100 Watts heater enough for 29 gallon?

[swanandmokashi]

I saw this "29 gallon starter aquarium kit" at Walmart ..it has just 100 Watts heater , is this enough for a 29 Gallon . I thought you would need 150 Watts ? Can I get away with 100 Watts.

Also anyone of you, have this aquarium and how is it working?

TIA

 

[ferret]

100 watts should be fine, especially in Atlanta. I don't think it'll come on any time in the next 4 months anyways, we keep hitting 95 degrees outside..

 

[Menagerie]

Could you send some heat up here--PLEASE!!!
I agress that 100W is enough for that size tank.

 

[krap101]

personally i think its better if you buy the tank/hood together and buy the filter, heater, etc etc. imo you get better quality stuff

 

[swanandmokashi]

personally i think its better if you buy the tank/hood together and buy the filter, heater, etc etc. imo you get better quality stuff

I agree but I am not getting any good deal on a tank/hood combination

 

[krap101]

at petsmart here for a 29 gallon its 70$ for hood/tank. i payed 29$ for my emperor 280. 15$ for the heater. and 14$ for the sand.

but this combo is like 40$ more

 

[ferret]

For once Krap101 talks some sense..

I have found its generally cheaper to buy parts seperate, or at the very least you get better equipment for the same price.

 

[deli_conker]

For once Krap101 talks some sense..

LMAO.

Not necessarily higher quality stuff, but you get exactly what you want if you buy separately.

I recently found a hood/light for my 30 gal for $35 at a local store. They wanted almost $90 at petsmart. My advice is shop around.

But the 100 watts should do fine...

 

[swanandmokashi]

i am getting the tank (29 gallon) + hood+ light + heater+ 160 GPH filter + thermometer for $95 ..i don't think its a bad deal ?

 

[grimlock3000]

"i am getting the tank (29 gallon) + hood+ light + heater+ 160 GPH filter + thermometer for $95 ..i don't think its a bad deal ?"

It REALLY depends on the quality of the parts. Getting a lot of crap you will replace later is not worth any ammount of savings. In particular, a cheap low quality heater is more likely to go bad and possible cook all your fish in the process. And a lot quality filter could have flowrate issues or provide terrible filtering.

And I will tell you right now, those Wal Mart heater go bad more than they work correctly. I had one that went bad. One of my friends had both of his go bad. There have been a bunch of threads in the past about those heaters dying. It happens all the time at an alarming rate. I would rather put a toaster in the tank than one of the heaters that comes with the Wal Mart kit.

Also, that Wal Mart heater sucks too. It is JUST like a Bio Wheel, w/o the Bio Wheel. So basically you get a decent filter that is good for mechanical filtering and has crappy crappy bio filtering.

 

[swanandmokashi]

"i am getting the tank (29 gallon) + hood+ light + heater+ 160 GPH filter + thermometer for $95 ..i don't think its a bad deal ?"

It REALLY depends on the quality of the parts. Getting a lot of crap you will replace later is not worth any ammount of savings. In particular, a cheap low quality heater is more likely to go bad and possible cook all your fish in the process. And a lot quality filter could have flowrate issues or provide terrible filtering.

And I will tell you right now, those Wal Mart heater go bad more than they work correctly. There have been a bunch of threads in the past about those heaters dying. It happens all the time at an alarming rate.

I agree that is why I asked : "Also anyone of you, have this aquarium and how is it working? "

Also how to know if a particular heater/filter is good ? this is my first "real" tank setup

 

[swanandmokashi]

also how much is a tank(29 gallon) + hood with light priced at? ballpark?

 

[grimlock3000]

"I agree that is why I asked : "Also anyone of you, have this aquarium and how is it working?

Sure, my friend had the 29g Wal Mart combo and the 55g Wal Mart combo. He is who I was referring to earlier. Both his heaters died, and the filters sucked so he had to get a new filter for a 55g, then put the 55g filter on the 29g tank. He threw away the filter that came with the 29g.

The 10g I have started off as a Wal Mart combo. My heater died, and I no longer use the filter.

