# heater question



## bigrift (Aug 30, 2010)

ok so the heater i got with my tank aparently lights up like its working but dosnt heat up lol. right now in my 20g sump (aprox 50% water volume) i have a 10-15 heater whitch keeps the 75g at 70f and i know thats not enough (had it laying around used it in a pinch) i was thinking of getting 2 15-30g heaters and leaveing the 10-15g heater in and useing all 3. they come preset to 78f and i know there is loss and sutch by the time it gets to the mt. will this be enough to keep my tank around 75-76 f? if not i was thinking of adding the 10-15g heater right into the tank cause its small and useing the other 2 in the sump. i dunno what do you guys think.


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

if your gonna replace then i would toss it out .. no point paying for the electric for a unit that is not operating properly


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## bigrift (Aug 30, 2010)

no no the one thats not working is allready gone lol... the one i have in there temp is the one i had in my 10g nano. sorry if i made it confuseing


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

no i think i was tiered when i read it the first time.. so any way ok so ifi amreading this right you want to add 2x 15-30g heaters to the sump and leave 1x 10-15g heater in the tank on a system that is a total of 95 gallons (75 gallon DT and 20 gallon Sump) ..... is that correct? if so then i would personally do this in a pinch only until better heaters could be gotten dor a number of reasons... 
1) they are not made to handle so much volume and will burn out faster or even break in the tank causing a number of electrical hazzards.
2) while your rationalisation of the efects of the heaters are sound for a typical temp room one must consider the extream factors in our lives, for example dependant on where you live winter may be fast approaching if the heat shold go out in the room or house but not power the heaters will keep your tank warm, undersized heaters have to work harder again setting them up to fail....
3) because they are going to work harder to maintain temp they are going to suck up a ton of elecrticity. personally i am not into paying even small amounts for energy that is not being used to its best advantage ..


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## Mattcot (Nov 10, 2010)

so bearwithfish are you saying to use a heater that is rated for more than the current set-up? and if so what size of heater would you use?


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## bigrift (Aug 30, 2010)

yeah what should i use then... iv always been told use multi heaters incase of a failure but would it be smart to use more than one heater rated for 95g?


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

IMHO i would use two rated for that tank size (combined) for three reasons...
1) they will not work as hard and save energy 
2)they will not work as hard and have a longer life
3) if one does fail the other will maintain the temp with no issues


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## Mattcot (Nov 10, 2010)

how do I find out what rating my heater is? as I was given it and don't have the box? :s


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

most times the heater model or other indicating information is printed on it Google that information.. if you know the maker you can look them up and see there line of products to compare the look of it


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## Mattcot (Nov 10, 2010)

I have a "Interpet heater" but cant see a model number on it :?


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## bigrift (Aug 30, 2010)

alot of times the bigger (as in longer) the heater is the more gallons it is but thats not always the case with all heaters... if i were you seeing you know the brand see if they have a website and look at diffrent sizes of heaters if your matches one they have and its diffrent then the rest chances are thats what ya have.... and thankes bear going to go get my heaters tomarrow =)


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## bearwithfish (Sep 29, 2009)

Any time Big any time.....


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