What Size Fluval Tronic Heater?
- Thread starter CRAIG1591
- Start date
Craig, pick up a 300w heater fluval heater. It will be more than enough.
As for the different brands of heaters, yes it does matter since some are just garbage.
IMO, I would go with Fluval, Jager (Eheim), and Rena.
As for the different brands of heaters, yes it does matter since some are just garbage.
IMO, I would go with Fluval, Jager (Eheim), and Rena.
CRAIG1591;3982182; said:
If you need 300 watts that's what you need. 2 - 150 watt heaters do NOT equal 300 watts! Two 150 watt heaters will only heat to 150 watts! They are not in series!
Heater Guide Example:
If you need to raise the temperature of a 55 gallon tank 15 F, simply use the guide below to find out what wattage is needed. The corresponding wattage is 190W, therefore you would select a 200 watt heater. For me, my downstairs theater room may get down to 60 at night for my 75 gallon. Therefore a 300 watt heater is used.
DeltaT____10F____15F____20F____25F
Gallons-------------Watts----------------
10________53____80____106___133
20________80____120___160___200
30________93____140___187___233
40________107___160___213___265
55________127___190___253___316
75________147___220___293___367
90________160___240___320___400
120_______180___270___360___450
150_______200___300___400___500
180_______213___320___425___533
200_______220___330___440___550
250_______233___350___467___583
Let's say the guide above says you need a 400 watt heater. This does not mean you can use 2 - 200 watt heaters. You would still need 2 - 400 watt heaters (but they would cycle less often).
Otherwise, you could have 8 - 50 watt units and your tank would be at temperature right? Wrong, it would only heat up to the value of one (1) 50 watt heater. If I heat water to 100 degrees and heat another pot to 100 degrees and then combine them, I would have 200 degree water right? Sorry, it's still only 100 degrees. Unfortunately it is not additive.
Dual heaters (or more) are for redundancy, lessen the duty cycle and eliminate cold spots that's all.
cichlidude, I'm sorry, but you have no clue what you're talking about. The notion that 2 150watt heaters would not output 300 watts of heat is comical. Stop spreading misinformation and learn what a watt actually is.
I suppose I need to throw out my twin-tube fluorescent now because 2*32 watt lights doesn't equal 64 watts of light?
My oven has 2 heating elements in it, I guess I should tear one out because its wasting my power.
I suppose I need to throw out my twin-tube fluorescent now because 2*32 watt lights doesn't equal 64 watts of light?
My oven has 2 heating elements in it, I guess I should tear one out because its wasting my power.
I still can't get over this. Has to be one of the stupidest things I've ever heard on a fishkeeping forum.
The flaw in his explanation has to with the redundancy...
He forgot to factor in the division in water volume by using 2 or more heaters.
for example:
Say you need 300 watts for 200 gallons...if you want to use 2-150 watt heaters, it is true they will only heat 150watts each, but, they are only going to need to heat 100 gallons each.
Anybody who has ever put heater to water knows more wattage you add up the faster it can reach the desired temp. It also has to do with how many degrees above ambient temp you need to heat the water, insulation, heat loss etc...but I believe you can put enough 50watt heaters in a tank to bring it to temp, it would be impractical
He forgot to factor in the division in water volume by using 2 or more heaters.
for example:
Say you need 300 watts for 200 gallons...if you want to use 2-150 watt heaters, it is true they will only heat 150watts each, but, they are only going to need to heat 100 gallons each.
Anybody who has ever put heater to water knows more wattage you add up the faster it can reach the desired temp. It also has to do with how many degrees above ambient temp you need to heat the water, insulation, heat loss etc...but I believe you can put enough 50watt heaters in a tank to bring it to temp, it would be impractical
I use twin 250w ebo jagers on my 150g. works great.
I use a 200w Ebo Jager on my 65g, going on 5+ years now.
eventually I will probably replace it with two smaller heaters too, but for now, its still going strong after 5 years. no reason to replace just yet.
ebo jagers are great.
I use a 200w Ebo Jager on my 65g, going on 5+ years now.
eventually I will probably replace it with two smaller heaters too, but for now, its still going strong after 5 years. no reason to replace just yet.
ebo jagers are great.
jschall;3993127; said:
You could have looked up the definition of watt yourself, but here it is for you.
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units (SI), named after the 18th-century Scottish engineer James Watt. Its unit symbol is W. The unit measures the rate of energy conversion.
- One watt is equal to 1 joule (J) of energy per second. There are mechanical and electrical energy also, but I wont go into these.
Power and energy are frequently confused. Power is the rate at which energy is generated and consumed.
For example, when a light bulb with a power rating of 100W is turned on for one hour, the energy used is 100 watt-hours (W·h), 0.1 kilowatt-hour, or 360 kJ. This same amount of energy would light a 40-watt bulb for 2.5 hours or a 50-watt bulb for 2 hours.
