Using two heaters at once.

[Aylana]

I am so glad I found this thread, I have been having major problems with temperature fluctuations in my tank. I got up this morning and found that my tank temp had dropped by 2 degrees overnight, my poor fish must have been shivering! I have a heater which is 200 watts I think and the tank is only an 18 gallon, so if I get another heater with a relatively low wattage and just add that to the tank and set it for the same temperature (25C) then that should balance it out a bit?

Thanks from me and my fish!
Aylana

 

[CFC]

Using two heaters is only really worth while in tanks over 50 gallons as in anything smaller even a 100w heater is capable of over heating the tank in the case of the thermostat sticking and the tank isnt long enough to need heating from two ends.
Some fluctation in the temperature throughout the day is nothing to worry about, after all there is no thermostat in the wild keeping the temperature constant in the rivers is there? Almost all natural habitats experience fluctations of a few degrees as the temperatures rise during the day and fall at night, one collecter in the Amazon took recordings of 40c by day and a reading of 33c in the same spot 12 hours later by night. In the warmer months (normally late April till mid October) i remove all the heaters from my tanks and allow them to just be heated by the temperature in the room, at night this has meant that the temperature sometimes drops to as low as 20c but i have never experienced any problems from this in the 5 years i have been doing so.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Yea, but I don't think heaters take up a lot of power, do they...

Thats not the point. It's how many sockets they take. Hell, I've only got a 2.5 gallon and I have 2 plugs to plug in, I've unplugged my mini fridge and my DVD player. I dread to think what will happen if I get a 15 gallon in my room as well...

 

[CFC]

how do you think those of us with multiple tanks with hundreds of gallons cope for plug sockets, my 200g alone takes 8 plug sockets! Just buy the largest extension blocks you can find and run two blocks of each wall socket, aquarium products are all low voltage appliences so there is no risk of overloading a socket.

 

[phishluvr]

I use two 120v in my 75g. works great! They are side-by-side to produce the heat needed for the tank. If one goes out, the highest temp it'll get is about 76 F with just one.

How much are you guys plugging in? My tank has four: one fluval filter, two heaters and 1 for the pendant lights strip.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Sigh.... I really do need more extension blocks. I have 3 main sockets in my room, the one by my bed has two extension blocks in, the other is not used but is too far away for me to do much with.

 

[SMSBrunetteGirl]

I think it`s a good idea

 

[Paul_MTS]

2 heaters are great for big tanks where 1 isn't enough. I run 2 300W and don't have any heat problems.

although 1 company is now bringing out a 400W, i can't rember the name now, i'll check at work tomorrow.

for my 360litre i have 4 sockets for filter, heater and 2 lights. on my 850 litre i need 6. This would be more but i got my bro to wire in all the lights to there timers then run off 1 socket, then there's 2 heaters, 2 pumps and a UV.

But if you need 2 heaters in a small tank there is something wrong with your circualation.

 

[Aylana]

Thanks to those who replied. The heater which I was told was a 200 watt it turns out after research (it didn't come with a box or leaflet) is only a 50 watt
Plus my boyfriend told me yesterday that while I was out and he had the gas fire on the temp in the tank went up to 28 C and the heater still didn't switch off even thought it is set for 25 C. So I went out and bought a brand new slightly more powerful heater, and so far it seems to be doing the job much better.

My circulation in the tank is fine, but I live in a very old flat with high ceilings and no central heating or double glazing, so the temperature gets very very very cold at nights. Im sure minor fluctutions aren't bad for the fish, but I was getting changes of up to 5 C in the space of a few hours. Hopefully it is sorted now though.

Aylana

 

[fufanu360]

Also, if one of them goes kaput, you can always rely on the other one to make sure your tank doesn't become a skating rink...

or if the thermostat gets stuck and it starts heating 24/7, at least it won't boil your tank.

acually it would be worse that way, cuz that one would be stuck, but the other would still heat... or maybe it would stay off


two heaters are fine!

 

[BobK]

That is an excelent idea. I had a heater burn out. Actually I think a seal broke (it was an expensive submersible Visi-Therm), water got it, boiled, expanded and broke the glass. Needless to say I don't know how long it was out but I noticed the fish were sluggish and the temp was only 70F! I ran out and bought another heater. I sent the broken heater out for warranty replacement and as soon as I get it back I'll be running two heaters. I went out and bought another filter too just so I have a backup. Much better to be safe than sorry. At least all my fish were okay. If I happened to be out of town it would have been a disaster.