Heater Advice

tenohfive · Apr 14, 2011

I'm in the process of setting up my new showpiece tank - a Rena Aqualife 370L tank. It's gorgeous, but I'll be doing another thread about that later.

Right now my question is heaters. This is the biggest tank I've owned so far, and the motley collection of various heaters I have only go up to 250W - and I only have one of those. So I'm going to need another heater (which is fine, if one fails I'll still have some sort of heater going.) Given the occasional scare story of how some heaters malfunction and fry the tank I was also considering getting a Rena Smart Heater - if it goes +/- the set temp by 5 degrees an LED starts flashing.

So what size should I look at to go along with my 250W existing heater - 200W or 300W? There's an £8 difference between the two but I don't mind spending the extra if that's what is needed.

jonnyf84 · Apr 14, 2011

Hi, i presume your running a external filter, if so there's no better heater in my opinion than the hydor in-line, I've used it in both marine and freshwater and never had a problem with fluctuating temps, a 200W would be fine. I'd give the rena a miss, I've had two, one 50W and one 150W, both failed.

micko · Apr 14, 2011

Go for the 250w. If it does ever stick on permanently it won't heat up as quick as a 300w.

jonnyf84 · Apr 14, 2011

micko said:
Go for the 250w. If it does ever stick on permanently it won't heat up as quick as a 300w.

If you go for the in-line it'll have to be 200 or 300, i don't think they do a 250.

micko · Apr 14, 2011

Do they do 150w?

jonnyf84 · Apr 14, 2011

micko said:
Do they do 150w?

Just 200 and 300 i think.

micko · Apr 14, 2011

Personally I'd go for another type then. I wouldn't want any more W's in there than was needed just incase.

jonnyf84 · Apr 14, 2011

just my opinion but i'm sure 450 - 550w in your aquarium would be just fine.

tenohfive · Apr 15, 2011

I'm not worried about too many watts, at the end of the day if a heater goes faulty and decides to overheat the tank then it's not going to fry the tank regardless of how small it is.

I'm pretty well converted on the Hydor idea, is there any benefit to a 300W one over a 200W one? There aren't alot of them for sale, but there's not much difference in the prices for either.