Heating For A 450L

[c-dub]

Just reading on ebay about some heaters...

Says a 300W heater is good for aquariums up to 300L.

What should I do or get?

my tank is 4x2x2ft.

(453L).

Thanks.

 

[lilacamy931]

you will probably need to heaters spread across the back of the tank, 2x300w would be good as then they wont be onas much or work as hrad to heat that much space

 

[c-dub]

you will probably need to heaters spread across the back of the tank, 2x300w would be good as then they wont be onas much or work as hrad to heat that much space

Thanks for that. Pain in the neck I have to fork out again but oh well.

 

[waterdrop]

Technically I think you'd need about 675 watts total for that volume tank but it may be that in practice 600 would be sufficient. Maybe somebody who'd really heated some big ones like that will chime in. Tank volume of course is not by any means the only consideration. It also matters how many degrees you are trying to raise the temp and how quickly.

Here's a general guide that's been used on TFF before:
025 watt : 020 liters (05 gal)
050 watt : 035 liters (09 gal)
075 watt : 050 liters (13 gal)
100 watt : 065 liters (17 gal)
150 watt : 100 liters (26 gal)
200 watt : 125 liters (33 gal)
250 watt : 150 liters (40 gal)
300 watt : 200 liters (53 gal)

Its obvious you'll need at least two heaters assuming you stay with normal hobbyist equipment. On a big tank like that you may be running external cannisters or a sump and if so then you can consider the option of 300 watt external Hydor Inline heaters. What you do with these is splice them into the return tube from the filter and they heat the water as it flows by. The main benefit is that there's no equipment inside the tank spoiling the view of your aquascape. Another benefit is that they have much better circulation of the heat so they can maintain a more even heat over all parts of the tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Davo86]

I've always gone with at least 1W per 1L myself, but you have to consider other personal factors such as room temperature in your home etc. Atm I have a 300W and a 200W in my 475L and it keeps the tank at a steady 26C

 

[c-dub]

I've always gone with at least 1W per 1L myself, but you have to consider other personal factors such as room temperature in your home etc. Atm I have a 300W and a 200W in my 475L and it keeps the tank at a steady 26C

I was just gonna get 2 x 300W heaters. But I wanted an inline heater to keep the mess out but they're only 300W so what do ya do...

 

[bricko]

I've always gone with at least 1W per 1L myself, but you have to consider other personal factors such as room temperature in your home etc. Atm I have a 300W and a 200W in my 475L and it keeps the tank at a steady 26C

I was just gonna get 2 x 300W heaters. But I wanted an inline heater to keep the mess out but they're only 300W so what do ya do...

I have one 300w Hydor external on my 260l tank and it keeps the temp spot on at 26c. I am thinking of upgrading and going for a 450l tank and was going to opt for 2 x 300w external heater as I am also running two canisters. Let me know how it works for you.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[c-dub]

Yeah I'm looking at just running the 1 cannister only it will be for a 1000L tank so I should only need the one, don't know if it will work with the single 300w external inline heater though. I really hope it does...

 

[danb]

mhmm i like the look of these external heaters!! Sorry to hi-jack your thread but i have 2 x ex1200 on my 240 litre tank, would it be best to put an external heater on each filter? If so, what would be best to go for? 2 x 200w hydor external heaters?

 

[Davo86]

Yeah I'm looking at just running the 1 cannister only it will be for a 1000L tank so I should only need the one, don't know if it will work with the single 300w external inline heater though. I really hope it does...

There are a couple of companies that sell 500W heaters but these can usually only be sourced online,
What filter are you going with btw? and what is the LPH of that? obviously depending on what you are keeping in the tank you would be best advised to go with two filters,

I started with just a Rena XP4 on my 475L this is rated upto 1000L but it wasn't enough and i needed to add on a Eheim 2217,
even then I decided I needed to swap the Rena for a bigger FX5 before i was happy with the overall filtration on the tank.

mhmm i like the look of these external heaters!! Sorry to hi-jack your thread but i have 2 x ex1200 on my 240 litre tank, would it be best to put an external heater on each filter? If so, what would be best to go for? 2 x 200w hydor external heaters?

Yes that should be fine, with 2 200W heaters the tank should be fairly sufficient with each heater having to do very little work, meaning they should last you a good length of time,

 

[danb]

Thank you. Would you recommend just the hydor inline external or are there other companies? I see there are different sizes?? Do i just need to check what size the hose is for my tetratec filters?

 

[Davo86]

As far as I know they are a unique brand in that no other company offer these types of heater, and yes they are very popular and generally very reliable, (although personally i don't mind the in tank versions)

Yes you need to check hose diameters against the heaters and depending on what filter you have you may find that the appropriate size Wattage does not fit with the filter size you have.

 

[danb]

ah thats a shame, i would need to get the 300 watt heaters. So they dont do the 200watt heaters for 16mm hose?

 

[Davo86]

I've never kept them so didn't know myself but after a quick google i have found this
hydor 200W

Obviously thats not much use being in the US but it shows that they do make them, so its just a case of finding them over here i guess.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, the Hydor inlines come in two sizes for the 200 watt, as the ad shows, one for smaller tubing and one for larger tubing. I had to research that out when I was getting mine. The 300 watt only comes sized for the larger tubing. I think 2 300w hydors would probably do fine on the OP's tank.

I think c-dub should be going with two external cannisters filters anyway and that would allow two external heaters also.

WD