Serpentman
Aquarium Advice Activist
I am wondering what would be better for stable temperatures: 1 high wattage heater or two lower wattage heaters?
Multiple Heaters?
- Thread starter Serpentman
- Start date
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ryguy
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I would use 2 heaters so in the event that one fails, you won't have a temperature drop.
seaham358
Aquarium Advice Addict
2 heaters is best..
Brenden
Aquarium Advice Addict
Definitely two for redundancy.
Just to add you want both heaters in the 3W-5W per gal range. ie: if you have a 55 gal tank you want both heaters to be 200+W depending on the temperature difference of the room and what you want your tank to be at. Keeping your tank anywhere from 76-82 degrees is ok but make sure the temp stays constant. You do not want temp swing greater then 2 degrees during the day/night cycles. If increasing/decreasing temps do it slowly 1-2 degrees per day.
Getting two lower watt heaters is just going to make one of them work harder since getting them to match up perfectly is nearly impossible. If you work them harder then they are designed to that leads to a possible failure.
As everyone else stated the point of two heaters is for redundancy if one fails, not so they both can heat the tank. You can keep both in the tank, sump, or one in either. Personally I would keep at least one in the tank in case your overflow stops working for whatever reason. (If you have a sump)
I would buy titanium heaters versus glass ones to avoid breakage issues.
Keep them vertical or horizontal but at least 4” below the water level to keep them from being exposed from evaporation. Keep them off the sand. You can place them behind lr to hide them but I would not let the lr touch them.
Getting two lower watt heaters is just going to make one of them work harder since getting them to match up perfectly is nearly impossible. If you work them harder then they are designed to that leads to a possible failure.
As everyone else stated the point of two heaters is for redundancy if one fails, not so they both can heat the tank. You can keep both in the tank, sump, or one in either. Personally I would keep at least one in the tank in case your overflow stops working for whatever reason. (If you have a sump)
I would buy titanium heaters versus glass ones to avoid breakage issues.
Keep them vertical or horizontal but at least 4” below the water level to keep them from being exposed from evaporation. Keep them off the sand. You can place them behind lr to hide them but I would not let the lr touch them.
cmor1701d
Aquarium Advice Addict
As tecwzrd said, you want two. I keep both in my sump. Last week I found I had 2 degree drop from the normal temperature. I keep one heater set 2 degrees below the other, so I checked the primary and found it had failed (after 3 years). I just replaced it and did not have a major temp fluctuation as I would have if I only had the one heater.
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