Anyone have experience with titanium heaters? need help

[navygirl76]

thanks for all the advice everyone! i forgot to mention the 180 gallon tank is in the basement-its cooler down there than upstairs.

I woke up this morning (i set the guage on the heater at 84-i was afraid to go any higher) and i see that the temp did increase from 76.2 to 77.7. like a few of you have said, i will wait and see how it does and i may need to get another heater- we'll see.

thanks again-you guys are great.

 

[Bud8Fan]

At only 2.8 watts per gallon, the temp. is likely to fluctuate 5 or more degrees up and down. That's not holding a steady temp. IMO.

Funny that my 1.1 watts per gallon is holding a steady temp +\- .5 degrees F just perfectly.


Wattage all depends on ambient room temp versus desired tank temp and also tank construction.

Extremely accurate calculator:
http://boonedocks.net/fishtank/ftweb.php

 

[Pharaoh]

The basement is what is most likely your problem. Before I insultated my basement, I couldn't get my 55G above 74 with 250 watt heaters. Find a way to insulate and you should be fine.

But just to be sure, I would test out the heater as previously mentioned.

 

[navygirl76]

yeah we are in the process of finishing our basement-the walls are insulated but the ceiling is not done yet. we still have to install can lights, insulation and a drop ceiling. so whatever heat is in the basement is escaping through the ceiling and coming upstairs.

my goal is to get the temp to be 79 or 80 degrees. i felt that 76 was too low, and when i did waterchanges my heater would run out of hot water before the fishtank was filled up, and at the end of waterchanges sometimes it was 74 degrees!!

thanks for the help everyone!

 

[brianp]

Hello. I use 500 watt Catalina Aquarium titanium heaters on my 350. First, I would tell you that based upon my experience, the CA heater is very reliable. I would keep in mind, that as the heater is cycling on and off to heat the water, the aquarium is also losing heat to the environment. The only way to achieve a net increase in the water temp is for the heating capacity (heater wattage) to exceed the rate at which heat is lost. If heating capacity is just slightly greater than heat loss, it will take a long time before you see an increase in tank temp. I'm experiencing this as we speak. My tank is in the garage. During the day, the garage temp increases due to solar heating, so my tank temp increases by about 1-2 degress (heating capacity slightly above heat loss). At night, the garage cools to about 50 degress and I lose 1-2 degrees (heating capacity slightly less than heat loss). So, as someone else has stated previously, I would add another heater.

 

[navygirl76]

thanks brian! from what ive read, Catalina heaters are good. im going to give it some time, and if it doesnt hit the optimum temp ill just add another Catalina lol

 

[Merbeast]

I have owned 2 Catalina titanium heaters, a 300w and a 500w. I have had the 300w on a 55 gallon tank now for just over a year with no problems. I had the 500w on a 150 gallon tank for 2 months when the control unit malfunctioned and clicked on and off incessantly (I'm lucky it did because it made noise and alerted me to it, but the tank was already over 90 degrees). So I'm not terribly trusting of Catalina heaters... Now I prefer to stick with multiple lower watt heaters, so if one fails, it isn't catastrophic.