Heating 500-1000 gallon aquariums

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

doviiman

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Apr 12, 2007
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la,la,land
how are you guys with the huge 700 gallon tank heating them? I was looking at a 1000 watt titanum heater with controller and two receptcles to add a second 500 watt heater for my 800 gallon. Is there anything better of simplier.
 
The most innovative heating system is vldesign's radiant heating that he did on his 1500 gallon tank. In his build thread, it's the last section. His total cost was less than $212--amazing
http://www.vldesign.com/DIY_1500Gallon_Aquarium.pdf

I wish we could do something like that, but my new addition is on a tankless on-demand propane water heater. I'm going with TruTemp 1000W heaters. I have three, but think I can get by with two. We just use a 300W heater on our 300 gallon tank, so I don't anticipate my big system requiring more wattage/gallon than the little system.

On a large system, you can get fancy and go with inline heaters, but they are pricey.
http://www.fishtanksdirect.com/aqualogicin-lineheaters.aspx

If you haven't purchased your heaters yet, here are some of my favorite online vendors.

I found this vendor this week, and found their prices better than BAs. My order was shipped the next day.
http://www.petsolutions.com/storefront/fish/cFish-p1.html

These two vendors had good pricing on pumps, etc., and I bought UV sterilizers, pumps and heaters from them:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/

http://www.marinedepot.com/s
 
Pacu mom, you will appreciate the quality of the 1000w jbj trutemp. I'd highly recomend them to anyone that can afford it. I'd do 2 of em on a 700-800g tank, but it all depends on what type of tank glass or acrylic? Desired temp? Ambient temperature? Other factors like pumps and lights and blah blah
 
how are you guys with the huge 700 gallon tank heating them? I was looking at a 1000 watt titanum heater with controller and two receptcles to add a second 500 watt heater for my 800 gallon. Is there anything better of simplier.

I had 1500w on my 400g, and it was barely enough to keep it in the high 70's during the winter. But the tank was in my garage, so the room was a lot colder. Before you determine how much juice you need, you need to find out what's the coldest temp the room will hit. A tank indoors will need a lot less watts than a tank kept in an uninsulated garage.

The rule of thumb is 4wpg to raise the temp 9 degrees over room temp.
 
I honestly after last months bill don't even use a heater in my 750 cuz my pumps heat up the water to 82 for me already....
 
Hey dhjr0915- that was going to be my reply to.My pump have always kept the temp above 80.I have a 15,000 gallon tank and no heaters and it stays above 80 with a 1.5 hp pool pump.
 
i used 4 300watt heaters on a controller to heat my 800+ gallon reef set up. although 400 watt metal halides and all the pumps helped a lot.
i would start with 3 300W and add if needed. i like having multiple heaters so if one fails the others will keep the tank going. not to mention they are cheaper:)
 
Wlim has this one in the works. Comes with a logic box that turn off the heater when the flow stops and the pump plugs into it for additional controls. Best of all it will be less than all those stainless and titanium ones mentioned. Wlim units come in SS and Ti.

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