Which Heater For 6 Gal?

[Fish_Girl]

Im going ahead with getting an Aqua Start 320 but it doesnt come supplied with a heater, so I was wondering is it better to get a 25w or a 50w?

I also know that the smaller the tank the more that can go wrong, so should I be thinking about doing more frequent water changes or will I be ok just keeping an eye on test results and sticking to a once a week vac and change?

 

[KkAaNnEe]

25w. You'll be fine with weekly water changes

 

[Fish_Girl]

25w. You'll be fine with weekly water changes

Thanks for the reply, hopefully have this set up within the week!

 

[Fish_Girl]

I know this question has been answered already and I fully planned to get a 25w for the new tank, but my father in law picked up a Juwel 50W heater for me and I was wondering if this is safe to use on a lower setting? I'm happy to still pick up a 25W heater instead, just figured it worth asking as we have this one now.

 

[soybean]

I would use a 25w. If a heater malfunctions it's often a fault that leaves the heater switched on - 50w will overheat a tank quicker than a 25w.

Putting a 50w on a lower temperature doesn't make it warmer than the equivalent setting on a 25w, if you see what I mean. 25 degrees is 25 degrees on both, except the 50w is more powerful and takes less time to heat the water to that temperature, that's all.

 

[Rickzayne]

The bigger the more energy efficient

 

[Fish_Girl]

I would use a 25w. If a heater malfunctions it's often a fault that leaves the heater switched on - 50w will overheat a tank quicker than a 25w.

Putting a 50w on a lower temperature doesn't make it warmer than the equivalent setting on a 25w, if you see what I mean. 25 degrees is 25 degrees on both, except the 50w is more powerful and takes less time to heat the water to that temperature, that's all.

Ah yes thanks for that, my fiance was saying the same thing earlier, it didn't occur to me to worry about malfunctions though so I shall definately get a 25W instead

 

[Bignose]

The bigger the more energy efficient

I disagree. A certain amount of energy is needed to raise a certain volume of water to a certain temperature -- this will be a constant. The amount of energy needed to do that will not change whether you use a 1 W or a 25 W or a 50 W heater. This is why you pay for electricity in units of W*hrs -- using a 1 W heater for 25 minutes is the same energy cost as using a 25 W heater for 1 minute -- and they add the same amount of energy to the water.

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To the OP:

In terms of heaters, if you can afford to, I'd buy two low powered ones that in combination are rated for your tank volume. I.e. if your tank volume needs 100 W of heaters, then I'd buy two 50 W heaters.

This gives you protection for both kinds of faults:

If one heater gets stuck on, then the other won't ever come on.

If one heater gets stuck off, then the other can come on to keep the tank to temperature.

It just becomes your responsibility to watch them to see if either of the two faults above happen.

 

[Rickzayne]

I have 2 150w in my 180l
and 1 50w in my 16l