How many watt heater for a 40b

rjjr1963

New member
I currently have two 125w heaters. My sump holds about 8 gallons of water. The heaters aren't maintaining temperatures where I'd like. The room is coolish at 65 to 70 degrees. I'm using an external controller and the heaters are on 24/7.
 
I keep my house temp at 68 degrees year round. Wife going threw menopause... (lol)

My reef stays at 80 degrees easily.

How many gallons is your tank?
 
It also depends on the heater you're using. You want to double check the individual specs as their wattage/gallon ratings vary. For a single heater, an Eheim 125W would work fine for your setup, whereas something like an Aqueon Pro you'd need 150W, or a Hydor Theo 200W, etc.
 
Here's a sizing link. Most brands have a sizing chart.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Eheim_Ja..._Aquarium_Heaters-Jager-EJ1111-FIHTGH-vi.html

Did this just happen or did they just start to stay on all the time?

Could it be a bad controller?

If you can fit a bigger single heater then I'd do that and ditch the controller.

For myself the heater controller is just another thing to go bad.


I had a 200w heater in the tank until about a month ago. I never noticed how much it was on/off but the tank temperature was very stable. I added a sump a month ago and since the 200W wouldn't fit in the sump I bought 2x125w heathers. All three were Jager.

The controller is new and the corresponds with a separate LED temp gauge.

Size is an issue as the 13.4" Jager barely fits in my sump. Does it matter if the heater sits horizontally or vertically. Both have been horizontal.
 
I had a 200w heater in the tank until about a month ago. I never noticed how much it was on/off but the tank temperature was very stable. I added a sump a month ago and since the 200W wouldn't fit in the sump I bought 2x125w heathers. All three were Jager.

The controller is new and the corresponds with a separate LED temp gauge.

Size is an issue as the 13.4" Jager barely fits in my sump. Does it matter if the heater sits horizontally or vertically. Both have been horizontal.
I've ran heaters both ways. In sump, I've always placed in high flow area exiting sump right before water goes back into main display.

Is your sump return pump pushing enough gallons per hour?
Like 10 times your total water volume per hour.

A 500 to 600 gal per hour pump would be good fit.
 
The pump is rated at 800gph but I have 4' of head loss and I'm running it at 75%. I'll kick it up to 100 and see if that helps.
 
You might want to watch those cobalt heaters. I've had 2 of them fail in the off position, and there are plenty reports of them splitting and leaking out a fluid and crashing tanks.
 
You might want to watch those cobalt heaters. I've had 2 of them fail in the off position, and there are plenty reports of them splitting and leaking out a fluid and crashing tanks.


Thanks for the heads up. Surprised this heater is still on the market.

Not sure what to do now.
 
My house temp is 68 degrees and I run 1 150watt ehiem heater soon to be 2 for back up but my temp stays 78 pretty stable. I have a 40b with 20 long sump
 
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