Welcome to Simple Reefs and to our Heater Wattage Calculator. We are a brand new website designed to make owning a marine aquarium simple and affordable. If you thought you couldn’t own your own slice of the ocean on a budget, we are here to show you that you can.

We are about to go into the subject of marine aquarium heaters over the next week or so. After all, avoiding temperature fluctuations is an incredibly important step to building a truly healthy aquarium. What better way to kick this subject off than by offering you a handy marine aquarium heater wattage calculator?

Aquarium Heaters Can Be Tricky

Aquarium heaters aren’t exactly the most interesting part of marine aquarium ownership. They feel, a little, like an added expense and an added inconvenience. They don’t exactly make them easy to choose, either, with their Wattage rating and limited information on which size you need to buy.

In fact, working out what size heater you need for your marine aquarium can be a bit of a pain. You really need to be looking at the capacity of your aquarium, the temperature that you want the water to be, and your home’s temperature. It can all get a little bit confusing. Why not let Simple Reefs help you with that?

An Easy to Use Aquarium Heater Calculator

The way this calculator works is really simple. Just enter the water capacity of your aquarium in either litres or US gallons, enter your desired water temperature in either Celsius or Fahrenheit, and then enter your room’s ambient temperature. This is the temperature that your room is at for most of the time. The calculator will then suggest a size (in wattage) of aquarium heater that you should look to purchase.

You don’t have to use just one single heater. You might want to split the amount over two separate heaters so you have even temperature distribution. You can place one at one end of your tank and another at the other end. This can also be pretty useful should one of your heaters fail. I would actually suggest two heaters as the preferable option if you live in a cold house or have a very delicate reef.

It should be noted that your ambient room temperature should probably be taken at its lowest likely point. This is how cold your room will get during the night in winter. This way, you will have plenty of redundancy should the temperature get too low. An aquarium heater can turn off when it gets too warm but it can’t produce more power than what it is rated for when it gets too cold. Bigger is often better.

Your Tank Specifics May Impact The Temperature

It should be noted that this calculator can’t consider the specifics of your aquarium or home. If you have the tank near a radiator, for example, it will be warmer at certain times of the day. The same goes for if you have your tank near a window. It may even go the opposite way if your tank is placed along an outside wall or next to an aircon vent.

Things like lids and lights can make the temperature differ slightly, as well. You should also take into consideration the use of air conditioning and how low the room temperature will get in both winter and summer. Some people actually keep their homes cooler in summer than winter thanks to aircon.

Some heaters may vary in efficiency, as well. Titanium heaters, for example, tend to be a little better. If you are going with a titanium heater, you can aim a little lower in the wattage range. With all of that in mind, feel free to enter your values and find out what size aquarium heater you may need to buy.