Upgrading Tank Size Question About Heating It

[magical trevor]

Well peeps I'm not really that new to fish keeping but this seemed the best place to have a questioned answered.

Basically ATM ive got a 246l aquarium and I've purchased a shiney new tank from maidenhead aquatics,
Solid oak stand and lid with a rather more substantial 380l capacity (its a beautiful piece of furniture the Mrs even likes it!!)

I'm currently running a Eheim pro 2 2028 canister filter with a hydor 300w external heater (which is fantastic) but going by the rough rule of thumb of 1watt per Litre, I'll be 80 watts short so my question is will I need to run a rather unsightly internal heater along with the external one to keep my tank warm enough for its current occupants?

 

[Rexenator]

Well peeps I'm not really that new to fish keeping but this seemed the best place to have a questioned answered.
Basically ATM ive got a 246l aquarium and I've purchased a shiney new tank from maidenhead aquatics,
Solid oak stand and lid with a rather more substantial 380l capacity (its a beautiful piece of furniture the Mrs even likes it!!)
I'm currently running a Eheim pro 2 2028 canister filter with a hydor 300w external heater (which is fantastic) but going by the rough rule of thumb of 1watt per Litre, I'll be 80 watts short so my question is will I need to run a rather unsightly internal heater along with the external one to keep my tank warm enough for its current occupants?

It all really depends on the size of your aquarium, and the temperature difference between the tank water and the room it is in. I use the Hydor 300W inline heater on a 55 gallon tank to keep my tank at 76 deg F, room is 70 deg F and the thing is hardly ever on. One of the nice things about the inline heaters is they are able to transfer the heat by convection instead of conduction since the water is moving through the heating element. Google "aquarium heater calculator". There is one on there from kernsanalysis that I use that will ask the dimensions of your tank, the temperature you want in the tank, the temperature you have in the room and a few other things. It will spit out an estimate of the wattage your heater needs. Hopefully this helps!

 

[magical trevor]

Thanks for the info, yeah thats a handy wee calculator
Yeah looks like ill need to buy another heater

Shame really as I was going to use my back up filter(Rena filstar xp2) along side the eheim with another hydor heater but the price of them has skyrocketed since I bought my one a few years ago they've just about doubled in price!!! So itll be a internal heater for me