150W Heater too much for a 26 Gallon?

[SnakeEyes27]

I have a 26 gallon tank with a sump and was wondering if a 150w heater would be too much power?

 

[reefman]

yes. but more importantly, use a controller in case the heater malfunctions n boils your water.

 

[SnakeEyes27]

Is a controller something seperate that will measure the temp and turn the heater on (sorry for what maya very newb question)? If so any recomendations on a model?

 

[GrimReeferrr]

its alittle expensive, but this is what i use and it works great. http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/15722/product.web

if i were you id just get a smaller heater, but the big one will work just be careful.

 

[Dre]

Yes the controller is a seperate unit that has a probe and a display screen.You can use two 75watt heaters instead of a 150watt remember to have a thermometer to make adjustments.Do not unplug in the summer months you might forget to plug it back in.Just a thought good luck.

 

[ECFENCING]

You can get a ranco controller which is very similar to the aqua logic. I think diyreef has some decent prices on the ranco.

It's up to you but I would definitely get a temp controller and two 75w heaters. It's an insurance policy for your tank. Keeps temp steady

Also have some sort of backup for your powerheads or one of those battery operated airstones for a temp power outage.

 

[Dre]

Controllers can fail too i haven't heard of anyone cooking fish with a heaters in a long time not to say it doesn't happened .The more wattage the heater has,the quicker the water will reach the desired temprature.That means a 300 watt heater in a 75 gal tank the water would reach it's desired temprature faster than a 100 watt.The danger with that is if the 300 watt heater malfuntion it would be catastrophic for your animals, make sure you have a thermometer .

 

[ECFENCING]

Yes controllers can fail but the ranco is an industrial temp controller with I would venture to say a very low failure rate

Just get yourself a quality heater such as ebo j?ger/eheim

 

[SnakeEyes27]

Thanks for all the advice

 

[Dre]

Yes controllers can fail but the ranco is an industrial temp controller with I would venture to say a very low failure rate

Just get yourself a quality heater such as ebo j?ger/eheim

Some Ebo-Jager heaters are not fully submersible i payed the price a few times.

 

[ECFENCING]

I think the new ones are fully submersible. Heaters are prone to failure even ebo j?ger which is why it's good to have two heaters instead of one big one on your system

Maybe some other users can chime in here with their experiences