Am I going to need

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Greenspot

Greenspot

Gambusia
MFK Member
May 24, 2008
244
13
18
Australia
A 300w heater?

I have a 20" cube tank. 27 gallons. I will need to hear the water about 20 degrees.
I have a 150w heater that is just not cutting it. Indicator light is on constantly.

The tank is also open top which I guess would make a little difference in insulation?

Oh trying to keep running costs down as low as possible.

Thanks!
 
I have 3x heaters and I'm having a hard time getting them calibrated to all turn on/off at the same time. One will be generally on most of the time. Any advice considering Greenspot might have the same issue?
 
You need an external controller that the heaters all plug into. It will monitor the temp and turn the heaters all on at once and then all off at once. Only thing is that the heater thermostat must be set a little higher than the controller thermostat so that it will actually turn on when the controller applies power.
 
That's what I thought. A temp controller. Set them a bit higher than the controller so they turn on and off together. Thanks!
 
Greenspot Greenspot What is your ambient temperature? A 150W heater should heat a 27gal with little effort (depending on the ambient temp of course), so you may just have a defective heater. You shouldn't need a 300W heater for a 27gal tank in normal situation

FYI, you will not save any more money on energy cost by using a 150W heater over a 300W heater
 
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Jennilyn said:
I have 3x heaters and I'm having a hard time getting them calibrated to all turn on/off at the same time. One will be generally on most of the time. Any advice considering Greenspot might have the same issue?
Click to expand...

Hello; I run two heaters in tanks. The same issue happens, but I do not consider it a problem. One heater does tend to come on a bit early and more often. The other comes on when the first cannot keep up and usually within a degree (F) . This usually only happens during the colder winter days. I have run them this way for decades.
That said, we each get to run our tanks any way we wish. If a controler in order to get the heaters to come on at the same time is desireable and the cost is not an issue, then go for it.

To the OP's question. I would have though 150 watts enough to heat 27 gallons. As another has commented what is the ambient temperature? Is the room unheated?
 
ambient temperature can drop down to 9 or 6 overnight in winter, but through the day it is usually 16-19.
I returned the 150 and swapped it for a 200. working perfectly.

How much heat would be lost by not having a cover glass? I have the tank covered now, but I was really hoping to have it open top.
 
Greenspot said:
ambient temperature can drop down to 9 or 6 overnight in winter, but through the day it is usually 16-19.
I returned the 150 and swapped it for a 200. working perfectly.

How much heat would be lost by not having a cover glass? I have the tank covered now, but I was really hoping to have it open top.
Click to expand...

I had my grow out topless for a few days and had a female GT jump out which made me quite sad! But to answer your question, now that there's a top on there the heater seems to kick on quite a bit less.
 
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You're looking to keep the tank at 20C (68F), so may I ask, what fish you are keeping?

With those low ambient temp, is this tank kept outdoors or in a cool area, such as a basement?
 
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