50 watt for Fluval Flex 15?

[MisterSnuffles]

Hey everyone. So I have a fluval 50 watt heater from my old 10g that I planned on usimg for my new flex 15g. But some people say 15g needs 75-100. Now I would like to save money and use my ild heater which still works, but should I get a new one?

 

[Flyfisha]

Hi MisterSnuffles
The way I was told is to work on one watt per litre in any climate except Canada where you need more than one watt per litre.

A 15 gallon is 57 litres which suggests a 50 watt is not quite enough. Even in Southern California it’s not ideal. Good for a spare perhaps but not quite enough. A 75 watt is my recommendation.

I believe if you used the 50 watt it would be working most of the time and not last long even if it got the water up to temperature?

 

[MisterSnuffles]

Hi MisterSnuffles
The way I was told is to work on one watt per litre in any climate except Canada where you need more than one watt per litre.

A 15 gallon is 57 litres which suggests a 50 watt is not quite enough. Even in Southern California it’s not ideal. Good for a spare perhaps but not quite enough. A 75 watt is my recommendation.

I believe if you used the 50 watt it would be working most of the time and not last long even if it got the water up to temperature?

Ah I see. I know fluval says 50watt is up to 15g but I was unsure about it.

 

[SparkyJones]

Hey everyone. So I have a fluval 50 watt heater from my old 10g that I planned on usimg for my new flex 15g. But some people say 15g needs 75-100. Now I would like to save money and use my ild heater which still works, but should I get a new one?

Hey MisterSnuffles. I saw you like my previous post on this subject, so I think you know on where I stand and what the capabilities of the heaters are, it really depends on how much heat you need the heater to do and the volume of water involved. depends on how much you expect the heater to do if you just need a couple degrees or if you need a full 6 degrees rise in temp, you'd need a bigger heater or it's going to run all the time, and run up a bill (aquarium heaters are not cheap to run if they run most of the day). bigger is usually better and it comes on, heats up and shuts off plus you can get a higher range using an oversized heater on a smaller aquarium... within reason. Like aquarium filters and airpumps run at from about 3 watts to 50 watts generally speaking and they run 24/7, a small heater being asked to do more than it's capable of would run the same kind of cost trying to heat the tank and never quite getting there.

in essence it's one part that doesn't have to run all the time, it's better to spend more out of pocket for the larger size the one time, than to pay the extra on the electricity bill all year.
Also it's less likely to fail and more likely to last longer if it's not being overworked. there's a big difference on how often a 50W heater comes on in my 20g vs. my 10g. Every time I look at the 20g the orange light was on, while on the 10g I rarely caught it on.

 

[MisterSnuffles]

Hey MisterSnuffles. I saw you like my previous post on this subject, so I think you know on where I stand and what the capabilities of the heaters are, it really depends on how much heat you need the heater to do and the volume of water involved. depends on how much you expect the heater to do if you just need a couple degrees or if you need a full 6 degrees rise in temp, you'd need a bigger heater or it's going to run all the time, and run up a bill (aquarium heaters are not cheap to run if they run most of the day). bigger is usually better and it comes on, heats up and shuts off plus you can get a higher range using an oversized heater on a smaller aquarium... within reason. Like aquarium filters and airpumps run at from about 3 watts to 50 watts generally speaking and they run 24/7, a small heater being asked to do more than it's capable of would run the same kind of cost trying to heat the tank and never quite getting there.

in essence it's one part that doesn't have to run all the time, it's better to spend more out of pocket for the larger size the one time, than to pay the extra on the electricity bill all year.
Also it's less likely to fail and more likely to last longer if it's not being overworked.

Tysm! Looks like ill be going for a 75w then. Just gotta tell my dad that i need a new one lol

 

[SparkyJones]

Tysm! Looks like ill be going for a 75w then. Just gotta tell my dad that i need a new one lol

they break easy... whoops!