heating for a 55

[mark shirah]

will 300 watts be enough for my 55. should i use 1 300 watt or two 150 watt. this will be a community tank.

 

[rich311k]

I would do two heaters. It gives you a fall back plan if one fails ant it distirbutes the heat better. Less of a chance of a cold or hot spot. I would go with two 300 watt heaters. It will give you one less thing to worry about.

 

[Jchillin]

A single 300w is fine for a 55. Anything above that and I would use two 300w.

Though a backup is a great idea.

 

[Toirtis]

I would do two heaters. It gives you a fall back plan if one fails ant it distirbutes the heat better. Less of a chance of a cold or hot spot. I would go with two 300 watt heaters. It will give you one less thing to worry about.

Agreed....cost isn't much more (you can always go 2 x 250w), and you get that redundancy that in turn gives peace of mind.

 

[severum mama]

I use 1 300W heater in my 55 gallon and it works fine. However, if you have the money it would be better to have 2 150W.

 

[oscarbreeder]

I use two 150w titanium heaters on my 55 African tank and it seems to work out great.

 

[Bhunsucker]

I use one Rena 300 Watt on my 55gal and it works good. The only issue I had was when I was treating my tank for Ich and had to rase the temp. The unit I have would only get the temp of my tank up to 86 and it was turned up all the way. Now do keep in mind that we keep our house at about 68 so it did have some work to do to maintain it. I would recommend double heaters. I wish I had done that.

 

[DeFeKt]

disagreed.. you could have a 100w.
120 gal at home has 1 300w, it's barely on.
66gal has a 100 w, its barely on to.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I agree with the double heaters. Right now I have 1 250 Watt heater in the 55. It keeps the tank stable, but later on I plan to switch to 2 heaters. That way there is a backup. The "rule" of heating is around 5 watts per gal. This can be altered depending on the temp of your house and so on.

 

[Toirtis]

disagreed.. you could have a 100w.
120 gal at home has 1 300w, it's barely on.
66gal has a 100 w, its barely on to.

Yes, but not everyone has a similar ambient temperature and humidity (both of which will affect tank temp) as you have in Perth. Rule of thumb for North America is 3-5w/gallon.