Heating a 125 Gallon Tank

Canadian Fish

Would I be better off getting a Marineland 400 Watt heater, which is rated for up to 125 gallons, or getting two Marineland 300 Watt heaters, rated up to 65 Gallons each.

My thinking is, if I have the two 300 watt heaters, if one goes the other will keep the water warm enough to buy me some time to get a new heater.

I live in Canada and it's going in my basement, so heating is important.

jeaninel

Your thinking is correct. Using 2 heaters, one at each end of the tank will also heat the water more evenly.

AbbeysDad

Definitely two heaters - I would choose 2x 250w Aqueon Pro heaters. (Plastic coated, aluminum core, fully submersible, red/green operation lights).

Footnote: I have an Aqueon 200w AND and Aqueon 250w in my 60g tank.

1077

Two four hundred watt heater's one at each end of the tank would be my choice.
I have used Visitherm and Hydor heater's for a few year's now, and have no complaint's.

fish monger

I would go with the two 300 watt heaters.

Canadian Fish

Thanks for the advice guys!

AbbeysDad

Forgot to ask....will the basement be heated to room temperature (around 72F)?
If lower, more wattage would be required.

Canadian Fish

It's a little cooler. We keep the rest of the house at that temperature, but the basement never gets that warm. Even though that is where the furnace is. Go figure.

How much wattage do I need then?

AbbeysDad

My philosophy leans towards having one heater that will be able to maintain the proper temperature...then have another one as a backup. Both set to the proper temperature (no small feat in tweaking) they will normally share the load and if ever one should fail, the other can maintain the temperature.

An Aquarium isn't an airline or space ship with multiple redundant systems...however, if a simple heater fails, it's nice to have a backup so as not to lose any fish!

I think two 250w would do it, but maybe two 300w is even better considering the lower room temperature. I think two 400w would be overkill.

Canadian Fish

Yeah, I absolutely want two filters in case one goes. My other tanks only have one, but they're all upstairs where it is warm.

I'm just wondering which size heaters I need. 2 x 300, 2 x 400? I don't want to buy more than I need, as this is already costing us a fortune, but I don't want to cheap out, either, and put my fish at risk.