using a 200 watt heater in a 20 gallon?

[fwiffo]

hi- the title kinda speaks for itself. i went to a garage sale yesterday and the fellow there had a brand new rena 200 watt heater for sale. i bought it for 13 bucks.

id like to use it in my 20 gallon, but would i risk any problems doing so? if it is a problem, i do have a 50 watt heater, but im not sure if it would be adequate since the manufacturer rates the heater being good for 5-15 gallon tanks.

thanks again!

 

[msjinkzd]

what is the ambient temp of the room where you keep the tank? I am using a 200w heater in a 29g right now and am not having any problems but its in a very cool basement. You can definately try it, just be sure to monitor teh temp carefully until you get it adjusted appropriately and be aware of the temp in the tank as it would be easy for a large heater to over heat the tank quickly if it malfunctioned or was set improperly.

 

[Rbishop]

:iagree:

 

[Polish]

I use a Visi-Therm Stealth 200w heater in my 20g-Tall SW tank. It stays right on where I set it, no spikes or anything from it being a bit on the big side. It's also right next to the power head so water constantly gets moved by it.

 

[BoredAgain]

I use a 200w Stealth in my 28g, temp is always stable, works as it should.

 

[legendaryfrog]

Theres no such thing as too strong of a heater. Heck, if you really wanted to, you could use a 1000 watt heater. Only difference is that it wont have to turn on as often.

 

[The Zigman]

I ran a stealth 250 in a 10 gal tank, it barely fit.

Only thing to consider is when changing the temps, that big heater will warm that small tank quickly, so be careful is adjusting the temp in the future.

 

[1oooop]

c: can't get keyboard to work riht, I've lost the period button, but still I can post

anyway, :iagree: totally, the heater would cause the temp to rise and fall too quickly and will stress your tank inhabitants, eventually clogging the brain and leading to canceromg::laugh:, just kidding) but it will stress them, so be careful

 

[bubbles42151]

lol-no period=rambling -just monitor the temp when you first get it started up and make sure you adjust accordingly.

 

[DAVIDFBT]

I used a 100 watt heater in a 1/4 gallon soup bowl to test it out.