Heater For My New Fish Tank

[-L-O-T-T-E-]

Hi guys I have finally found a new tank.... it is 30 litres and is very nice.

I have been offered a 300W heater to put in my tank... will that be ok??

 

[Rediahs]

It is far overpowered for what you need but as long as you are confident that it won't break and keep itself on for an entire day and cook your fish, it will do the job if it has a thermostat to regulate its temp (I believe almost all heaters do have the thermostat).

I'd just be worried about it breaking and cooking the fish.

 

[-L-O-T-T-E-]

It is far overpowered for what you need but as long as you are confident that it won't break and keep itself on for an entire day and cook your fish, it will do the job if it has a thermostat to regulate its temp (I believe almost all heaters do have the thermostat).

I'd just be worried about it breaking and cooking the fish.

do they often break?? I have never had one before??

 

[waterdrop]

The things Chrissi said are correct but my take would be that its really not good practice to put a 300 watt heater in a tiny tank like that. The "cooking" danger would really be too great in my opinion. A tank like that only needs a 25 or 50 watt heater I believe.

Its true though that thermostats have improved somewhat over the years I believe and you hear fewer reports of stuck contacts cooking the fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[m00se]

It does seem like overkill. I always thought you needed 1W/L, roughly speaking, and depending on your water flow (i.e. higher flow needs less wattage because of the better circulation). My heaters haven't failed on yet, and I think generally speaking they tend to fail off rather than on, but it would totally suck to boil your tank...

 

[Rooster]

Despite all the scaremongering there is NO "right and wrong" about this... only caution, you could keep fish at the correct temp in a kettle, provided the thermostat was good enough !
And there lies the potential problem... if the thermostat ever DOES get stuck on (a fault I have NEVER had in 40 years) then the heater will be on all the time... and the larger the heater, the quicker the problems occur.
But having said that, how many of us really check the temp ? I know I dont even look until theres signs of "something wrong" and thats VERY rare (the only incident I can recall was MY fault, as I had left the heater unplugged )

So... that aside, theres no problem with a 300W heater, but you may feel more "secure" with a smaller one... and they dont cost a lot anyway !

 

[afishdude]

Use what you can get free!

It WILL work. I use 300w in 10g's all the time when I want the water to stay at one temp (mainly for breeding betas)

 

[waterdrop]

Well I guess we've been overruled, lol! I -do- have to admit that my own heater is overpowered for my tank!