Heater placement

[mickeym]

Where do you all (ya'll) put your heaters? Do you have 2 smaller ones and split them up?

I have a 75 Gallon RR with the center holes (not the corner ones)

I have a sump underneath. I was thinking about putting it in the sup, so as not to distract from the looks of the main tank.

right now I have one 300 W.

This is still being set up, so there is nothing living in it yet!!

Thanks for the opinions!!

Traci

[Chrsnwk]

I keep my heaters in the sump. I have a total of about 200ish gallons in my system, and run 3 separate heaters, each one about 1/2 the size needed for the volume of water, off of a common temperature controller. The individual heaters are set so that the heater's own temperature setting is a couple degrees higher than the "off" temperature on the controller. In the event the controller was to fail, and the heaters were left "on", the heaters own thermostats should kick them off before the water temperature starts to go out of control. Three heaters each 1/2 the total required wattage gives me the cushion that one heater can fail, and I still have adequate heating. if that internal thermostat fails, the smallish size can't heat the tank all that quickly. As a final backup, I have one additional heater, about 75-100% of the required wattage that is also in the sump with it's thermostat set for a degree or 2 below that of the "on" temperature for the controller. if the controller fails in the "off" position, denying my tank heat, this separate heater will kick in, to at least maintain the temperature of the tank until I can notice that there is a problem with the controller.

Decent heaters are relatively inexpensive, and the ranco controller i use was worth every penny. We don't even blink when we see the price of a light bulb, or a bucket of salt, or something else that is a "consumable" that costs over $20+ and will last a few months at best. I like the ebo-jager heaters and have never had one fail unless it was mishandled, 200W ones are what, like $20 each?

Redundancy is good, frozen or cooked fish are bad.....

Good luck...

[cardiffgiant]

I still need to upgrade my heating. I was thinking about getting 2 150w or 2 200w to heat my 55 (75 gallon total). I was also thinking about placement. My sump area is a rubbermaid and I don't want ot put a heater in there, so I was thinking about putting them in the refugium, but don't know if there is enough turnover (8 gal w/ 15x turnover) to keep the display heated?

[tmz]

I use2 250s and 2 300s for the 500g system. Three are in the sump and one is an in line heater. The thermostats on the sump heaters are set at 82 and they run through an aquamedic controller that is set at 81. If the controller fails on the individual thermostats should shut them off at 82. If the controller fails off the in line heater set at 80 will provide some heat .

I've had numerous heaters stick on. years ago I literaly cooked some very nice Oscars.

[Conesus_Kid]

Originally posted by tmz
I use2 250s and 2 300s for the 500g system. Three are in the sump and one is an in line heater. The thermostats on the sump heaters are set at 82 and they run through an aquamedic controller that is set at 81. If the controller fails on the individual thermostats should shut them off at 82. If the controller fails off the in line heater set at 80 will provide some heat .


I've had numerous heaters stick on. years ago I literaly cooked some very nice Oscars.

Tom,

How are you liking the Aquamedic Biotherm controller? I've had mine for about a month and am very pleased with it.

[chrisguy]

I have about 250 gallons in volume. I use two 250w heaters, in different compartments within my sump. If you use multiple heaters it is best to separate them and also keep the temp sensor from a controller in separate areas. Otherwise the get false readings.

One heater is running on it’s own, set to 1-2 degrees higher than the other. The other is being controlled buy an AC Jr. This way if one or the other fails, the other should still function and keep things close to stable. Neither heater has the ability to quickly overheat and one has enough power to keep things from cooling off too quickly.

[tmz]

Scott no problems with the Aquamedic. Glad yous is working for you.

[rjrobert]

I have a total of 5 heaters in my sump and Refugium (3 in sump / 2 if refugium)
3 in the sump a 250watts and the 2 in the refugium are 150w.
The 250's are controlled via an aqaucontroller and their internal temps are set for 80.5 degrees in case the Aqua controller messes up it's readings (target temp for the tank is 80 degrees)
The two smaller heaters are always on and stay at 80.5 their main job is to slow down the normal cooling of the tank. (tank is in a room built into my garage so it is in wall in my office. room is insulated but no heat is in the room except for the tank. Even with no extra room heat source the Air Conditioner still turns out to keep the room cool - and the room isn't very small so it's impressive the amount of heat our tanks can give off. Probably one of the only people that can be running an airconditioner when it's 20 degrees outside )
In the summer the 2 smaller heaters will be removed and a chiller put in it's place.

With that setup my tank hovers exactly around 79.9 to 80.25