Raising my 700 gallon system 10 degrees

[Crawdad1]

Ok when I set up my system I did not think that the tank temp would stay at 68 degrees. I need some advise as to how many heaters I need. I've used the search function, but its really hard to weed out solid information.

Thanks.

craw.

[Al]

I think aquanetics makes in-line heaters of up to several thousand watts. Sounds like you need something this size.

[ri]

Just checked two different books...

One book that I have, The Marine Aquarium Handbook, Beginner to Breeder by Martin A. Moe, Jr, recommends 2-4 watts/gallon.

Another book I own, Natural Reef Aquariums by John H. Tulloch suggests 3 watts/gallon.

ri

[Crawdad1]

ri, Thats what I was looking for. thanks. Like I said I knew it was going to stay cool having my sump in the basment, but not this cool.

Al, I was looking at their fire plugs and was wonder if I should get the 2000w'er.:rolleyes: I'm still not sure.

craw.

[justgettinstarted]

for smaller tanks its reccomended 5 watts per gallon... but when you get to anything above 75 it drops down to 2-3 watts per gallon because you have so much more water that once it gets warm if will be very difficult for the temperature to make quick swings in either direction...

I dunno how much the inline heaters are...

but i know that one company makes an inline heater/chiller... so if you are considering needing a chiller you might want to consider this!

[mhurley]

Whoa...that's a lot of water....
Where is this tank located in your house?
Do you have any lighting or pumps or anything going yet?
How cool is your house?

Just running pumps alone on my 330 gallon got my water up to 78 degrees, once I started the halides it was even more.

[Crawdad1]

I'm running 2 AM3K right now so I get very little heat with theses. I have not started to run my lights over the tank yet, and I really do not think its gogin to matter. I plan on having the top of the tank enclosed to keep the light induced evaporation to a min. The main tank (240 gallon) is located in the basement and the 480 gallon sump is located in the sub basement. Both are located on cement slabs. I guess I'll have to buy some heaters. I was looking at the fire plugs, but I think I just go with 3 jalli 800w heaters. I'm pretty sure that will raise the tanks into the 80's

craw.

[kozmo02]

we use fireplugs at work, for our 1100+ gallon systems and they work awesome!!!

[Crawdad1]

During my search I though I read that the fire plugs were prone to leaking. Any problems like that?

[kozmo02]

well now that i look at the fireplug i take that back, we do not have fireplugs, i work tomorrow i will get you the name of the unit and post tomorrow for you, ours are very effective, they do not leak, and we have never had any trouble with them.

we have 4 huge sumps that we use them on, they are plumbed inline with the return to the system and work great, and they easily handle each sections capacity, each sump handles roughly a 1200 gallon section, and the heaters take that on with no trouble.

[kevinpo]

Hi there,
Give your lights a try. You might be surprised how much heat they add. I know I was.

My tank is also in the basement on a slab.

Regards,
Kevin

[Crawdad1]

Originally posted by kevinpo
Hi there,
Give your lights a try. You might be surprised how much heat they add. I know I was.

My tank is also in the basement on a slab.

Regards,
Kevin

Even though the tank is starting to cycle I'll give it a try. It definetly cannot hurt. Maybe I shoud just keep lobsters:rolleyes: :D .

[kevinpo]

Mike,
I cycled my tank with the lights on and got 4 free corals from the rock in the process. I don't use a heater on my system. I realize yours is much larger though :D

Regards,
Kevin

[justgettinstarted]

i have a 100g acrylic tank with the covers on it... so thre is very limited evap... and this was actually a problem... because during the day the temp was going to ~88 to 90

so i had to put in fans to make more evap to get it to stay down @ 78-80 and now i lose ~1g a day... before i would lose 1g a week because my sump was also sealed

[imbuggin]

do yourself a favor. RUN YOUR LIGHTS FIRST. You will be surprised at how much heat you get into the tank. Closing it it limit evaporation also limits the ability to dispense heat. A closed tank will get and stay much hotter. Start with your lights and go from there, or else you may do it twice:eek1:

[Crawdad1]

Right now I'm running the tank with the covers off to try and heat up the tank, but down the line it will be sealed. My sump will be totaly open. I will definetly have enough surgace area to help with o2 exhange as well as evaporated cooling if needed. so far the tank has gone (over night) from 68.2 deg to 69.4 degrees. the basment where the sump is at is reaading at 70.5 degrees. my guess is the the tank should at least come up to that temp. lights on or off. thats just a guess.

[kozmo02]

California Aquarium Supply Co.

Inline Titanium Heater

1000 watts

that is exactly what we use on our 1200 gallon systems and it handles it with ease.

HTH

:D

[lllosingit]

If your 400 gallon sump is the stock tank/tub type you could really see an improvement if you were to wrap the sides with insulation.
I wrapped one for someone else by buying unfaced R-19 insulation the rolled it out on the floor cut it to size then wrapped it in plastic then used duct tape to seal it up then wrapped the tank.
We also set the sump on 2' blue styrofoam.
He was able to keep the temps steady and saw a decrease in his electric bill.

[Python73]

Here's a cheap way to get it up to the right temp one time, where smaller heaters could maintain it...

Get a nice 20' section of 3/4" tubing. Hook a pump (think Mag or other submersible) to one end of the tubing, and place in your sump. Get a big rubbermaid tub, and coil most of the tubing in the bottom. Put the terminal end of the tubing back in your sump.

Now fill the tub to cover the hose with the hottest water you can get from your sink. Run the pump to circulate tank water through the tubing. Viola! Induction heater!

Okay, I just thought that up, but I'm pretty sure it will work. ;)

S !