Anyway, I'm stuck now on the heating. I really want to start trying to
> keep costs down so thought I might get the heaters on ebay after buying
> almost everything else new.
>
> My tank should hold about 683 litres or 180 US gallons so what heating
> do you all recommend? I've heard 2W per gallon, 3 W per gallon and 5 W
> per gallon so anywhere from 360W to 940W apparently. I'm in Oz and it
> doesn't get too cold where the tank is, maybe down to 10°C (50°F) in
> winter at the most, mind you it's meant to be mid winter now and the
> temp is about 20°C there. Should I use 3 heaters even? I will not be
> having a sump at this stage.
>
> The biggest heaters I've seen on ebay are 300W. Are there any brands to
> stear/steer clear of? Resun seems to be the most common.
>
> Thankyou

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[miskairal]

OK, Thankyou.

Marc Levenson wrote:
> Hi Miskairal,
>
> You need 3w per gallon, divided by two. If your tank is 180g, you need
> 540w of heating power. I always recommend dividing that number over two
> or even three heaters, so if one sticks on it can't cook your tank.
>
> Two 250w heaters will do the job adequately, especially in your climate.
>
> Marc
>
>
> miskairal wrote:
>
>> After spending many months learning about keeping a reef tank I've
>> come to the conclusion that no two people do it the same and no set up
>> is the "right" way necessarily. I really wish someone would just say,
>> you do this, this and this as us women aren't too good at making
>> decisions.
>>
>> Anyway, I'm stuck now on the heating. I really want to start trying to
>> keep costs down so thought I might get the heaters on ebay after
>> buying almost everything else new.
>>
>> My tank should hold about 683 litres or 180 US gallons so what heating
>> do you all recommend? I've heard 2W per gallon, 3 W per gallon and 5 W
>> per gallon so anywhere from 360W to 940W apparently. I'm in Oz and it
>> doesn't get too cold where the tank is, maybe down to 10°C (50°F) in
>> winter at the most, mind you it's meant to be mid winter now and the
>> temp is about 20°C there. Should I use 3 heaters even? I will not be
>> having a sump at this stage.
>>
>> The biggest heaters I've seen on ebay are 300W. Are there any brands
>> to stear/steer clear of? Resun seems to be the most common.
>>
>> Thankyou
>

[Arnie Appelt]

"miskairal" > wrote in message
u...
>
> My tank should hold about 683 litres or 180 US gallons so what heating
> do you all recommend? I've heard 2W per gallon, 3 W per gallon and 5 W
> per gallon so anywhere from 360W to 940W apparently. I'm in Oz and it
> doesn't get too cold where the tank is, maybe down to 10°C (50°F) in
> winter at the most, mind you it's meant to be mid winter now and the
> temp is about 20°C there. Should I use 3 heaters even? I will not be
> having a sump at this stage.
>
> The biggest heaters I've seen on ebay are 300W. Are there any brands to
> stear/steer clear of? Resun seems to be the most common.


Spend the money on a good quality heater. I use Jager heaters. Go here for
info on heaters.
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_heaters__index.asp?ast=&key=

and here for more info. This info applies to sal****er too.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/tipsandtables/l/blheatersize.htm

Arnie

[miskairal]

Arnie Appelt wrote:
> "miskairal" > wrote in message
> u...
>
>>My tank should hold about 683 litres or 180 US gallons so what heating
>>do you all recommend? I've heard 2W per gallon, 3 W per gallon and 5 W
>>per gallon so anywhere from 360W to 940W apparently. I'm in Oz and it
>>doesn't get too cold where the tank is, maybe down to 10°C (50°F) in
>>winter at the most, mind you it's meant to be mid winter now and the
>>temp is about 20°C there. Should I use 3 heaters even? I will not be
>>having a sump at this stage.
>>
>>The biggest heaters I've seen on ebay are 300W. Are there any brands to
>>stear/steer clear of? Resun seems to be the most common.
>
>
>
> Spend the money on a good quality heater. I use Jager heaters. Go here for
> info on heaters.
> http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_heaters__index.asp?ast=&key=
>
> and here for more info. This info applies to sal****er too.
>
> http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/tipsandtables/l/blheatersize.htm
>
> Arnie
>
>
Thankyou for the info. I have bought a cheapie on eBay but will buy
another through my petshop - this is a petshop that only carries
expensive, top of the range equipment like tunze etc.

[Pszemol]

"Marc Levenson" > wrote in message m...
> Two 250w heaters will do the job adequately, especially in your climate.

And if you buy them in online store for $15-20 each they will not ruin your budget.
I would not buy used heater on eBay - this device is too important to fail...
And taking the cost of new, the savings will not be huge anyway.

