Temp control

[Danno]

Hey all,
This is my first tank and the room it sits in is unheated. It was ok in the summertime, but I'm running into some issues with the arrival of the cold weather. I originally bought a 500w blue line heater and controller, but found that when I would get up at 6AM, the tank temp was 66-68 degrees, but would be ok by the time I would get home from work.
I purchased another blue line heater the other night....the person at the LFS told me that I could use this one too with the controller. I don't see how this one can also tie into my controller? Unless there is an adapter for a second heater? Anyways, I dropped the new heater into the tank, but there's no settings on it, and when I got home today, the temp is 88, when the controller is set to 75.
So, can anyone tell me if there are blue line controllers that can handle two heaters? If not, is there a better way to control my temp?

Thanks all.

Happy New Year!

 

[Keith Lockhart]

I throw a nice thick blanket on my tank when it cold at night. Just make sure there is no fire hazzard with lighting. Good Luck.

 

[JayM]

Hey all,
This is my first tank and the room it sits in is unheated. It was ok in the summertime, but I'm running into some issues with the arrival of the cold weather. I originally bought a 500w blue line heater and controller, but found that when I would get up at 6AM, the tank temp was 66-68 degrees, but would be ok by the time I would get home from work.
I purchased another blue line heater the other night....the person at the LFS told me that I could use this one too with the controller. I don't see how this one can also tie into my controller? Unless there is an adapter for a second heater? Anyways, I dropped the new heater into the tank, but there's no settings on it, and when I got home today, the temp is 88, when the controller is set to 75.
So, can anyone tell me if there are blue line controllers that can handle two heaters? If not, is there a better way to control my temp?

Thanks all.

Happy New Year!

I find it hard to believe that your corals and fish survived 68 AND 88 degrees.

I think you're going to end up needing a second controller.

 

[kevinpratt823]

How about a small space heater for the room.

 

[frank180reef]

what is the temp of the room at 6am?
seems like it is just a matter of having enought watts?

 

[JD46]

I think that a little more info would be helpful in finding a solution. Where is your tank located? What is the temperature of the room day/night? Where is the temp probe for the controller located? Where are your heater elements located?

I find it hard to believe that a 500W heater will not manage the temp of a 90 gal tank unless it is in a sunroom or some other extreme location. My 180 is in my unheated basement that can drop as low as 55deg during cold stretches and 800 total Watts of heaters keep temp at a constant 78-79.

Looks like your controller has on AC plug to the wall, one temp probe, and on e AC plug for the heaters. In order to control both of your heaters, you will have to buy a grounded 3-outlet adapter available at any hardware store.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=88577-66906-UTAD20000&lpage=none

The heating elements that you have are just that, a heating element. They do not have internal on/off controls like a standard heater. So, if they are not plugged into your controller, they will be on all of the time an can easily overheat your tank.

I also would be interested in where you have located the temp probe. Is it in the tank where you expect a consistent water temp?

JD

 

[Danno]

I fiddled with this the other day after buying another heater and a 3 prong ext in case I needed it. This heater has been flaky in the past, spiking on me, etc. I reset things.....put the temp probe in a new location and set the temp to 75. I happened to get up at 2:30 this AM and the temp was 74.5 with one heater. I'm getting conflicting results, and I swear that the temp has been between 68 as an extreme low and as high as 88, yet all my corals and fish seem quite happy. I'll have to dig out the old hang in the tank thermometer to get a second reading and close the back of the canopy since it's near a (plastic enclosed) window.

 

[Danno]

Responding to my own question, it appears my heater is just flaky. It's been rock steady for the last 3 days/nights in some really bitter weather.
Go figure