Titanium heater

[Tomoko Schum]

Hi y'all,

I am considering a titanium heater for my 180 and I need some advise. A high wattage glass heaters seem to be all too long for my sump.

What wattage should I get for 180? The rule of thumb recommendations that I got from LFS's sound like overkill for a tank with metal halide lighting.

Is there a particular brand that is better than others?

TIA,

Tomoko

 

[bamastunter]

I use one on my 120 its controlled thru my ac jr its either a 150 or 250 I pretty sure its a 150 works great last cold speel we had a week or two ago my gas was off bc of a remodle in the kitchen the fish wer warm we however froze

 

[hondo3]

I use 2 300 watt ViaAqua Titanium Tube heaters in my sump. They work great and you never have to put your hands in the sump to adjust your temperature. Also, glass heaters can break. Titanium never will. Just my 2 cents.

 

[kennedy450r]

if u get one make sure its got a temp controller with it

 

[NicoleC]

I like the Finnex digital titanium controller units.

Truthfully your house probably does most of the temp control. Two titanium 100w units would probably be more than enough.

 

[alabrew]

"The rule of thumb recommendations that I got from LFS's sound like overkill for a tank with metal halide lighting."

I seem to remember 3 watts per gallon as the "rule of thumb"
I would say that the submersible pumps add as much or more heat to my system than the MH.

The heater has to be rated as if you did not have MH lighting because you don't run the MH 24-7, the heater has to be big enough to heat the tank when you have the lights off and temp. turned down in the house (say at 4:30 am)

I also use two heaters (250w each) as a fail safe - more wattage than needed but one should be able to keep the system close to the right temp. if one fails. One is set 1-2 degrees under the other to come on as a helper if needed.

 

[SITNLOWDOWN]

I have a 120 and have a jalli 500watt for my tank it run by my reefkeeper

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Thank you all for the ideas. So far I have read that quite a few people are happy about their ViaAqua titanium heaters. I am going to look for a titanium heater (or a pair of them) somewhere around 300 watt range.

I was told more like 5 watts per gallon as the rule of thumb, but I doubted that I needed that much based on my past experience. My watts per gallon numbers vary greatly from tank to tank based on a number of factors, but they are never as much as 5 watts per gallon.