350w heater too much?

[Reef Chicks]

How big of a heater do I need to use for a 50 gallon tank? I have a Won Bros. 350w titanium heater and was wondering if its too much?

 

Thanks guys.

[BKtomodachi]

350 could be a bit much- I would use a 200 or maybe 250 on a 50gal. I think it would be fine, though, as long as you trust the brand.

[Reef Chicks]

I dont know how old it is, but it gets HOTTT, sizzing hot! After my recent crash, I don't want to cook my remaining yellow clown goby. But I am getting everything ready for my new tank (the 50g) and was wondering what heater I should use. I also have a stealth 150w but I don't know it will be too much.

 

So its either the 350w Won or the 150w Stealth.

[intheb0x]

the 150 should be OK but i think that a 250 would better suit that tank

in my bc29 i have a 150w thats perfect and in the 20L i have a 75w but i wish it was a 100 or 150 i say 250

i use a 250 for warming water in a bucket that i mix the salt in, it mixes the coldest water in about 20mins.

[BKtomodachi]

I would use the 150w stealth. I have used them before and I trust them in general. Also, I doubt that the heater ever really has to work very hard in florida.

[airangel]

I've got a 300w in my 80g fresh.

100w in my 24g AquaPod (salt)

50w in my jbj 12g nano (fresh)

25w in my 6.6g fresh

 

I think 350w is too much, esp if you are in a hot state. I'm in Az and I shut my heaters off during the summer months. Isn't it 3-5w a gallon or such?

[InTr4nceWeTrust]

Dude, Summer's setting in already. 150w will do you fine. InStealthWeTrust.

[intheb0x]

i also use the stealth and love it.

[Izzysreef]

The 150watter should be fine like others have stated. If you're worried the 150 might not keep up, you could also get an additional 150 or 250 watt heater for redundancy but leave it set at ~76 incase the first one fails.

[tinyreef]

The 150watter should be fine like others have stated. If you're worried the 150 might not keep up, you could also get an additional 150 or 250 watt heater for redundancy but leave it set at ~76 incase the first one fails.

+1, redundancy and backups are good.

 

the chances of a heater failing isn't incredibly great (based upon the horror stories we often read and my own experiences) but the chances of two heaters in the same tank failing at the same time would be pretty high imo.

[daniellevendetta]

Way too much man.

[tinyreef]

Way too much man.

oops, i forgot to comment on the original question.

 

agreed with dani. i typically just use a rule of thumb of 5-watts per gallon. yeah, it's just like the lighting "rule".

 

so i figure (2) 100W'ers would be good or a 150W + 100W or something close to that.

[daniellevendetta]

100 watts too much is like... 100 degrees too much for us.

Maybe even more! O_O

[scrapz]

I'm running 300w on my 55g /w 29g sump /w open top to hit 85 degrees. 1x250w & 1x50w. with just the 250w, I was unable to get the temps past 81-82

 

Everyone said they turn off their heaters, is there a reason for this? If the heater is functioning correctly, once the water hits the desired temp, it'll automatically shut-off.

[tinyreef]

100 watts too much is like... 100 degrees too much for us.

Maybe even more! O_O

i disagree with that. like scrapz noted, once the thermostat's set it's not going to go over and cook the tank unless there's a catstrophic failure. don't get me wrong, that does occur now and then!

 

but by breaking up the wattage needs into two separate heaters (this is for a 50-gal. tank), the chances of both heaters failing are minimal. also, two heaters have to work less than one heater working all the time. an analogy would be one big space heater for a room versus two smaller ones heating the same room (better thermal circulation in the tank, of course though ).

 

and a single (under-sized) heater would have a hard time cooking the tank even in a "runaway" situation. hopefully, you'll notice the water slightly warmer than usual but ime it plateaus out at a certain temp depending on the room temperature, wattage, and volume.

 

5-watts per gallon for the heater is about right imo. 10-gal. ~ 50W heater, 5-gal. ~ 25W heater, etc.

 

otoh, i agree (with dani) you can undersize that too. and that's probably safer but i wouldn't use a single 100W for a 50-gal. tank. it wouldn't likely be able to keep the tank warm in the winter if the surrounding room temp wasn't optimal.

[bubbles3660]

Everyone said they turn off their heaters, is there a reason for this? If the heater is functioning correctly, once the water hits the desired temp, it'll automatically shut-off.

 

During the summer months the heater becomes moot due to ambient room temperature. So why bother to plug it in and risk a malfunction of the auto shut-off?

 

--bubbles

[reeferman-chris]

I use two 100w stealth heaters in my 50g and they work great. I live in an area of so Cal that gets below freezing during winter and they keep my temp right at 80

[scrapz]

During the summer months the heater becomes moot due to ambient room temperature. So why bother to plug it in and risk a malfunction of the auto shut-off?

 

--bubbles

 

because we have unpredictable weather, two weeks ago in cali it was blazing hot and now its pretty cold. if I had unplugged my heater, everything would be dead.

 

also for temp stability issues, so you're telling me it's gonna be 90 during the day and stay 81 throughout the cold night?

[tinyreef]

also for temp stability issues, so you're telling me it's gonna be 90 during the day and stay 81 throughout the cold night?

set the thermostat to 80F (or whatever is your target), run a cooling fan timed with your lighting period (or run 24/7), and let the heater adjust as needed. that's the whole point of the thermostat.

 

very soon, temperature/weather issues/power outages/etc. will be the popular topic. it's actually beginning a little earlier than usual imo.

 

expect to use cooling fans almost all the time for the summer months (and into early fall)and simply set the heater to a lower setting so that nighttime temps don't bottom out, e.g. 75F heater thermostat.

[bubbles3660]

because we have unpredictable weather, two weeks ago in cali it was blazing hot and now its pretty cold. if I had unplugged my heater, everything would be dead.

 

also for temp stability issues, so you're telling me it's gonna be 90 during the day and stay 81 throughout the cold night?

 

I'm saying that in smaller systems there are other things that heat the tank. Your return pump, for example. Last summer I turned the heater off in my bc14 because of all the heat being generated by my pump and powerhead. Temp didn't get below 78.

 

For my current 75 gallon set-up I do use a heater w/ an additional power cut-off safeguard in case of malfunction. My chiller has a heating option on it as well - but I don't think I will need it come July.

 

 

--bubbles