What size heater?

[Notsolostfish]

I have the marine x110.4 its 105 gallons. Probably after rocks, water et . Ill be at 60-70G water volume. My basement have no heating. What size heater should i get? 2 300? My basement gets to lower 60s in the winter.

 

[littlefoxx]

Not sure on the size but DO NOT GET GLASS HEATERS. I had one explode in my sump. Get a titanium one

 

[Garf]

What size heater should i get? 2 300?

Sounds about right, if it gets that cold.

I had one explode in my sump. Get a titanium one

I've always used glass, not had anything like that happen. How can you tell if the titanium ones are leaking?

 

[winxp_man]

I like the Hygger Ti models. Also get two smaller units. Reason. If one decides to go nuts it does not put the tank as a big risk of boiling your marin life! Remember looking at a post somewhere recently where the persons tank boiled everything because of a heater malfunction.

Here is a long to what I would use in a size like your tank. I would run two of these. I have a 500w on my 138 gal system (by name it’s shown as a 150 but that’s a selling ploy in my opinion haha) and in the winter down to the mid 30’s here in the area of Cali I live in it does just fine by itself.

https://a.co/d/1vMfswp

 

[winxp_man]

Sounds about right, if it gets that cold.

I've always used glass, not had anything like that happen. How can you tell if the titanium ones are leaking?

If they leak, you will see bubbles around the heater core, and you will start having electrical current in the tank.

 

[littlefoxx]

Sounds about right, if it gets that cold.

I've always used glass, not had anything like that happen. How can you tell if the titanium ones are leaking?

Not sure I just switched to one. But my glass one exploded in my sump! I used glass for years with my freshwater tanks and no issue (the same one actually). Was crazy

 

[Fish Fan]

I am switching to titanium heaters because I learned that they also serve as a grounding probe too. And I do believe they will be more durable.

@Notsolostfish I think the general rule of thumb is 3-5 watts/gallon, with larger tanks trending closer to the 3 watts/gallon. I also keep my tanks in a downstairs room that gets to the low 60's in the winter. I am planning a 150 and hoping two 300 watt heaters will do it. I'd be pretty confident that two 300 watt heaters would heat your tank no problem.

Whatever you get, I'd suggest some kind of heater controller to prevent overheating the tank if/when a heater fails. Inkbird is probably the best budget controller, and Ranco controllers are very well regarded, possibly "the best". Helios comes with the controller and titanium heaters and seems to be a popular choice here.

Last, if you haven't already, give some consideration to the electrical draw you're putting on whatever circuit(s) you're plugging your tank into. If you have a dedicated circuit or multiple circuits serving your tank, or you've upgraded to 20 amp service, you should be fine. But if you're powering your tank on a single, typical 15 amp circuit, just watch the load.

You never want to max out a 15 amp circuit with 15 amps of draw continuously, it's not meant for that, and that can be dangerous. Typically, a 15 amp circuit should carry no more than about 12 amps continuously. When both your 300 watt heaters come on, that's 600 combined watts, which is about 5 amps. What's you're lighting, I bet another 200 watts or so? That's another 1.67 amps. So now you're at 6.67 amps with just the heaters and lights (which are the two biggest electrical consumers on the tank). Now you have less than 5.5 amps left on the circuit to power all your pumps and anything else on the tank, plus anything else in the room that may be on the same circuit - a TV, lighting, vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer, etc. Just give some thought to the total draw so you don't blow the breaker when someone tries to charge their phone :)

Good luck!

 

[BryanM]

I have the marine x110.4 its 105 gallons. Probably after rocks, water et . Ill be at 60-70G water volume. My basement have no heating. What size heater should i get? 2 300? My basement gets to lower 60s in the winter.

A pair of 300's should do, though I'm sure if it were me I'd do a pair of 400s.

I run two helios controllers, one for each heater, and my apex controls the outlets, and acts as a failsafe should the temp get out of range either direction.