55 gallon Tank Heater
- Thread starter dskrpncs
- Start date
for South dakota a 300 may be the way to go but I believe most people use 200s on their 55s, take into account where its at, is it in the house, garage, or outside. Most people like to be safe and its initial price is not much more so you could go with the 300. You can get heaters cheap on ebay,
http://cgi.ebay.com/SALE-200W-200-w...ultDomain_0&hash=item439e957c62#ht_1746wt_802
http://cgi.ebay.com/SALE-300W-300-w...ultDomain_0&hash=item19bb6d2be8#ht_1828wt_802
http://cgi.ebay.com/SALE-200W-200-w...ultDomain_0&hash=item439e957c62#ht_1746wt_802
http://cgi.ebay.com/SALE-300W-300-w...ultDomain_0&hash=item19bb6d2be8#ht_1828wt_802
I go with the 2-3 watt per gallon group.
Every winter the failed heater posts start showing up.
Boil outs, huge wattage heaters sticking on and making fish stew.
From what I have read, fish can handle cold water a whole bunch better than too hot.
I have a 100 watt for my 55. Stayed on for most of 24hrs, before tank got to 76-78.
Fine by me.
Sure, look where you live..Florida..So?
I live in a house.
I guess if you were living in a cardboard box, in back of a Sears in Butte the 2-3 watts per gallon wouldn`t work too well.
Guess what I am saying is, use the least amount of watts to maintain a steady temperature.
Every winter the failed heater posts start showing up.
Boil outs, huge wattage heaters sticking on and making fish stew.
From what I have read, fish can handle cold water a whole bunch better than too hot.
I have a 100 watt for my 55. Stayed on for most of 24hrs, before tank got to 76-78.
Fine by me.
Sure, look where you live..Florida..So?
I live in a house.
I guess if you were living in a cardboard box, in back of a Sears in Butte the 2-3 watts per gallon wouldn`t work too well.
Guess what I am saying is, use the least amount of watts to maintain a steady temperature.
I suggest 100~150 Watts...
I use 2W per gal to keep the tank up to 15*F above the ambient air temp... so if your house commonly gets 60*F or below either go with a bigger heater or turn on the furnace you cheap skate!
Using to large of a heater causes the heater to turn on/off more frequently. This wears out the controller allowing the heater to simply remain on all the time and overheat your fish. If you notice, the vast majority of the "my heater got stuck on" threads are from people using much larger of a heater than necessary.
I use 2W per gal to keep the tank up to 15*F above the ambient air temp... so if your house commonly gets 60*F or below either go with a bigger heater or turn on the furnace you cheap skate!
Using to large of a heater causes the heater to turn on/off more frequently. This wears out the controller allowing the heater to simply remain on all the time and overheat your fish. If you notice, the vast majority of the "my heater got stuck on" threads are from people using much larger of a heater than necessary.