Tropical Fish Forums

loveforfish · Members Joined: 28 Dec 2006

I have a 55 gallon tank and need to keep it at about 75 degrees,

right now I'm using a hydor theo 200watt heater and she said if it doesn't do the job I can return it.

should I go bigger or with a different brand?

also what is the best tempature gauge, I have one that sticks on my glass now but its kinda confusing to read, it has blue and green and brown colors for tempture?

J.B. · Exemplars Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Location: Middle Georgia

The "rule of thumb" is 5 watts per gallon. That would be 275 watts for your 55g. A lot of folks with larger tanks usually run two heaters on opposite ends of the tank so if one fails, the other can keep the temperature stable. I'd recommend you buy another 200w.

TMfish · Members Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Location: Michigan, USA

I had a Hydor heater. It never held a steady temp. Bought a Marineland Stealth and my temp is steady as a rock. As for thermometers. The stickers work great on small tanks(thinner glass). I have these on my 15g and 20g tanks. For my 70g tank I use a digital thermometer.

richiestang_78 · Regulars Joined: 13 Oct 2003

The sitckers are alright if you only need a general reading, get a nice digital(I have a Coral Life +/- .5 degree reading) or glass thermometer for more accurate readings.

For a heater I love my Visi Therm heaters, I would suggest two 150watt heaters for you that way you can have one on both ends of your tank to keep the water uniformally heated rather then one 300watt heater.

fishlover888 · Regulars Joined: 20 Dec 2006

Hydor heaters are the worst. Return it and replace it with 2 150w heaters. Two is better than one in case of failed heaters.
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125 g discus tank 13 discus, 5 Sterbai cory, 3 clown loaches, 1 Albino BN pH 6.3 50% WC x2/wk
2 g nano tank 3 Danio, pH 7.6 80% WC/ 2 days

loveforfish · Members Joined: 28 Dec 2006

I just bought a stealth heater, the only thing that I like better about the hydor is it had an indicatro light that let me know it was working

Jon_The_Newb

I think with all products, it's just good or bad luck. I have two Coralife Digital Thermometers, I put them in the same tank, side by side, and they read 2.5 degrees difference =/ The higher of the two reads like .3 degrees differance from my Won Brothers Pro Heat II heater, I'm hoping it's accurate.

I also have two of the stealth heaters, one of which is reading 75.2 degrees and 77.5 degrees (right now) on those two thermometers, but it's set to just over 80. I've walked past it a couple times this week and seen 73/75 readings as well. I think it's time to replace it, and it's not even a year old, it just doesn't seem to be stable anymore. (Yeah good water flow over it, it's parked right in the exit stream for the filter, good steady flow of water coming out.)

Jon

piranha

If your running a cannister filter you could use the best heater, the Hydor ETH inline heater.