Let's talk heaters

[james s_]

Harleyguy;151418 wrote: I was thinking 3 1000W heaters

I seriously doubt you will need that much. With all the lights you plan on using on your tank I bet you could get away with 1000 watts of heat total. With pumps,lights,etc....running I seriously doubt the heaters would come on much.

Me personally Im using 5-200watt stealth heaters controlled by my AC3. Those heaters are cheap to replace and have been pretty dependable for me over the years. I like multiple small heaters in my tanks which keeps me from worrying about my tank getting boiled if a heater sticks on.

 

[liverock27]

My only suggestion is stay away from Finnex heaters. I have had 2 break and they always find a way to not cover them under the warranty. My last Finnex craped out in less than a month, but they wouldn't replace it because the forgot to seal the heater properly so water got into it and that is not covered even though they addmitted it was their fault.
I use the Marineland Stealth Heater now and it has worked great and like everyone said they are not very expensive (I don't like the word cheap).

 

[harleyguy]

Wow, I'm really glad I started this thread, I was almost 100% sure I was going to have to buy the nice (pricey) Titanium heaters, but it sounds like a basket full of stealths should do the trick. Like I said before I will run the system an see how much I need to raise the temp.

I was planning on putting an AC vent into the fish room (or a Euro style AC unit just for the fish room) , but I still think it will get cold down there. A little help I will have is the grow-out tank I am planning, it will likely have 3 x 175W MH's (running reverse cycle).

 

[george]

There's nothing wrong with buying too much in the wattage, other than the cost of the heaters which really isn't much. It's not like you're going to be using more power to heat the water. The difference between the 100w heater and the 250w heater is about $2.50, so it's much more economical to buy the big heaters for the capacity.

However you will be able to keep the water more stable in colder surroundings and react better to temp changes during the transition months around here when it can be 65 during the day and 35 at night.

As someone mentioned, it might be rough on your controller, though.

 

[glxtrix]

I have the stealth ones as well. Two of them are in my sump....whats the wattage....no clue, lol. All i know is one is much smaller than the other one. Perhaps I should look to see what they are one of these days.

 

[drnecropolis]

Barbara;151428 wrote: Oh come on now. We're in one of the geekyest hobbies around. We gotta take a little risk every now and then. Wait until you have to grab it to make sure it's working! Ugh! Gives me the quivers just thinking about it. I don't know why touching it seems so scary; I mean, you stick your hands in the water all the time. But there's something creepy about grabbing hold of an electrical part that's totally submerged in the water.....

Wow....Painful memories...Hurts thinking about it..