So that is three Wal Mart combos right there that all started off as a good deal, but ended up not being so good.

 

[swanandmokashi]

"I agree that is why I asked : "Also anyone of you, have this aquarium and how is it working?

Sure, my friend had the 29g Wal Mart combo and the 55g Wal Mart combo. He is who I was referring to earlier. Both his heaters died, and the filters sucked so he had to get a new filter for a 55g, then put the 55g filter on the 29g tank. He threw away the filter that came with the 29g.

The 10g I have started off as a Wal Mart combo. My heater died, and I no longer use the filter.

So that is three Wal Mart combos right there that all started off as a good deal, but ended up not being so good.

OHHHHHHHH ok i better rethink abt the wal mart combo then

 

[krap101]

at petsmart the hood/light+tank is $70

 

[pkremer]

I would like to second or third or fourth (or whatever turn it is) not buying the Wal-Mart combo set. I bought the 10 gallon kit for $50 and have been extremely unhappy with my decision. I did it because I saved $30 over my LFS! YAY!

Wait! What is this heater? I guess it is working for now...let's see. And what is this filter? NO place designed for bacterial growth. Now I am struggling with high nitrites when had I purchased the Penguin Mini at my LFS I could have traded my biowheel for one of theirs. Also, my Penguin 330 makes NO noise, and this Regent filter that came with the Wal-Mart combo makes this steady low grinding noise all the time.

Yes, I saved $30, but looking back, I would gladly spend the extra money to have better quality equipment. I may end up buying all that better quality equipment sooner than I think to replace this Wal-Mart junk and will have actually spent MORE money than had I bought it at my LFS to begin with.

Live and learn, I guess.
Paul

 

[lyquidphyre]

I would like to second or third or fourth (or whatever turn it is)

+1 on that

My boyfriend bought the 29gal kit and the heater is crap. The filter it comes with I think you have to replace the bags every 2 or 3 weeks? Where as the bags I have are once a month if that. And when I say 2 or 3 weeks I mean the water gets nasty in 2 or 3 weeks. The hood and tank itself are pretty decent.

Basically buy the kit if-
*the kit price + replacing the filter and heater is less expensive than buying everything seperatly.

But definatly look around for bargins. Im sure you can get your own kit put together for about $100 and it will cost less in the long run =o)

 

[swanandmokashi]

great ! you guys are so helpful

here's what I want to do then : get a 29 gallon tank + hood/light from somewhere and get Penguin BIO-Wheel 170 as filter and 100/150 W heater seperately

You guys suggest any particular brand of heater, also is the Penguin BIO-Wheel 170 a good filter?

 

[krap101]

all penguins are good filters. but id suggest you upgrade to en emperor 280. its very nice with the spray bar/double media cases. i think its still 29.99 at bigals. or you can get the penguin 330 for $5 less. id suggest the tetra whisper heaters. i have one in my 29 gallon and it works great. only thing wrong with it is the paint stuff is coming off. its not erally nessisary (it helps hide the heater) i dont think its toxic or my fish woulda died. id suggest getting the 29 gallon tank/hood frmo petsmart for the 20$ because the hoods maybe hard to find/you can be sure it fits/and i think its cheaper. and you might want to go the a 55 gallon. at petco in janesville (i think it may be in others 2) you get everything for 99$. im not sure about the quality but a 55 gallon tank+hood alone is probally that much.

theres 100+300 watt heaters (i think) from that whisper.

oh yeah their submersable 2. the 100 watt is at wal mart for like (10-30) 20$ and the 30-60 (forgot the wattage) is like 25$ at walmart. id suggest the 30-60 because the 10-30 looks a lil wimpy (but it still has the power to heat up my tank)

oh and i also+ to not buy the thing from walmart. i bought my 5 gallon starter set from there and it runs great. but still i could be more satisfied right now

 

[swanandmokashi]

id suggest getting the 29 gallon tank/hood frmo petsmart for the 20$ because the hoods maybe hard to find/you can be sure it fits/and i think its cheaper.

for $20 ..are you kidding me ? tank + hood + light ?