Heat

[zoogirl]

I've recently set- up a 55 gal for expected Discus and I am having problems retaining heat. I have 3 Heaters on the tank- 1 250 Watt, and 2 - 100 Watt heaters- all are cranked to the max. Is this normal? I've thought about replacing the 2 - 100 watt heaters with another 250 watt- but unsure what value it will add. Is there a specific heater I should be looking for? Any suggestions would be appreciated......

[Qattarra]

On my 72 I have a 300 w, it's cranked and just heats it enough. Sue

[HOSStile]

I assume you are trying to maintain a temp of 84 F (29 C) That of course is fairly high in the operating range of most heaters. I am using 2 x 200 watt heaters for a 90 gal. Discus. They are on probably 80 percent of the time and I would rather have that than a huge heater that would cook the fish if it stuck on. In your case I would use multiple heaters only maybe replace the 2 x 100 watts with a 200.

[johnsmith]

I found that having a piece of insulation board (the pink stuff) underneith the tank and against the back pannel helped big time on my 90g. I was only keeping my tank ~78* but my heaters were hardly ever on.

[jvision]

Yeah, wrapping the tank in styro will help a lot. Also, if your lighting has remote balasts, placing the balasts in the cabinet under the tank will help, as the heat from the balasts will rise.

[spcy]

I have my heaters set between 22 and 26 deg. all of my tanks are 80 to 82 deg.

[arixonbarnes]

An acrylic cover will help to keep the heat in.

[Tanker]

Check your heaters... I have a 65g and I have two 50W heaters that keep it at 81 all the time. The tank is less than 10 feet from a terribly drafty patio door, too yet the two heaters are more than sufficient to do the trick.

The secret is placement.

I have a Fluval 404 on the tank with a spraybar and skimmer attachments. The spray bar is in the rear-right corner, and sits vertically spraying forward along the right side. The skimmer is along the left wall, and in the center. I also have a power head (300gph) in the top left rear corner that is aimed at a fictional center point of the rear wall... if you followed all of that, you'll see I have the tank water flowing in a fairly constant circle, clockwise around the tank around the rockpiles in the center. By placing the heaters at opposite sides, and directly IN the water flow, it circulates the heat and keeps the tank more evenly regulated. With your tank, this may not be exactly possible, but the concept of heater placement may be transferable. Take a close look at where your water is flowing, and if it's not moving around the heater, then the heater is not going to do it's job.

One last thing... where is your thermometer? and is it a stick-on/digital/??? Maybe you're tank is warmer than you think?

[syb65]

i have 2 300 watt heaters in my 120 gallon, with that aluminum heat wrap on 3 sides with a 1" thick styrofoam sheet underneath. i see it kick on maybe for 10 minutes and won't see it on for a couple more hrs and it keeps it a constant 82, and still can get warmer up to 89 or so.

Edited April 11, 2007 by syb65

[k9outfit]

My 230 Discus tank (kept at 88+) is heated by 2 200-watt heaters. The tank's downstairs where the ambient temp is around 68 or less. Tank's covered on 5 sides (all but the front) with 3/4" white styrofoam insulation.

Even though the temp. stays constant, think I'll re-cover it with the corrugated plastic sheeting first, then possibly the alluminum heat wrap mentioned above, and finally the styrofoam, since the heaters are on quite a bit.

[zoogirl]

Check your heaters... I have a 65g and I have two 50W heaters that keep it at 81 all the time. The tank is less than 10 feet from a terribly drafty patio door, too yet the two heaters are more than sufficient to do the trick.

The secret is placement.

I have a Fluval 404 on the tank with a spraybar and skimmer attachments. The spray bar is in the rear-right corner, and sits vertically spraying forward along the right side. The skimmer is along the left wall, and in the center. I also have a power head (300gph) in the top left rear corner that is aimed at a fictional center point of the rear wall... if you followed all of that, you'll see I have the tank water flowing in a fairly constant circle, clockwise around the tank around the rockpiles in the center. By placing the heaters at opposite sides, and directly IN the water flow, it circulates the heat and keeps the tank more evenly regulated. With your tank, this may not be exactly possible, but the concept of heater placement may be transferable. Take a close look at where your water is flowing, and if it's not moving around the heater, then the heater is not going to do it's job.

One last thing... where is your thermometer? and is it a stick-on/digital/??? Maybe you're tank is warmer than you think?

I actually have two thermometers--One is stick on and the other is a glass thermometer. The heaters are placed so that there is water circulation on either side of the heaters.