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Heater size


Luckfish123

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What size heater should i get for a 4x2x2 approx 450 litre tank?.Biggest heater i have seen is 300 watt which is suitable for up to 300 litres.

Would 2 heaters work ok & what size should they be?

Tank will be in an unheated part of the house.

Thanks

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Most people choose their heater by using the 1w per 1liitre of water rule that you already know about.

But there are brands of heaters out there that are more effecient and a 300w heater of these type would be sufficient for a 450litre tank. I can't remember the brand but others might mention them for you.

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smile.gif the heater wattage applies to the room temperature in comparison to the desired water temperatur also.and the size of the tank and the thickness of the glass.with all this to consider just ensure that your lids are a good seal and the heater doesnt work too much.i would try 2/200 watt heaters then if one stops working the other will still keep the temp up or just a 300 should do the job.
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It depends what the ambient temperature (outside the tank) is. I can safely use a single 300W heater in each of my 320ltr tanks, even the one without lids. Yet my brother has a 200L tank which requires 2x 300W heaters, simply because his house gets horribly cold on winter nights, and with only the one heater he has recorded night temps getting as low as 12Celcius in the tank ohmy.gif

Even with both heaters running full bore his tank cools down significantly over night.

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For a 450L tank I would use 2 x 300W heaters. This way they are not on all the time, working hard to keep the temperature up and costing more to run. The price difference between 250W and 300W is negligible, so go the higher wattage and get more value (longer life) from your heaters.

merjo

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How do you coordinate the heaters so they are set exactly the same? If they were a little out you'd have one going on and the other not, wouldn't you? Is it just a matter of fiddling around?

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fiona, IMO if the heaters are out by a small margin (say a degree) the heater working harder is only working harder by a small fraction (maybe staying on for an extra few minutes to get up another degree)

The problem is when one heater has to work on its own for a long slog raising the temperature a few degrees.

Much the same principle as the ambient temperature. If 450litres needs to be heated 1 more degree only (from the time heater 1 shuts off), a 50 watt heater could do it easily (but it would take a while, and a 300 would just be more effiecient.)

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I found matching heater temps to be a pain untill I changed to the stainless steel heaters that have the thermostat setting on a small box outside the tank. I think they are a great idea as you can see the on light really easily and also you dont need heater guards to protect them from large fish.

Here is a link to some more info.

Via Aqua Heater

Hope this helps

Cheers Garry

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i am in the process of setting up 5x2x2 tank and sump, probally about 600L. i am going to run 2 x 300W heaters through an electronic thermostat so that they are either both running or not- i.e one heater is not working hard until the other one turns on.

i personally like to have two heaters in case one fails. that way it gives you a bit more time before the tank boils or freezes.

Cheers

James

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bimbo wrote

i am going to run 2 x 300W heaters through an electronic thermostat

Hi, Do you just plug in the 2 heaters to the electronic thermostat ? & where do you get

them from?

If you have already done this can you post a pic of the setup.

Thanks

B.T.W

Thanks everyone for all info

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