Heater Sizes

[coldcazzie]

24x12x12 tank: 55W or 75W heater?

also, 36x12x15 tank: 75W or 100W heater?

bearing in mind they are in my living room so it's reasonably warm most of the time.

 

[Truck]

55 watts is fine for the 2 footer, the 3 footer will be best with 100W

 

[coldcazzie]

Cool thanks!

 

[aly_starh]

I have a whooping 150W in my 2 foot tanks

 

[vfg10]

is it true that for 1 liter is 1W? that what the guy at my LFS told me

 

[OldMan47]

Close enough VFG10. I use 5 Watts per gallon as a thumb rule but with only a half dozen to choose from, all heaters are a compromise so either formula is the same when you go to find an actual size.

 

[vfg10]

since we are talking about water heaters I bought an elite 150W for my 33G

I set it up to 82F and the temperature is like 78F I told the guy from my LFS and he said that maybe is because the room is to cold

and he told me he can change it for a 200W. the thing is that if it fails the fish could boil is this true ??

should I get the 200W or stay with the one I have?

 

[OldMan47]

If the heater needs to overcome a large temperature difference it will take a bigger heater to do it. If any heater sticks on, it will heater higher than you want it to do but it will do it more quickly if the heater is able to overheat the tank faster. Sort of a circular statement there. Anyway, another approach to getting the desired temperature, and easier on the heating bills, would be to tape some thin insulation to the back of the tank behind the background and out of sight. That would reduce the heat losses from that surface and might well let your heater raise the temperature as far as you are trying to do.