# 200 watt heater for a 55?



## lilcountrygal (Dec 27, 2011)

I have a 200 watt heater for my 55 gallon. The water temp is about 76, but the heater dial is up about 3/4 way. I'd be hard pressed to keep the heater on the max setting, but maybe its just because we're in the middle of winter?

Is a 200 watt heater sufficient for a 55, or do you generally need to kick the heater up to the next step? I dont want to buy a different one if I dont have to, but I sure dont want the tank water too cold for fish.


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## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

I have a 150 on my 55g and its barely holding the temperature, my 46g has a 200 and is fine. This weekend I am going to upgrade the 150 to a 200.

The ambient where the tank is located is in the 60's in my case.


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

what temp. the room is ,type of lights,how long you keep them on,placement of tank,equipment youre running will help determine,for me, 150 watt heater on my 75s can bring the temps up to mid 80s 
since you dont have fish yet,I would turn the heater all the way and see how hot the water gets


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## smitty (May 7, 2004)

The only difference is with a more power unit it will cycle off and on less. But if it keeping the water at 74 or above you are okay.


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## lilcountrygal (Dec 27, 2011)

Well.... dont _I_ feel stupid. I had it jacked up full blast to see if it would raise the temp a bit....

I was having a hard time reading the thermometer. So, I stopped and bought one with bigger numbers and put the other thermometer in my daughter's 3 gallon glo fish tank. The new thermometer is registering 88 degrees. I'm guessing the heater works good, my eyes.... not so much. :roll:


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## Fishy_Cichlid (Aug 4, 2011)

I find a lot of people dont want to have full faith on temperature readings. The problem is aggravated with those having multiple tanks since we are always comparing. My own feelings are that - most of the times, the tanks & the equipments arent the same.

For Ex. one of my tank is fully covered, so the temperature attains the set temperature faster. The moment I open the hood, the heaters come ON. My other tank has several large opening in the canopy, so here the heaters are ON most of the time during winters.

Again, I have noticed that when I have added new equipments like submerged pumps or added a canister, the temperature rises faster. Infact, I find the heat given out by these equipments is substantial. But then most of the time, when we purchase heaters, we ignore the heat dissipated by the equipments. It is really quite a lot and has a far greater effect on closed tanks.

BTW I also find that even if my heater (Eheim) is on, it does not necessarily translate into rise in temperature even on 24 hrs basis. The said tank being open, and the quantity of water in it being large - it takes a longer time, because part of the heat generated by the heater is lost to the atmosphere (tempr.).


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## zanardi (Nov 26, 2011)

Lilcountrygal:

Is 76 degrees where you want to keep the temp? Is it staying stable? I assume since this is in the middle of the winter the room temp where the tank is will be at the coldest for the year?

I would say if the current heater holds the temp stable where you want it you can't ask for more. I wouldn't worry too much if the dial is about 3/4 of the way to max. I ran the same size heater in ny old 55 for years and it was in a room that ran 10 - 15 degrees colder then my water temp for a good part of the year. My tank temp was stable as could be.

I say "if it ain't broke don't fix it"


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## lilcountrygal (Dec 27, 2011)

> I say "if it ain't broke don't fix it"


Yeah, its pretty stable now. Apparently my eyes dont work as good as the heater. I couldnt read the thermometer correctly :?


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## cgmark (Aug 18, 2010)

Heaters are notoriously bad at regulating temps on aquariums, it is one of the reasons I built my own heater controller. The heaters tend to use bimetallic strips that are just inches above the heating element so they tend to drift a lot on the heat control. I use a 200W heater on my tank and had to turn it all the way up in order for my heater controller to work properly because the bimetallic strip would cut off the heat even though the temperature was not reached.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

I tend to gravitate towards the lowest wattage heater that can maintain temp. The biggest concern with a heater is that it fails, and when it does it usually sticks in the on position. A bigger wattage heater will quickly make the water too warm for the fish, while a smaller wattage heater will heat the water slowly and may not even get to dangerous levels if it fails.

What causes heaters to fail is the turning on and off action. Bigger heaters will cycle more often than smaller heaters on the same tank. Since heaters are often oversized for the tanks they're in, its a theory of mine that that can be a contributing factor to a lot heater failures.

Heaters have air in them, and the air heats and cools faster than the water. That is why heaters cycle on and off even when the tank temp hasn't reached the desired temp yet.

to specifically answer your question, if your room temp is within a few degrees either side of 70, and you use glass tops to stop evaporation (evaporation is heat loss), you really don't need more than 100W for a 55g. I've got a 200W in my 90 right now actually and I kinda feel like I'm gambling with it being too big (not to mention its actually one of the recalled stealth pro heaters but shhhhhh!). It used to be in my 125g+55g sump and yes my pump did also put out a lot of heat but I'd be real nervous about a 200 in a 55g. Was 88 the max or did you let it go to see if it kept climbing? If it gets above 90, its a ticking time bomb for your fish. How much warmer does the room get in the summertime? At my place, I know I can set the thermostat as much as 10 degrees warmer. Thats an extra 10 degrees the heater could raise the temp. You'd now be pushing 100 degrees if the heater failed. Sayonara fishes 

Not trying to scare you. I truly don't understand why stuff like filtration is so underrated for the tank sizes they list on the box, but tank heaters are so overrated. Heaters really aren't applicable to the "more is better" mentality, like filtration, and are not a one size fits all application. It all depends on a lot of things, including room temp, surface area of the tank, glass tops or no, lighting and other equipment can contribute to heat, etc. Based on your tank getting up to 88 in the wintertime, I'd guess it'll get above 90 in the summer, and that would make it too big of a heater for me to be comfortable.


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## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

Well I got distracted and never did replace my 150 with a 200 and the tank seems to be holding very steady temp, granted we've not had any real cold days this year. Gonna leave it as is I think. (room still never gets to the 70's and the tank is along an outside wall)


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## smith10210 (Jan 19, 2012)

I had a AQUEON pro 150 and it struggled with my 55 gallon had to turn it up almost full and it was cycling on and off to much. I replaced it with a Aqueon pro 250 works way better at keeping a constant temp .


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## skurj (Oct 30, 2011)

smith10210 said:


> I had a AQUEON pro 150 and it struggled with my 55 gallon had to turn it up almost full and it was cycling on and off to much. I replaced it with a Aqueon pro 250 works way better at keeping a constant temp .


Thats what I have on my 55g, and it seems to be holding fine, I can't turn it up past 80 deg as it will never get there but its holding fine and steady at 78. My 46g with the 200watt fluval seems to vary much more, but one difference between the 2 is the 55 has led lighting while the 46g has tubes so perhaps less heat difference between lights on and off on the 55g.


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