Helios users sizing question

USMA36 · Feb 26, 2023

I’m looking at possibly upgrading my heaters. Looking at the Helios. According to their website my 200 gallon total water volume system would need 1000 watts. That seems like a lot. Room temp varies between 64-68 night to day. Could a smaller size be used? What size Helios seems to work for your tanks?

beesnreefs · Feb 26, 2023

USMA36 said:
I’m looking at possibly upgrading my heaters. Looking at the Helios. According to their website my 200 gallon total water volume system would need 1000 watts. That seems like a lot. Room temp varies between 64-68 night to day. Could a smaller size be used? What size Helios seems to work for your tanks?

I run the 1000 watt system on my 225 gallon. It’s really two 500 watt heaters. I like it for the redundancy

Edgecrusher28 · Feb 26, 2023

USMA36 said:
I’m looking at possibly upgrading my heaters. Looking at the Helios. According to their website my 200 gallon total water volume system would need 1000 watts. That seems like a lot. Room temp varies between 64-68 night to day. Could a smaller size be used? What size Helios seems to work for your tanks?

I have recently installed two of the HELIO systems on two 100 gallon tanks. The most recent install was the dual 200 watt (400 Watt total) system which was the minimum wattage recommended for that sized tank and its about maxed out at 79 degrees. The tank does sit in a cool basement, but I was sorta surprised that raising temps was so slow with 400W heaters given I was using a cheap 300W single element heater before. I love the heaters and controllers, but I would spend the little extra required and slightly oversize the heaters if you can.

flashsmith · Feb 26, 2023

I'm in a warmer climate. Central FL. And use the Helios on both of my systems. I'm using 2- 100w elements on my 170 gallon and it rarely ever comes on in a room that stays between 68-74 year round. On my other system an 80 gallon on the same room only 1-100w element gets it done and keeps my systems at a constant 78 degrees. The great thing about the Helios is you can always get a bigger element if you feel like you need it to use with the same controller.