Heater Size

[Rfields987]

I’m setting up a 240g system. Calculated I needed 800 watts of heater. The multiple heater options was not desirable so I went with a Aqualogic 1.0KW. Aqualogic is having some shipping issues and has offered to send me the 1.5KW. Is there a problem with upsizing the heater this much??

 

[ca1ore]

I would not personally run a single heater of that magnitude ….. if it gets 'stuck' ON somehow ….. bye bye tank. FAAAR better to calculate your peak wattage requirement, divide by two and run three heaters of that wattage. So, in your case, three in the 300-500 range. I personally prefer having heaters on redundant controllers also …. or using ones with internal thermostats as an alternative form of redundancy.

 

[Cell]

I'd much prefer 2 halfish size heaters over anything oversized. That thing will cook your tank so fast when it goes bad. I suppose you'll likely have a controller to prevent this, but still.

 

[ichthyoid]

Ditto on multiple smaller heaters.

Also, have at least 2 layers of control redundancy. Each one set 3-4 degrees apart. So, they are far enough apart not to infere with each other, but close enough to stay in range.