Heater watts per gallon

[Hrlyrydr]

I have had fw tanks, and went by 3 to 5 watts per gallon for a Heaters. Would the same apply for salt water tanks also?

Or what would you suggest i use for my setup.
See Signature below.

Thanks

[sassafrass]

I use 5 watts per gal and split the wattage between 2 heaters for some redundancy ,For your 120 I would use 2 200 watt heaters .Don't buy cheap heaters the titanium heaters are good.

[stricknine]

+1 on the above, but maybe a bit more. I have 2x200W on my 72+30 sump/fuge. 250's, 300's would be my pick, or 3 200W depending on price point.

[Yogre]

FWIW, I have 2 300 watt heaters on a 215g setup. Both are controlled by a single controller. It isn't warm where the tank is, usually about 65F and the tank is at 79F. Seems to have no difficulty holding temp. That said, more heat would probably work less hard to maintain temp.

[Hrlyrydr]

thanks all, I have a 500watt titanium heater wth digital read out on it. cost me 100usd, 2 years ago works great still. may keep that one in basment sump, and use a 200watt in tank.

stricknine, I like the idea or 3 200's, 2 in sump one in tank maybe.

Keith aka...Hrlyrydr

[Sisterlimonpot]

redundancy is the key. you don't want to lose expensive corals or fish due to a faulty heater

[stricknine]

Again, + 1 on the parallel heaters (and also from different power sources). If one shorts, you want it small enough it doesnt boil the tank, and if one dies, you want the other to back it up before the tank freezes, hence the two power sources, or 2 breakers. If a breaker or a gfi trips you domt want to have it kill everything. EG: I have 1 of my heaters on one cct with return pump, and the other heater on a cct with the powerheads. If I kill a breaker or GFCI, I still have heat and flow... or enough to last until I find the problem.

[Sisterlimonpot]

stricknine, that's good advice. unfurtunately I don't have that luxury of having 2 seperate circuits, but if I did I would use that idea as well

[sunfish11]

I use two 300 watt heaters in the sump of my 210 gallon. Here is the other thing you need to consider though. If a heater malfunctions and sticks on, which is common, you don't want enough wattage to fry your tank. Don't use a really high wattage heater on a smaller tank.

Lisa