1000L/264 Gallons - Heaters

[Forty-Two]

Hello all - I’m planning a 264 gallon build (finally) - and I’m tackling the heater question this week.

I’ve had two heater disasters in my ~5 years of reefing so I’ve learned some tough lessons there.

My plan is to use 2xAqua Logic TR230SN and Schego titanium heating rods however I’m unsure of the wattage.

I’ve heard that the safest route is to go underpowered on the rods - and thus they can’t cook your tank. Given that I’m planning to use the Aqua Logic’a to do the job - I was thinking either 2x300w or 2x400w.

Has anyone done testing on this topic? Is 300w reasonable or too low and instead I should go with the 400w? I’m not in a super cold climate - more moderate. Coldest it gets is around 0 Celsius.

Thanks in advance.

 

[C_AWOL]

It depends on the general ambient room temp but for my 375g with 180g sump thats exposed to the elements I use 4 300 watt eheim jagers controlled by a ranco (basically the same thing as an aqualogic)
It's able to maintain the tank at 25C (78F) on the low end year round (we approach 4C during winter)

For comparison my 470g with 180g sump indoors has a single 300w eheim jager controlled by a hydros that hasnt turned on for the last ~6 years since ive had the tank

Personally 300w is the highest I would go on a single heating element because it will turn on and off less often which wears down the controlling elements less.

 

[afboundguy]

I had about 75-80 total gallons in my basement that gets down to 59 in the winter (will be resolving this by putting in a portable heater/AC setup) and I used four preset 300 watt heaters.

I am a big fan of preset or anything that doesn't have a knob that can fail (like Sicce contactless heaters). Having them sealed up has one less failure point.