Best Heater Solution For 90usg? 1,2 Or 3, Howmany Watts Total

[CdoGG]

Hello all

I have been having a lot of trouble with heaters in my 90usg tank. I am on my 3rd heater in the last year. I thought it might be dead spots so I pointed my power head towards it.

I have a 400watt Hydor heater in a horizontal position. I have the temp at the lowest setting which is 71F but it keeps the temp at 81-83F.

I live in US/Indiana where we have really cold winters and really hot summers. I have huge temp changes in my house. This past winter my tank temp would change drastically. Luckily I didn't lose any fish.

For some reason as long as the outside temp isn't freezing my heater will keep the water at 81-83F even with the temp set at the lowest setting. I have had this problem with the last 3 heaters I’ve had.

I might have it to close to the gravel. I will move it when I get home tonight.


Should I get 2- 300watt heaters one for each end for those cold winter days? What is the best brand? I thought I had a good one (Hydor)?

Any suggestions would help.

Thanks
chris

 

[kniesh]

I have a 90gal also. I was using a 300 watt heater I think, which was doing a fine job and I was keeping a perfect balanced temp. However I would definately recommend 2 300 watt heaters (which I now have). Especially if you have big temperature swings. Also this helps incase one of the heaters is faulty or breaks, it is always handy to have that other one already in there to keep things fairly stable.

Sorry I cant remember the brand name of my 1st heater as I got it that long ago, it is amazing though. I will check when I get home.

 

[CdoGG]

I have a 90gal also. I was using a 300 watt heater I think, which was doing a fine job and I was keeping a perfect balanced temp. However I would definately recommend 2 300 watt heaters (which I now have). Especially if you have big temperature swings. Also this helps incase one of the heaters is faulty or breaks, it is always handy to have that other one already in there to keep things fairly stable.

Would it hurt to have 2 400watters ?


Thanks

 

[kniesh]

Definately not, so long as you got the temps correct when first setting them up. Just keep an eye on them when first putting them on and make sure you are getting an even temp that doesn't go too high because of the extra heater. After that it should be fine.

 

[Bullrock74]

What is the temperature of the room the aquarium is in? I have only one 300 watt heater in my 350 gallon tank because when I had two, the water stayed above 80F. I realized that my room temperature never goes below 65F and never above 75F, so in my case, one 300 watt heater can handle the temp difference between the room and the 78F I want my aquarium to be. If you keep your room temp about the same levels as I do, I bet you could get away with about a 100 watt heater in a 90G tank.

Heaters are supposed have thermostats in them and they are supposed to not turn on if the water temp is above the level the heater is set to. I have never had a heater that would actually stay off if the water was too warm...they just keep turning on regardless of whether the water needs to be heated or not. I have long maintained that the heaters actually work on timers and do not have thermostats.

 

[CdoGG]

What is the temperature of the room the aquarium is in? I have only one 300 watt heater in my 350 gallon tank because when I had two, the water stayed above 80F. I realized that my room temperature never goes below 65F and never above 75F, so in my case, one 300 watt heater can handle the temp difference between the room and the 78F I want my aquarium to be. If you keep your room temp about the same levels as I do, I bet you could get away with about a 100 watt heater in a 90G tank.

Heaters are supposed have thermostats in them and they are supposed to not turn on if the water temp is above the level the heater is set to. I have never had a heater that would actually stay off if the water was too warm...they just keep turning on regardless of whether the water needs to be heated or not. I have long maintained that the heaters actually work on timers and do not have thermostats.

Actually I think that is the problem. My wife is always cold while I am sweating up a storm ! So she likes to keep the living room 78 -80F

With the light on for 12 hours a day the temp is elevated 2-3F

I turned the thermistat down for the house and told my wife to wear a jacket... But it hasn't went down much... Still 82.5F I have a 150watt heater I am going to try. ...I have it set all the way down to the 68F setting...

We will see...

 

[rdd1952]

I would definitely go with 2 heaters. I don't think you can get evenly distributed temperatures with one heater in a tank over 3' unless you have massive circulation. Even on my 29 gallon tank (30") which has a 150 watt heater on it and dual filters, the temperature on the opposite end from the heater is about .5 to .7 degrees cooler..

What is the temperature of the room the aquarium is in? I have only one 300 watt heater in my 350 gallon tank because when I had two, the water stayed above 80F. I realized that my room temperature never goes below 65F and never above 75F, so in my case, one 300 watt heater can handle the temp difference between the room and the 78F I want my aquarium to be.

I suspect that your heater is on constantly. The very minimum wattage for a tank is 3 per gallon. You have less than 1 wpg. The lights may be giving off enough heat while they are on to keep the tank warmer but have you checked the temp in the middle of the night when the lights are off? Even if it is managing to do the job, it will be using way more power and will wear out very early. As for the temp staying over 80 when you had 2, you just needed to adjust the thermostat.

