Heater: So how much heat do I really need? Square vs Cube rule

[Andy Sager]

Indeed, that's why the internet is helpful. If you can sort through the crap, you can then benefit from other people's errors.

What's the saying, we learn from experience, but usually only the painful ones.

+1 to that
I always tell people, "If I had half the money back that I spent learning about fish keeping, I'd been able to retire at 30 and have a lot more money in the bank!"

Then again, if I hadn't learned so much, I'd have a lot less info to share.

 

[Linwood]

The heaters have dials on them, so a specific temperature can be set and the heater will maintain that setting until you change it. There's little or no chance of the heater cooking the fish.

I started to get the Hydor ETH 300W in-line heater, it was about the only in-line I could find.

And every place I looked had a significant number of reviews along the lines of "After xxx months the thermostat stuck on and cooked all my fish".

Either there's one creative guy out there with a grudge against them posting all over the place and in many names, or this heater has a real problem with sticking on.

Still looking. I may just put something in the tank, but this is a peninsula type tank and trying to put all the visually intrusive stuff either high under the trip or at one end. So saving wall real estate would be nice.

Anyone know a good, reliable in-line heater?

I'm surprised -- there are a bazillion in tank heaters, odd there are so few in-line.

 

[ScaryFatKidGT]

I started to get the Hydor ETH 300W in-line heater, it was about the only in-line I could find.

And every place I looked had a significant number of reviews along the lines of "After xxx months the thermostat stuck on and cooked all my fish".

Either there's one creative guy out there with a grudge against them posting all over the place and in many names, or this heater has a real problem with sticking on.

Still looking. I may just put something in the tank, but this is a peninsula type tank and trying to put all the visually intrusive stuff either high under the trip or at one end. So saving wall real estate would be nice.

Anyone know a good, reliable in-line heater?

I'm surprised -- there are a bazillion in tank heaters, odd there are so few in-line.

Could get a Titanium one with a controler and just lay it horizontal on the bottom.

Almost every heater I looked at said the same, After XXX it broke or after XXX it cooked all the fish, the Finnex, and ViaAqua titanium's, an overwhelming amount on the Aquatop dual digital's and Marinelands. I think the only people reviewing these are the ones with problems or something I mean if 30% or more of your heaters break, like the review suggest, your not going to stay in buisness. Lots of people have had problems with the Fluvals but not to many cooked fish.

 

[Linwood]

Could get a Titanium one with a controler and just lay it horizontal on the bottom.

Almost every heater I looked at said the same, After XXX it broke or after XXX it cooked all the fish, the Finnex, and ViaAqua titanium's, an overwhelming amount on the Aquatop dual digital's and Marinelands. I think the only people reviewing these are the ones with problems or something I mean if 30% or more of your heaters break, like the review suggest, your not going to stay in buisness. Lots of people have had problems with the Fluvals but not to many cooked fish.

Yeah, it's not my first trip to the internet. 10 bad experiences are posted for every 1 good, if not 100.

But frankly, as an engineer, I do not see why there should be any "cooked fish" examples. A redundant sensor and relay would cost $1 and make them almost perfectly safe (ok, if each one has a one in 4000 chance of sticking on any given day, then there's a 1 in 16,000,000 chance; I'll take it).

I do like the Cobalt. I don't know if they are lying, but they say:

integrated thermal protection circuitry shut the heater down before it can overheat
​

True or not, really redundant or not, not sure.. but at least they think of it.

I looked at a couple others and noticed nothing about a safety cutout.

 

[Linwood]

I'm still in a bit of analysis paralysis. There are no 200W Neo-therms to be had at the moment, was going to get a couple of those to start, today started leaning back toward the Hydor but with a cutoff (I'm putting a Raspberry Pi on the tank to control the lights, it might as well watch the temperature as a safety measure).

But... one point just for curiosity. I had a 100W Neo-therm sitting around, and put it in the tank as the water was cold and I was moving rocks and planting. It took over a day starting at 74, but it heated the water to 78 degrees and is holding there. My guess is that it is about at the edge of what it can do, 80 might not work.

But this is a 220G tank, with lots of surface movement from new filters, no cover (other than lights) yet so evaporation is significant, and 100W is actually keeping up.

No, I do not for a second suggest 100W is enough. Just sharing a surprise.

 

[ScaryFatKidGT]

There are no 200w neo-therms because they are being redesigned to they don't blow up and burn houses down..... one did that.....

 

[Linwood]

There are no 200w neo-therms because they are being redesigned to they don't blow up and burn houses down..... one did that.....

Interesting. Really? I've been wondering.

 

[sinibotia]

All you people talking about florida, meanwhile it's already getting below freezing up here in Maine! I always have to get overkill heaters on the off chance something fails with the heating in the house, not to mention even with heating in the house it can get very cold. Both my 20 gallons have 150 watt heaters.

 

[Linwood]

All you people talking about florida, meanwhile it's already getting below freezing up here in Maine!

You mean there are people still in Maine after it gets cold?

From the roads and lines in restaurants down here, I thought they all headed south!

(OK, really, Floridians love snowbirds. Really. I'm not saying that just to comply with state law. Honest.)

....

I'm having an interesting (well, not to Northerners) problem -- one AC unit broke in the house, and while waiting for replacement I had to crank the other down about 5 degrees trying to get enough cool air to circulate into the bedrooms. And suddenly the heater on my tank was flashing "too cold". I found this was at least as much because of increased evaporation (the relative humidity took a nose dive with the increased AC, plus we had fans running), and I could control it a bit with better covers, but I still ended up adding an extra heater to get back to normal.

But then again -- I only had 100 watts in 220 gallons. I'm still trying to find a better solution so have been making due to too little. 200 watts was fine (for about 8 degrees ambient/tank difference).

I had a spare heater because my 45G tank, in the rooms with no AC, are now about 4 degrees too hot, so no heater needed.

What I really want is a reliable, high wattage in-line heater. I've just found too many stories about cooked fish. I'm starting to think I will just build a safety monitor/cutoff into my light controller for temperature, and let it worry about a run-away hydor. It's just so strange they appear to be the ONLY one to make in-line heaters.

 

[sinibotia]

You mean there are people still in Maine after it gets cold?

From the roads and lines in restaurants down here, I thought they all headed south!

(OK, really, Floridians love snowbirds. Really. I'm not saying that just to comply with state law. Honest.)

Yeah, some of us are so far north that by the time we left for better weather we'd already be trapped! I'm in that crazy mysterious realm of "Maine- BEYOND THE COAST

Fish tanks are a nice heat insurance if things go south- my room is the warmest one in the house! (It used to be the coldest)