Heating Water In A 5Ft

[ChilliPepper]

I'm going to be getting a 5x2x2 131 USG. I'm wondering how many heaters I'll need... 2 x 300w be enough?

 

[shelaghfishface]

that`ll be fine
i had 1 in my 5ft, tho quite hardy fish that i doubt would have been effect to any great length should 1 have stopped working..always better to be safe than sorry


shelagh xxx

 

[ChilliPepper]

that`ll be fine
i had 1 in my 5ft, tho quite hardy fish that i doubt would have been effect to any great length should 1 have stopped working..always better to be safe than sorry


shelagh xxx

Thanks, I'll get 2 then, just incase one stopped working!

 

[OldMan47]

To heat that volume of water in a reasonable temperature room will require somewhere around 650 watts of heat using standard estimates of about 5 watts per gallon. Since the shape you are dealing with has a small surface to volume ratio, I suspect that as little as 500 watts will get the job done. The largest heaters that I have seen are 300 watts, so it would take a pair of 250W or larger heaters to take care of that tank. If the tank were a cube shape with the same displacement, I would try even smaller heaters to do the job although larger heaters just mean more time switched off. A pair of 300W heaters would just not be on as much of the time.

 

[ChilliPepper]

To heat that volume of water in a reasonable temperature room will require somewhere around 650 watts of heat using standard estimates of about 5 watts per gallon. Since the shape you are dealing with has a small surface to volume ratio, I suspect that as little as 500 watts will get the job done. The largest heaters that I have seen are 300 watts, so it would take a pair of 250W or larger heaters to take care of that tank. If the tank were a cube shape with the same displacement, I would try even smaller heaters to do the job although larger heaters just mean more time switched off. A pair of 00W heaters would just not be on as much of the time.

Thanks, so two 250w heaters at each end of the tank, will get the job done? Any recommended makes?

 

[OldMan47]

I have been using mostly the visi-therm heaters but many other makes are also good heaters.

 

[minxfishy]

I run two 300W on my 5ft, a single 300w was just about coping, but had problems on cold daya keeping it stable, so I added another, now the temperature doesnt fluctuate at all. I use 1 fluval e-series and 1 visitherm.

Visitherm are good, as are fluval tronic heater (cant say I rate the e-series) rena are also pretty good.

 

[myenigmaself]

My two cents: I'm a huge fan of redundancy, especially in heaters. I favor several small heaters to one large. Not only will your fish stay warm if one fails to turn on, but it's much less likely to cook your fish if one gets stuck on (I've seen this happen twice, it's horrible). I'd go as far as using 5 100W heaters, but I'm a bit extreme. 3 200W should mitigate a lot of risk.

 

[OldMan47]

That certainly is a conservative suggestion Enigma. I thought a pair was going far enough for heater problems.

 

[kaivalagi]

I can't rate the external Hydor heaters high enough, if you're running an external filter definitely consider using them, no more space taken away in the tank with heaters...You could get 2 x 300W (16mm hose)?



edit: just realised how old this post is...too much free time on my hands right now obviously