First of all i hope everyone had a good weekend.

Over the weekend i was thinking about my heater and how they work and everything. i use

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?...;utm_source=cse

and i was wondering what the effects would be if i were to use two of them? would it fry the fish or do they work to get to a certain temp then shut off? I want to add another one to increase the longievity (sp?) if the heaters. But i dont want to put in both if they are just going to keep running and fry everything. any help???

Thanks,

Alex

They are suppose to turn off when the water reaches the set temperature. You can use two at once, just make sure they are both set for the exact same temp. Two heaters are only really needed on larger 100+gal tanks IMO.

well i wanted 2 just in case one fails. so do you think maybe get it and just keep it stored?

That's what I did; if your original one fails, it's BOUND to be when the shop is closed or you can't get out for one.

OK so get one, dont use it, just store it and all is well. Thanks

Just keep a digital thermometer on the tank and if you see that your heater isn't working then put the new one in. I would just store the new one and only run one heater at a time. Setting to exact temperatures would be too difficult.

I have had the stealth 75w and it hasn't failed on me yet. You shouldn't have any problems but a backup is always good.

This post has been edited by nanoreef11: May 20 2008, 05:58 AM

it shouldnt be to hard to set to the same temp as thats what the dial is for.... but yes im not gonna add it but might as well pick one up. after that comes the generator.... im fish mad i know. lol

Personally, I think it's wise to have an oversized heater, or multiple heaters. A properly rated heater will keep the tank at a normal temperature. If you end up with sick fish you may need to turn the temperature up. I find that a properly rated heater just won't have the oomph to get the temps up where they are needed.

Since the heater will turn off once it gets to it's target temperature, an oversized or multiple heaters will be fine.

no 2 heaters even same brand would be exactly the same so there would be a very very slight diffeence in temp between them but 1 oversized heater would be fine in a tank and yes of course a backup would be ideal but no need 2 have 2 in a tank at once

for me its easy lol i dont pay shop prices for fish accesories i have a wholesale card which i get everythink at cost price <---- and yes i do like bragging LOL

Wouldn't it be fine to have both in there but set the backup heater to a couple of degrees lower than the main heater. This way, it should sit dormant until the day it's needed - if that ever happens.

Actually, that's what you may get no matter how closely you attempt to match their set-temps. There was a thread where this same topic was discussed and I think I remember one of the experienced people saying that basically what happens is that one of the heaters ends up being the one that runs all the time - doesn't make logical sense but I think this was the statement.

I believe another factor people consider (or at least -used- to consider) was that a max wattage rating was used as insurance that the heater wouldn't fry the fish when the setpoint circuit fails and leaves the heater constantly on. Thus the more overrated you are the faster your fish fry in this rare scenerio.

Now I believe many now consider this to be so rare an occurance that it is just not worth worrying about! Maybe we can hear from people on this!

Having said that, I must admit to being among those with an overrated heater! AND, I have even found that it has many advantages. The best for me was when Oliver's tank broke (many of you may have read that saga, still out there in the threads.) and I set up an emergency bacteria survival bucket system in the outdoor shed. My heater was so powerful it was able to keep my bucket of tank water warm on some very cold nights, with no central heating whatsoever. There are also situations where it is nice to have a heater raise the temp quickly on a large volume of water and obviously more power is faster for that.

I do think having a backup heater is a great idea and for people in danger of having cold rooms it would be a nice backup to have the second heater already in the tank and in place to take over if needed. I guess one of the only down sides is that this is even more gear to try and hide.

~~waterdrop~~

I guess the generator is in case of power outages?

I have something thats probably as good and doesn't take up as much room. Its a Battery jumper for my car that is basically a yellow box containing a battery and some jump leads. On the back of the unit is a power socket you can plug a normal 240v plug into. It should hold enough charge to run the tank for a few hours if there is a power cut. I'm sure the versions you get in the US will be for your voltage.

hmmm thanks everyone for your input. I think what im going to do is buy a second heater that is stronger and take out the one i have now. As it seems the general consensious is that a more powerful heater is better but a back up is good for just incase situations. Now shrimper thank you very much for that im going to start looking into a battery jumper now. I would have never thought of that before. and after the power failure i had the other day (10 minutes of freaking out) i decided i have to much invested in this not to have something like that.

hi all, i'm new to this and am just on setting up a tank.

I was unsure of what size heater to get for a 54L tank, would you recommend 75W?

any help would be appreciated!

Hi there,

I'd probably recommend a 100w heater for that tank.

Here's a chart that Bloo posted up at some point:

------ from bloo post --------
As a general guide:

25 wt : 20 ltrs (5 gal)
50 wt : 35 ltrs (9 gal)
75 wt : 50 ltrs (13 gal)
100 wt : 65 ltrs (17 gal)
150 wt : 100 ltrs (26 gal)
200 wt : 125 ltrs (33 gal)
250 wt : 150 ltrs (40 gal)
300 wt : 200 ltrs (53 gal)

------------------
And here's another good comment that was in that thread:

For small (under 10 degree) differences between target and room temperature, 1 watt per litre is the guide
For larger, as per Bloo's specs above. A 100W would do it for adverage room temp and a tank temp of 26c. 150W if your room is cold or the tank needs to be 30c. A freezing room or very warm tank may need up-to 200W

All the best
Rabbut
-------------------------------

hope that helps a little,
~~waterdrop~~

ok thanx 4 the help, 100W it is then!