[Pszemol]

"miskairal" > wrote in message ...
> Thankyou for the info. I have bought a cheapie on eBay but will buy
> another through my petshop - this is a petshop that only carries
> expensive, top of the range equipment like tunze etc.

http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=EJ1121
250W Jager heater, new $24. Is this expense worth going to eBay for
a crappy used heater or to LFS to buy way overpriced, the same heater?

[miskairal]

Pszemol wrote:
> "Marc Levenson" > wrote in message
> m...
>
>> Two 250w heaters will do the job adequately, especially in your climate.
>
>
> And if you buy them in online store for $15-20 each they will not ruin
> your budget.
> I would not buy used heater on eBay - this device is too important to
> fail...
> And taking the cost of new, the savings will not be huge anyway.

No, they are new ones on ebay. I have bought one and it arrived today
obviously new and still in packaging.

[miskairal]

Pszemol wrote:
> "miskairal" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>> Thankyou for the info. I have bought a cheapie on eBay but will buy
>> another through my petshop - this is a petshop that only carries
>> expensive, top of the range equipment like tunze etc.
>
>
> http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=EJ1121
> 250W Jager heater, new $24. Is this expense worth going to eBay for
> a crappy used heater or to LFS to buy way overpriced, the same heater?

Why do you assume I am in America? If I were to buy a heater from an
american website the cost of getting it to Oz would be ridiculous.

In Oz a 250W Jager heater bought online
(http://www.aquaria.com.au/catalog/index.php/cPath/1_74)
is over $66 so yes, it is much cheaper to buy a new one that is only $25
especially when the difference will buy a carton of beer ;)

I am not in a very cold climate. If one heater fails my tank is not
going to chill down to undesirable levels before I can get another. Oh
and yes that $66 is AUS dollars but from what I can gather our incomes
are much the same as yours ie. an American teacher I know gets the same
salary in American dollars as an Aussie teacher friend does in Aussie
dollars (not that I'm a teacher).

Just for everyone's interest my American friend was complaining about
the price of petrol the other day and asked what ours costs in Oz. Well
I just paid $1.15 per litre which equals about $4.60 per gallon - I
believe yours is much less?

Cheers
miskairal

[Marc Levenson]

It may be much less to you, but it is way too expensive for me. I used
to be able to fill up my gas tank for about $26 to $28, and now it is
almost $50 for the exact same vehicle. I've only had it for about 2
years, so you can see just how much the price of gas has escalated here
in a short time.

Frankly, it is disturbing.

Marc


miskairal wrote:

> Just for everyone's interest my American friend was complaining about
> the price of petrol the other day and asked what ours costs in Oz. Well
> I just paid $1.15 per litre which equals about $4.60 per gallon - I
> believe yours is much less?
>
> Cheers
> miskairal

--
Personal Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com/oanda/index.html
Business Page: http://www.sparklingfloorservice.com
Marine Hobbyist: http://www.melevsreef.com

[Pszemol]

"miskairal" > wrote in message u...
> Why do you assume I am in America? If I were to buy a heater from an
> american website the cost of getting it to Oz would be ridiculous.

I did not know what Oz is... :-) Thats why.

> I am not in a very cold climate. If one heater fails my tank is not
> going to chill down to undesirable levels before I can get another.

The trick with two heaters does not work only to prevent chill downs.
It also prevents boiling fish when the heater stucks in on position.
Think about this one, too.

[miskairal]

Pszemol wrote:
> "miskairal" > wrote in message
> u...
>
>> Why do you assume I am in America? If I were to buy a heater from an
>> american website the cost of getting it to Oz would be ridiculous.
>
>
> I did not know what Oz is... :-) Thats why.
>
>> I am not in a very cold climate. If one heater fails my tank is not
>> going to chill down to undesirable levels before I can get another.
>
>
> The trick with two heaters does not work only to prevent chill downs.
> It also prevents boiling fish when the heater stucks in on position.
> Think about this one, too.

Hmmm - good point!

Sorry, I thought everyone knew what Oz meant. Australia is so much
longer to type and I always get the last i and a back to front
(Australai). I guess it's a bit like when Americans use abbreviated
state names, I have no idea what/where you are talking about.

[Pszemol]

"miskairal" > wrote in message
u...
> Sorry, I thought everyone knew what Oz meant.

What is the origin of the OZ as Australia?

[miskairal]

Pszemol wrote:
> "miskairal" > wrote in message
> u...
>
>> Sorry, I thought everyone knew what Oz meant.
>
>
> What is the origin of the OZ as Australia?
>
Well us Aussies have this thig where any name with more than one
syllable we "need" to shorten and any name with only one syllable we
"need" to lengthen plus we are very lazy with out speech. I dont' know
who first used the term Oz but it's been used all my lifetime. I guess
Oz is even shorter than Aus <shoulder shrug>.

The short answer - I don't know :)