What heater to heat a 120g at 80'?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Very impressed with my hydor inline heaters. 2 200w would be great to maintain and regulate temps, especially if you get discus and want to bump the temp higher than 80. A 300w would likely do the trick also because they are efficient and heat pretty evenly(assuming you have good flow from filters). Just pay attention to hose size fittings as the 200w comes in 2 sizes
 
I know in my basement it really never gets above 60. Whatever you buy or use I would suggest using 2 larger than what you need heaters if you have a problem similar to mine. I have the aqueon pros, and hydor and they work great, I would recommend a controller with eheims. Probably should loose the screens unless you want the heaters working a lot more.

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Aquanero said:
People are funny about heater recomendations, almost like a food debate.

I think two 250W heaters would do the trick. I use the Aquion Pros but there are other good ones out there Jeager is a good brand too and has 300W heters. I like using two heaters so if one fails I have back up. The other good thing about two heaters is they don't have to work as hard to maintane temp. Anything that will maintane the temp at around 82-84 degrees. I fully submerge them at a 45 degree angle. I usually figure about 4-5 watts per gallon works for me in my house. I set them with one at 82 and the other at 80 so one is off most of the time unless it gets really cold like today and the other just has to cycle to maintane temp. It works good for me.
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+1 Aqueon Pros are by far the best in tank heater I've used. I use 2x 250w for a 125 tall in my basement. Even with the cold temps in my garage these things don't sweat keeping it at 80.
 
Ya the pros are my favorite.

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Dan F said:
The 300W is 19" long, which would fit vertically in most 120G tanks (depends on dimensions, of course).
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I checked the dimensions of Jager 300w, which is listed as 20" tall.

http://www.bigalspets.com/jager-trutemp-submersible-heater-300-w.html

A regular 125 gal is 21" tall. Allowing for the thicknesses of the glass, substrate, and the curvature of the cable around the top trim, there is barely any room left for a 300 watt Jager to fit vertically. Even if you can manage to tightly fit the heater vertically by touching the bottom glass, the tank water level will drop below the top of the heater, rendering it not fully submerged.
 
Because heat rises, putting a submersible heater in the vertical position sends heat from the low portion, up toward the thermostat creating a constant on again off again situation. Placing a heater horizontally allows for less fluctuation, letting directional flow determine thermostat fluctuation, somewhat more stable.
Insulating the tank on the bottom and 3 sides (back, and 2 side panels of course) will also hold heat and keep the tank more stable, this also helps maintain temp during a power outage. I also keep a styrofoam panel at the ready to be taped on the front in case of power outage.
The most common problem I find with heaters, is sticking in the "on" position and cooking the fish, this is why I prefer 2 or even 3 smaller heaters (where if one fails "on" the others will turn off), rather than one high powered one that boils a tank.
I had a Hydor inline heater stick in the "on" position and start to melt the outflow pipe, luckily the other 2 heaters turned off and the tank only hit 90'F before I noticed and unplugged it.
 
Let me add an interesting twist to the OP question...what if(in my case anyways) I have a 3D background or planning on building one, what do you guys recommend for heating my 125 gal tank?
 
Hydor 400w have it running on 200g of water and it doesn't break a sweat keeping the system at 82 (100g sump 135g tank)

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