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View Full Version : will a 50w heater be ok for a 20g tank?


everl0ng
08/17/2006, 11:20 PM
title :rollface:

kau_cinta_ku
08/17/2006, 11:24 PM
should be fine

everl0ng
08/17/2006, 11:32 PM
thanks because i always see 5w per gallon, but i am always afraid of a heater acting up and getting too hot, so i would rather go with a smaller wattage. thanks a lot, sam!

sir_dudeguy
08/17/2006, 11:35 PM
ya it should be fine. the heaters are sposed to shut off once the water reaches the temp that you have them set to. but by all means...dont just assume your water is the temp that your heater is set to :)

everl0ng
08/18/2006, 12:10 AM
yeah, the heater doesn't even have numbers on it, so i rely on my digital thermometer. so far so good!

philagothos
08/18/2006, 06:05 AM
You are right to be concerned about heaters acting up. Eventually they all fail, and when they do many tend to get stuck in the ON position and continue heating until they blow their element. If you go with multiple smaller heaters they are less likely to overheat the tank when they do fail.

-Kevin

sir_dudeguy
08/18/2006, 07:17 AM
ya i've heard that too. never had it happen, but i did do something stupid a couple days ago. I was mixing my water for a water change, so i had a powerhead and a heater in the tank. When i was ready to put the water into the main tank, i just used the powerhead to shoot it up there. Well...i had forgotten about the heater, and they're not supposed to touch air. My first sign that i forgot about it was a loud sizzling noise. Then i saw a bit of smoke coming off of it, altho that might have just been the water steaming up, but then i was an idiot and tried to pick it up (well i unplugged it first so i thought it'd be ok) but i picked it up by the cord and about 1 second later i realized the thing was shocking me lol. weirdest fealing ever :)

dont do what i did!

philagothos
08/18/2006, 07:37 AM
LOL! I think that's a rookie initiation thing. I had a very similar experience, except I just unplugged it and left it alone for a long time. No electrocution for me on that one, but I've had many other "shocking" experiences in this hobby!

sir_dudeguy
08/18/2006, 07:49 AM
lol the bad thing about it is that i've been dealing w/heaters for about 6 years....so it SHOULDNT have been like a rookie mistake..but it was :)