Rant: Why I hate heaters

[Takara]

Ebo Jagar (Eheim) heaters are the best out there . They of course need an external controller though, like a reefkeeper or aquacontroller.

Jager is the way to go, for the aquarium and the bar.

 

[MarkO]

Best heater I've found is my furnace.

I don't use a heater due to the lights and room that the tank is located in also houses my furnace. It does get cold in there in the spring, but that room rarely ever drops below 70, so the lowest my tank gets is around 72 and to be honest, 5 years of doing this and have never lost anything due to low water temp. I have lost fish and corals due to stuck heaters.

I'm not sure a temp range of 72-76 is healthy or normal, but it seems to work for me. It also cuts down on my electric bill.

 

[emabie]

That said I'm working on a system that is similar to ones poeple here have made by tapping off their home heating system. It involves a bucket or barrel (depending on the size of the tank), insulation, Stealth heaters, tubing, pump, and controller. It works by keeping fresh water in the barrel at around 85 degrees. Tank water is pumped through 1/2" plastic tubing that is coiled in the barrel. The pump is turned on by both a timer and a temp controller. The reason is to avoid letting the water in the tubing stand for too long allowing it to go hypoxic. Running for 15 - 30 seconds once an hour should be enough. The advantage of this system is that if a heater blows up it can't poison or pass electricity to the tank water and that you can still use cheapo heaters. The disadvantage is the real estate the bucket or barrel takes up.

So instead of connecting to the house hot water supply you heat the water with normal tank heaters up to 85 or so? Then pass tank water through the hot water to transfer the heat?

It does sound pretty safe but extremely in efficient at transferring the heat. Have you seen anyone do it this way? Why not use the hot water system in the house to do it?

 

[sw300galma]

How many heaters can the ac2 control?
Try using numbers in stead of power.

So lets say your tank needs 1000w to heat...Get 3x500w .

So you can loose one heater and still keep the tank running.

The trick is figureing out how to monitor the heaters so you know when one dies...not when 2 dies and the tank temp drops..

 

[snowmaker]

The only problem with this might be the fact that now you are 3x likely to have a heater stuck on, a problem which represents many failures.

 

[emabie]

How many heaters can the ac2 control?
Try using numbers in stead of power.

So lets say your tank needs 1000w to heat...Get 3x500w .

So you can loose one heater and still keep the tank running.

The trick is figureing out how to monitor the heaters so you know when one dies...not when 2 dies and the tank temp drops..

The AC can do many heaters.
If you read the first thread you will see I do use multiple heaters and noticed a problem when the tank dropped to 74. I did not loose anything from the first heater that died, I only had real issues when the BRAN NEW replacement heater exploded in the tank polluting it with copper.

 

[emabie]

The only problem with this might be the fact that now you are 3x likely to have a heater stuck on, a problem which represents many failures.

As stated above I have not had a heater stuck on issue wince I changed ti the AC2 and x10 with external relays.

Also one small heater stuck on is much less of an issue than a large heater stuck on. But again stuck on heaters have not been my problem.

In fact I try not to use heaters that have any thermostat in them at all. Instead I get the ones that are just heating elements and require a controller.

Also stated above in the thread.