Heater Question

[Nightfyre]

I have a 90 gallon display tank and a 40 gallon sump tank that I will be setting up. Was wondering wattage I should be looking for. House temp never gets below 65 and rarely gets above 75. I have been looking at 300 watt heaters but was wondering if I should move up to 500 to be safe. Also looking for recommendations on ones that have a controller and two elements, one will be set a few degrees cooler as a fail-safe for primary. Unfortunately Neptune Apex is out of my price range at the moment. Thanks!

 

[Uncle99]

So I use two 300 watt heaters in 250gallons and it don’t work hard.
So you could consider two 150 watt heaters (for redundancy) and I always suggest an Inkbird (or other) controller to shut things down in case of heater stuck in the on position.

 

[Reef.]

Inkbird is very good, the 306 is what I have.

Go for 2x250 watt.

 

[CoralB]

+3 on the fail safe of using a inkbird

 

[Reef.]

Just to add, with 2x250, if one should fail the other is likely still going to be strong enough to heat the tank.

Slightly over powered is better than under in most cases, the electric used will be the same whether you have exactly the correct wattage or too much wattage, the heater will just turn off sooner with the more powerful heater.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

The old rule of thumb is 3-5 watts per gallon. I prefer to go on the higher side, so for your 130 gallons of water I would go with 500-600 watts

 

[Reef.]

The old rule of thumb is 3-5 watts per gallon. I prefer to go on the higher side, so for your 130 gallons of water I would go with 500-600 watts

My tank is only 14g, with displacement probably nearer 10g of water, no way would 30watts heat my tank, 50watts on a warmer day but would struggle on cold days and at night, I use 100w, so yes I agree 500-600 would most likely be needed.