 

[Bullrock74]

I suspect that your heater is on constantly. The very minimum wattage for a tank is 3 per gallon. You have less than 1 wpg. The lights may be giving off enough heat while they are on to keep the tank warmer but have you checked the temp in the middle of the night when the lights are off? Even if it is managing to do the job, it will be using way more power and will wear out very early. As for the temp staying over 80 when you had 2, you just needed to adjust the thermostat.

No, the heater comes on and goes off regularly. It will turn on for about a minute and then about five minutes later it will turn on again. When I had two heaters, one was at the lowest setting while the other set at 78F and together they maintained the water well over 80F. My thermometer is in the opposite corner to the heater which is 8 feet away. It is possible that it is faulty, but if it is, then every heater I've ever had has been faulty as they all will turn on even when they should not. It would be interesting to do an experiemnt on an empty tank where the water is heated to say 85F and then the heater is plugged in set at the lowest possible setting and then wait to see how long before the heater turns on. My money would be on less than 15 minutes.

 

[Bullrock74]

What is the temperature of the room the aquarium is in? I have only one 300 watt heater in my 350 gallon tank because when I had two, the water stayed above 80F. I realized that my room temperature never goes below 65F and never above 75F, so in my case, one 300 watt heater can handle the temp difference between the room and the 78F I want my aquarium to be. If you keep your room temp about the same levels as I do, I bet you could get away with about a 100 watt heater in a 90G tank.

Heaters are supposed have thermostats in them and they are supposed to not turn on if the water temp is above the level the heater is set to. I have never had a heater that would actually stay off if the water was too warm...they just keep turning on regardless of whether the water needs to be heated or not. I have long maintained that the heaters actually work on timers and do not have thermostats.

Actually I think that is the problem. My wife is always cold while I am sweating up a storm ! So she likes to keep the living room 78 -80F

With the light on for 12 hours a day the temp is elevated 2-3F

I turned the thermistat down for the house and told my wife to wear a jacket... But it hasn't went down much... Still 82.5F I have a 150watt heater I am going to try. ...I have it set all the way down to the 68F setting...

We will see...

Wow, a room that warm would kill me! I bet that was the problem. With a room that warm, you don't even need a heater, assuming it stays that temp even at night.

 

[rdd1952]

No, the heater comes on and goes off regularly. It will turn on for about a minute and then about five minutes later it will turn on again. When I had two heaters, one was at the lowest setting while the other set at 78F and together they maintained the water well over 80F. My thermometer is in the opposite corner to the heater which is 8 feet away. It is possible that it is faulty, but if it is, then every heater I've ever had has been faulty as they all will turn on even when they should not. It would be interesting to do an experiemnt on an empty tank where the water is heated to say 85F and then the heater is plugged in set at the lowest possible setting and then wait to see how long before the heater turns on. My money would be on less than 15 minutes.

If the heater is 8' from the thermostat, I'd bet the temp at the heater is 6 to 10 degrees higher than the water at the thermostat. There is no way that filtration can circulate the water enough to keep the temperature uniform through out a tank that large. I'd say something was definitely wrong with the ones you had when you were running them double. If they were keeping the water that hot, the thermostats were definitely off. I run 2 300 watt heaters on my 75 gallon and the temp stays between 78 and 78.4 regardless of which end I put my digital thermometer on.

As for the bet about it coming on in 15 minutes if the water is already 85 degrees. It would maybe depend on the heater. Some may have to come on to calibrate to the water temperature. Not really sure but if it functions properly, it would not come on until the water temp was below the thermostat setting. Any heater that is on when the water temperature is already considerably above the thermostat setting is faulty and should be replaced before it frys the fish. My heater in my 29 gallon almost never comes on in the winter as the ambient room temperature is about 74 and the lights raise the tank a little more so the heater almost doesn't have to do anything. It runs more in the summer when the air conditioning is on and the room is cooler.

 

[Bullrock74]

If the heater is 8' from the thermostat, I'd bet the temp at the heater is 6 to 10 degrees higher than the water at the thermostat.

I seriously doubt it, though I have not actually tested it. I doubt it unless Oscars, Jack Dempsey's, Green Terrors, Convicts,Three Spot Gourami's, Common Plecos, Rainbow Sharks, and Red Belly Pacus all love to constantly swim in and out of water that ranges from 78F to 84F/88F. All of these fish have been in the tank (at different times) since last August.

I think perhaps a larger volume of water will better maintain a constant temperature. It is much more resistant to any change of temperature.

 

[CdoGG]

I found a post somewhere where a guy uses 2 heaters hooked up to a dual plug temp controller. It bypasses the thermostat in the heaters and uses an external prob. He said his tank stays very stable. I think he had a 125gal with 2- 400watt heaters.

I am going to get one of these and another heater! I need it because we have very cold winters here, and my house has a heat pump that can't keep up, so the temps get down to 60F in our house.

I have turn the temp down in the house and my temp has stayed around 79 with the heater turn to the lowest setting.

C

 

[rdd1952]

CdoGG, Your heat problem is definitely the ambient room temperature. If the room is always 78-80 degrees, the tank is going to be at least that. I doubt your heater is even coming on. If it is, then something's wrong with it.