Heater Replacement

[crabbydan]

What is a good guideline for Heater wattage for a 105 gallon tank.
Was looking at a few different brands of heater and all seem to have varying recommendations.

Example;
Finnex HMO Heater says 300 w for 80 to 100 gallons
JAGER TruTemp Aquarium Heater - Eheim says 200 w for 80 to 106 gallons

Looking for your opinions.......

Thanks!

 

[Rover88]

I personally love the Eheim heaters, and I use three. (One freshwater, two salt)

If a company says you need <X> watts, I recommend dividing it by two, and getting two heaters from that size:

So instead of getting 1 300W heater, get two 150W heaters. That way, you have a backup if one fails. Also, a heater can MAINTAIN a tank temperature even if its a bit undersized, its moving the temperature up that can take a while.

Personally, I'm using two 150W eheim heaters on a roughly 100-110 gallon system. (75 gallon tank +40 gallon sump, but sump isn't full). I have them on an inkbird controller that controls two heaters, and one is set a little more then the other. I've never seen the 'lower' one turn on, so I suspect one is sufficient. But its better for backups.

The inkbird controller will shut them both off if either of them raise the temperature too high, to prevent 'lock on'.

 

[RobZilla04]

+1 on getting two heaters. For the price you really can't beat the security. Should one fail the other will hold the tank at temp until you can get it replaced.

 

[mcgyvr]

What is a good guideline for Heater wattage for a 105 gallon tank.

I always take the amount of water times 3 is sufficient for no more than a 8-10 deg F difference from desired tank to ambient (meaning if you want your tank at 80F then the room temperature cannot be lower than 70F or you need more wattage)

And yes.. split total in half and get 2 heaters and an inkbird (blue model)

But there are many variables such as amount of exposed surface area of water/tank material,etc... that can effect that in the real world..

A shallow (but wider/longer) tank will cool quicker than a taller (but shorter and more narrow) tank due to the amount of exposed water surface area.

 

[crabbydan]

good info.. thank you all

 

[JUNBUG361]

I use 2 eheim heaters, never fully submerged

 

[mako61]

I use 2 Finnex HMX 300w heaters for my 110g. No issues. I use Apex to turn them off if the temp goes to high for safety. I let them keep the temp otherwise.

 

[joe_himself]

Eheim heaters all the way here for me. Ive never had issues with them. Not saying it wont happen. But in all the years theyve been rock solid.

 

[rocsec1]

I use Eheim two, as said above use two heaters.

 

[mrsixstrings12]

Another vote for eheim and splitting the wattage between 2 heaters

 

[Joe0813]

I have two 300 watt heaters from petsmart or petco I forget.... but they are 5 years old and never had an issue with them. I actually might go buy two more and retire these ones

 

[Arcar]

I was going to get 1 heater 300w now I will get 2 150w. Do I put them both next to each other I’m assuming?

 

[Arcar]

Have you ever heard of them not turning off? .. I guess that would be a 50/50 with 2

 

[brody83]

I also use 2 heaters. No problems so far.

 

[homer1475]

2 300W Finnex titanium heating rods with no inline thermometer to screw things up. I prefer to rely on an Inkbird and an Apex for redundancy.

 

[Arcar]

2 300W Finnex titanium heating rods with no inline thermometer to screw things up. I prefer to rely on an Inkbird and an Apex for redundancy.

So how does that inkbird work? Apex is out of the question for me lol!

 

[Arcar]

I also use 2 heaters. No problems so far.

Do you put them both in the same area next to each other? That way one kicks on and the other wont. Least save a liike $ on energy ?

 

[mcgyvr]

So how does that inkbird work? Apex is out of the question for me lol!

The inkbird is just a temperature sensor and 2 outlets..
You set the desired temperature in the inkbird and when the temperature is below that the outlets will turn on thus turning on your heaters..

You typically set your heaters just slightly higher than the inkbird setting to ensure that they are on whenever the inkbird is on..

So the inkbird becomes the more "reliable" temperature controller vs relying on the "prone to failure" controller inside the heaters..

 

[homer1475]

As Mcgyver said about the inkbird.

As far as where to place the heaters, I have enough room in my sump that I place them on either side of my fuge section. One is set slightly higher then the other so if one fails, I still have a redundant backup.

 

[mcgyvr]

I have both of my 200W heaters in the "drain" section of the sump..

In reality the "best" placement for both the heaters and the temperature sensor is in the display tank and I say that because in the event of a return pump failure (in colder months/ambient locations) the display tank temperature remains consistent..

But we have sumps so we can get all the ugly equipment out of the display tank..

Other than that the placement of the heaters can be anywhere there is "decent" flow to allow the heat to be dispersed evenly throughout the tank..