Temperature regulation

[Leadfootedracer]

What are you guys using to regulate your water temperature?

Tonight, with a room temp of 73 degrees, the water was 82 degrees, and it is not very consistent from day to day.

I am running 2 hydor 300w heaters, with the knobs turned all the way down (71 degrees). I have unplugged them for the time being to let the tank cool down. I will plug one back in in the morning.

I'm looking for a controller that probes the temperature and will operate both heaters. From what I've seen, without spending a small fortune, they only do 1 heater. Anyone have any suggestions and/or experience?


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[mvallee]

reef keeper light is what I use, they come with the programmable power strip and am running 2 heaters, lights and planning out a doser to run off of it soon. They come up used pretty cheap every once and a while.

 

[Leadfootedracer]

Was hoping to not get that fancy, because the lite isn't big enough for everything I've got. I need something smaller, to prevent me from buying some crazy-a** setup. LoL


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[Roccus]

I run single stage aqua logic controllers on all my tanks.... they are not cheap at $125 but they are not expensive either and give absolute control over heating or/and cooling... I set the heater to the max temp I would want the tank to be and let the controller control set point...no worries of cooking my fish, and in the summer months it controls the chiller on my sea horse tank and the fans on my fresh, invert tank and reef tank...

 

[BoDiddley]

I have seen some people use a ranco(I belive is what it is called I use them for my ball pythons) it's just a simple on/off type temperature controller. Not sure if you could submerge the probe in saltwater though

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[s_kelley]

I had a heater stick on one time when I first started Reefing, since then I have had reef keepers to control everything

 

[cilyjr]

I use apex. I feel the 2 places that you shouldn't skimp on are lights and controller.

 

[Leadfootedracer]

Looking at the ReefKeeper lite Plus. I've still got them unplugged for now and will see what it's at after I get home from work around 1:00pm today. That will be 12 hours unplugged. I don't know if it's the heaters or the tank equipment heating the tank. Now that I've put some thought into it, I don't know if I need a controller or a chiller. (Probably both, but my current budget is a paper clip, belly button lint, a penny, and a baseball card)


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[nemodan]

I run single stage aqua logic controllers on all my tanks.... they are not cheap at $125 but they are not expensive either and give absolute control over heating or/and cooling... I set the heater to the max temp I would want the tank to be and let the controller control set point...no worries of cooking my fish, and in the summer months it controls the chiller on my sea horse tank and the fans on my fresh, invert tank and reef tank...

RKL standard price is $119 and you can run lots of things and control several heaters. Difficult to beat that price concidering what you can do with it.

Cheers

 

[Leadfootedracer]

If I'm going to go that route, I'd like to program my 5 lights, so I'd need the plus kit to get the extra 4 outlets.

2 heaters, 10k's, actinics, an add on reef LED, lunars, and fuge.

 

[nemodan]

If I'm going to go that route, I'd like to program my 5 lights, so I'd need the plus kit to get the extra 4 outlets.

2 heaters, 10k's, actinics, an add on reef LED, lunars, and fuge.

The 2 heaters goes to the same plug. Another for white lights. Another for Actinics. You have 3 plugs used there. 1 more for whatever.

For lunar and the fuge lights use a $5 timer for each. Is less expensive than another plug bar (~$80)

Cheers

 

[Leadfootedracer]

How do the 2 heaters go to 1 plug? Am I missing something? Forgive me for being retarded. LoL


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[mvallee]

my 2 heaters run from one 1 plug as well, just a short extension cord with 3 outlets plugged into the one outlet, these are 300 watt heaters and never been an issue running them both on one plug

 

[Leadfootedracer]

Ok. That's what I assumed you were doing, but just wanted to make sure.


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[s_kelley]

Keep in mind that you can also set up a fan that is controlled by the temp probe too. So say if the temp goes below a set number the heaters go on, but if the tank goes over another temp the fan goes on.
There's tons of ways to use these things, I have a float valve on my skimmate bucket that's monitored and if the level gets high it shuts my skimmer off, no more smelly overflows for me!

 

[s_kelley]

Oh and auto top of is a breeze too, add a float and if the tank goes a little low it turns the ato pump on fills w rodi then when the tank level comes back it shuts off

 

[Leadfootedracer]

I plan to some day buy a house, and build a several hundred gallon mixed reef where I will be using a high tech wifi controller with ato, feeders, dosers, and all that fancy gizmos. Right now I just want to be successful in this tank.


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[Leadfootedracer]

Being on the 3rd floor of an apartment makes it tough to have a big sump with tons of equipment and plumbing and electrical run all over the place. I need to keep everything contained inside my cabinet.


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[JohnK]

You might want to get rid of that powerstrip with the timer built in. They are famous for catching fire. A club member just had a house fire caused by one of those back in October.

Ranco controllers will work for saltwater and that would probably be about the best choice if you want just a temp controller. You should be able to source a single stage ranco for under $50 shipped on Amazon. (you do have to wire it up yourself, but it's easy)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0... controller&qid=1448990505&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1


How to wire;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrBbqm79cco


Here's one story about a all in one power strip, this was the mechanical timer type, but there are similar horror stories out there about the digital ones as well;
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=584645

 

[Frag Freaks]

I use apex. I feel the 2 places that you shouldn't skimp on are lights and controller.

100% agree with this. They are typically the first pieces of equipment I purchase (other than the tank).

I think you would have plenty of room in that cabinet for a controller as you will be replacing those power strips with the controlled ones. If your main objective is just light and temperature control then the Reef Keeper is a fine choice. If you have plans of adding modules for other types of control later down the road I would go with the Apex as IMO they have better options and control interface is very user friendly.