******
Actually heat measurement is really in BTUs. A BTU is defined as amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of liquid water one degree from 60 to 61 degrees Fahrenheit at a constant pressure of one atmosphere.
1 watt is approximately 3.41214 BTU/h.
1000 BTU/h is approximately 293.071 W
I will be ignoring the time factor to use the amount of energy needed to raise the water to get to a specific temperature. In theory and practical use you could have the correct amount of BTUs available to increase water to your desired temperature, but that actually could take hours, days and weeks as the temperature moves slowly. Were going to have to assume you need to maintain the temperature between 75-82 degrees as outside that temperature for a given length of time the fish will be in distress or die.
What the above means is that if your heater is unable to maintain 3.4 BTU/h your wattage will decrease by 1 watt per hour. Hummm, how would that happen you ask? Its called loss.
*******
To your question, yes your electrical meter will use 300 watts of power, sorry but this is not what I 'meant' to say. I should have said that 2-150 watt heaters may not be able to heat to the value of one 300 watt heater even though the both will consume the same amount of energy.
One heater must be able to maintain your tank to your given temperature energy (assume 80 degrees).
The problem is ambient temperature and heat loss that must be overcome. This loss is known as conduction, convection and radiation of which all are temperature dependant. The Delta T in the heater guide is the concern. If your room you keep your fish in is always at 80 degrees, you would not need a heater at all, Delta T=0. Thats why our Florida friends can use a 50 or 100 watt heater in their 55+ gallon tanks. Their room is at 75 degrees all the time so they only have to worry about a Delta T of 3 to reach 78 degrees. Heck, the radiant heat from their light is all they use and even then they have to turn it off during the warmest part of the day.
However if you keep you fish in a room that is 50 degrees ambient your Delta T is 30 and now you need to heat the 50 degree water to 80 degrees.
This is usually the extreme as most houses are usually between say 66-72 degrees. The Delta T is about 10 degrees so using two smaller heaters usually work if you check the heater guide again. Most people overkill on their heaters anyway and dont need too because they have heard the term 3-5 watts per gallon.
Lets make it more difficult for some who have a larger Delta T to overcome (as some keep their aquariums in their unheated basement in Minnesota, real life example later). Delta T=30, heat loss due to ambient air temperature through the glass on at least 4 sides, the top (assume no top) and yes the bottom. Lets use two 50 watt in-line heaters and lets assume one 50 watt heater can only heat a given volume of water to 60 degrees. Notice this is not 60 watts like you assumed.
The 60 degree water output is now sent to the second 50 watt heater (which can only heat water to 60 degrees also). According to you the water temperature output would now be 120 degrees. If this were true the worlds energy problem would be solved.
But we know that cant be. 60 degree water sent to the second heater (which can only heat to 60 degrees remember) will output the same 60 degree water. OK lets add a third 50 watt heater in line now. What do you think the water temperature will be, 180 degrees? I dont think so.
Thats like saying if you install 50 1-watt in-line heaters you can get 60 degree water. Not gonna happen. Remember Delta T is still 30.
(Note: In a perfect world of absolutely no loss the constant BTU output would be able to increase to the correct temperature, given enough time.)
Now lets take those two 50 watt heaters and put them in a given large volume of water, your fish tank. Yes you have a total of 100 watts (power) being used by your electrical meter. What you are doing is heating the water to 60 degrees (energy) TWICE as fast, not twice the temperature.
The heaters cant keep up with the loss (cold). Hope you understand.
Now for your lights, perfect example here. Yes, you are using 64 watts of power total for both, but if you notice the 32 watts lights are not as bright as a 64 watt light is it (which is in lumens by the way)? Try this, turn on your two lights for one hour and grab hold of both your florescent 32 watt bulbs with your hands and hold on to them. You can pretty much not get burned. Now turn on a 64 watt (60 watt) incandescent bulb for one hour. Now grab a hold of that bulb and hold onto it. You will get burned. They are both using 64 watts of power but not the same energy expended. That 60 watt bulb generates much more heat but uses the same amount of power!
For your oven, you do realize that you only use one element at a time right? The bottom is for baking and the top for broiling, not both. Dont get me started on self cleaning ovens temps.
When you go to college you might want to take some fluid dynamics or thermo dynamic classes. They will go into great detail about this.
Oh, I forgot my example. Years ago on another forum a person had a 500 gallon tank in Minnesota in his unheated basement of 45 degrees in the dead of winter. He was using two 800 watt heaters and only could get the temperature up to 70 degrees in the tank after two weeks. Both heaters were on solid all the time. I explained the above information to him and said he either needed to raise the ambient temperature to at least 60 degrees or use a larger heater. With almost 3000 square feet of unheated space he could not use space heaters at all. He found a 1200 watt heater and took out the other two. Well guess what? His temperature got to his 78 degrees; in fact it maxed out at 81 degrees in a few days. Funny two 800 watt heaters (total 1600 watts) could not heat the same volume of water as one 1200 watt. Hummm go figure.
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