heating a 240 gallon aquarium

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yzf450motoxrider

yzf450motoxrider

Dovii
MFK Member
Apr 15, 2009
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im probly going to be getting a 240 gallon aquarium soon only problem is it has to go in the basment for to or three months the room temp will be 55 degrees and i would like to keep the aquarium temp at 75 degrees. How many watts would i need? I was also wondering if it is ok if the fish only get artificial light and no natural light?

Thanks in advance!
 
For tanks kept at normal household temps, figure 3.5-4 watts per gallon. So since the tank will be kept at roughly 20 degrees below that, i wouldnt think anything less that 8-10 watts per gallon would be enough. The heaters have built in thermostats anyway so its better to have more watts than needed than less.
 
I use 2W per gal on tanks kept at typical household temperatures (65*+) to keep a tank steady at 80*F...

I think 8~10 W per gallon is just asking for heater malfunction resulting in cooling fish...

Insulating the tank to minimize heat loss will be far more efficient and offer far less risk than excessively heating the tank...
 
if i used spray foam to insulate the bottom and back of the tank do u think that would make a significant difference
 
yzf450motoxrider;3656323; said:
if i used spray foam to insulate the bottom and back of the tank do u think that would make a significant difference
Click to expand...

I think buying a 4x8 sheet of styrofoam would be cheaper and would be a lot easier/neater to apply...



fish junkie;3656358; said:
just buy higher wattage heaters jeager makes 400 watt heaters
Click to expand...

I think this is horrible advice...

insulating is the intelligent approch... improving efficiency...
 
I use 3 250 wt stealth heaters on my 240g its beter to have multiple heaters just like multiple filters , in case of malfunction.
 
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