oversized heater??????

ok i have the chance to but a heater that comes with a heat probe, its hooked up to the heater, so its not for showing me the temp. but my qustion is i have a 100 watt heater, it busted and i found it for sale on another site. this heater is 200 watts. my tank is a 26 gallon mixxed reef with a 10 gallon sump/fuge. the tank has been set up for a year and the old heater use to keep the tank at about 78- 80.

thanks in advance.

 

I had a over sized heater in my 29g, it stayed at 78 or so all the time..but i had T5HO and open top...

What lighting you have and what about fans? open top?

 

o wow how did i forget. their 150 watt MH with an open top, i do have a fan. i dont use it that much beucase my window is almost open and it cools the room and the tank down a lot. i also could go to HD and buy a few fans

 

any one

 

Should be fine

 

I don't like to get overkill heaters, unlike skimmers, I like to fit the heater to the tank for the reason that if it breaks, and gets stuck in the on position, it won't fry your tank, at least not as quickly. A 200w on a 26 will fry that sucker in no time flat. I have a 200w on my 55 + 15 gallons of sump. My old heater got stuck in the on position, and I didn't even notice it for several months b/c my temp stayed around 80-82. Not enough for me to notice immediately.

 

I prefer smaller heaters too. For the same reason as guitarman. You don't want a run away heater to boil your tank overnight. you don't really need much just to maintain temp. specially with metal halides.

 

If it's a new heater that isn't a no-name brand and you plan on upgrading the tank size or fuge size then go for it. Otherwise, I'd get one at the brand's recommended size.

 

As other people have mentioned, an over sized heater is not the best idea. Myself, on a 29 gallon I would probably use two 50 watt heaters. If one sticks it probably will not over heat your tank and destroy it. I have had several heaters stick on over the years and learned my lesson the first time.

If you decide to use an over sized heater I wold highly recommend using a heater controller.

 

Used or new. I was running a LFS that had 20 years worth of used equipment in the basement. I would bring things up, clean them up, test them, and then sell them. However, you want to know what I did with all of the used heaters? I threw them in the dumpster....wasn't worth the risk to me. I have had even high quality heaters get stuck on the "on" position. Frankly, one time the only thing that saved my tank was this temperature alarm. little giant temperature alarm - Google Search