What brand of Heater to buy?
- Thread starter marineman
- Start date
reef dummy
Member
Ebo-Jaeger all the way, never had one let me down.
+1 a controller is the most safe way to go
If you google about any brand of heater ... you can find failures that cooked tanks
Here one example:
JBJ True Temp Heating System w/ Controller & Titanium Heating Element
If you google about any brand of heater ... you can find failures that cooked tanks
Here one example:
JBJ True Temp Heating System w/ Controller & Titanium Heating Element
I personally use a VisoTherm they seem to be fairly accurate where I had used a different brand before and it was more accurate for me just to close my eyes and guess while adjusting it, haven't ever had a problem out of one and as a little bonus protection against boiling the tank I have a reef keeper elite watching and controlling the heater
imsobored152
Member
I use a stealth
Rhodes19
Active Member
+1 on getting a controller. I have it on my wish list.
I have a Finnex and every time we lost power, even for a minute, the heater would reset to the default factory setting of 82 deg. I keep my tank at 75 deg. Talked with Finnex and long story short, you really can't do anything about it. Its no longer in my tank.
I have a Finnex and every time we lost power, even for a minute, the heater would reset to the default factory setting of 82 deg. I keep my tank at 75 deg. Talked with Finnex and long story short, you really can't do anything about it. Its no longer in my tank.
I just use the one piece heater with built-in thermostat. Could you please explain this setup?
The heater plugs into a controller not the power center... check out these pics...
JBJ True Temp Heating System w/ Controller & Titanium Heating Element Images
JBJ True Temp Heating System w/ Controller & Titanium Heating Element Images
Garage1217
Member
I would only recommend jager heaters combined with a secondary controller such as a ranco, apex, or other type of reef keeping unit. Also running multiple smaller heaters rather than one large unit is highly recommended.
Thanks for the link nanoreefing.
Can't the controller's thermostat get stuck in the on position giving you the same problem? I use two smaller rather than one larger heater. I figure if it one gets stuck in the "ON" position it'll be less likely to cook everything. Are there any controllers with provisions for multiple heaters or do I just plug the heaters into a power strip and plug the power strip into the controller?
Can't the controller's thermostat get stuck in the on position giving you the same problem? I use two smaller rather than one larger heater. I figure if it one gets stuck in the "ON" position it'll be less likely to cook everything. Are there any controllers with provisions for multiple heaters or do I just plug the heaters into a power strip and plug the power strip into the controller?
Garage1217
Member
It can get stuck all it wants, but if you setup your individual heaters thermostats correctly, the heaters will turn off as a fail safe before anything is cooked which is the main culprit for tank demises vs. tanks going too cold.
It is also a very smart idea to run a stand alone thermometer system with high and low temp alarm which will alert you if things go out of whack.
And if you really want to be picky and try to combat all possible failures other than a power outage, you will run 4 heaters total which are just large enough in size PER PAIR to maintain your tanks temp or very very slowly raise it. Then do as follows...
- Put one pair of heaters on the controller and set your target temp on your controller. Then set your maximum temp on the dials on the heaters and test to make sure they shut off at this max temp. That way if the controller fails ON, the heaters will shut down if the tank gets warmer than your max set point.
- Now plug the second set of heaters into the wall socket. Set their dials to the lowest point you would like to allow your system to run. That way if the first pair fails in an OFF mode or the heaters cannot turn on, this set will act as a backup emergency and keep your tank from going to cold.
Hope that makes sense.
It is also a very smart idea to run a stand alone thermometer system with high and low temp alarm which will alert you if things go out of whack.
And if you really want to be picky and try to combat all possible failures other than a power outage, you will run 4 heaters total which are just large enough in size PER PAIR to maintain your tanks temp or very very slowly raise it. Then do as follows...
- Put one pair of heaters on the controller and set your target temp on your controller. Then set your maximum temp on the dials on the heaters and test to make sure they shut off at this max temp. That way if the controller fails ON, the heaters will shut down if the tank gets warmer than your max set point.
- Now plug the second set of heaters into the wall socket. Set their dials to the lowest point you would like to allow your system to run. That way if the first pair fails in an OFF mode or the heaters cannot turn on, this set will act as a backup emergency and keep your tank from going to cold.
Hope that makes sense.
Duh!!! (on my part). If the controller gets stuck the thermostats on the individual heaters will turn off the heaters. Would the system I described in my previous post - two heaters plugged into a power strip plugged into a controller be the correct setup you referred to? Also, I assume the "stand alone thermometer system with high and low temp alarm" is separate from the controller. Can you point me to those systems?
Luckily the only time I ran into a failed heater it failed in the off position. Got a few degrees lower than I liked, but no catastrophic damage.
BTW, just looked at your 225 build thread. I'm looking forward to seeing it progress!!
I see you added more info after I read your post. Quite an elaborate setup, but it would definitely be quite fail-safe.
Good info above... looks like you about got it figured out 
Garage1217
Member
Correct, 2 heaters plugged into a strip / plugged into a controller is the way to go for 99% of people and the way I ran my own setup for years "two jager 150w units on a ranco"
On my 225 build, you will notice I have 4 heaters listed. I will be running them as follows..
- 2qty on the apex
- 2qty on the ranco
I am doing this as precision control of heaters can save you some coin in electricity. With a controller like the ranco, and I think the apex does this also, you can set the default temp spread. This is hard to describe but will do my best.... For example...
- A normal heater may come on at 76F but will not turn off until the tank reaches 79F. If you are trying to keep your tank at say 77F, then you just overshot your goal and wasted electricity trying to warm the tank further in a cold room.
- A ranco or most other quality controllers will let you set the exact temps.. again for example. Set your target temp at say 76F and set the off temp at 1 degree difference so it will shut down at 77F. This will save you in electricity but will put added strain on your controllers relay turning on and off. The good news is, most controllers are industrial and have a mtbf of hundreds of thousands of cycles in general so no worries anytime soon.
Now before anyone argues about a 1 degree spread, I ran an efficiency test on my own system with different temp spreads. I tested on and off difference of 1, 2 and then 3 degrees spreads, each over a 24 hour period. The 1 degree spread was the most efficient energy wise in my system.
Here is an example of a digital alarm. Tons of them on the market.
Lifegard Aquatics Big Digital Temperature Alert Reviews
Another note that I thought of that just may be good to know. My ranco would not turn on at say 76.9 and then off at 77.0 causing a vicious cycle of bouncing on and off, it would not kick on until 76.0 and would not turn off until 77.0 so you did get a full 1 degree spread before any on/off cycle happened.
On my 225 build, you will notice I have 4 heaters listed. I will be running them as follows..
- 2qty on the apex
- 2qty on the ranco
I am doing this as precision control of heaters can save you some coin in electricity. With a controller like the ranco, and I think the apex does this also, you can set the default temp spread. This is hard to describe but will do my best.... For example...
- A normal heater may come on at 76F but will not turn off until the tank reaches 79F. If you are trying to keep your tank at say 77F, then you just overshot your goal and wasted electricity trying to warm the tank further in a cold room.
- A ranco or most other quality controllers will let you set the exact temps.. again for example. Set your target temp at say 76F and set the off temp at 1 degree difference so it will shut down at 77F. This will save you in electricity but will put added strain on your controllers relay turning on and off. The good news is, most controllers are industrial and have a mtbf of hundreds of thousands of cycles in general so no worries anytime soon.
Now before anyone argues about a 1 degree spread, I ran an efficiency test on my own system with different temp spreads. I tested on and off difference of 1, 2 and then 3 degrees spreads, each over a 24 hour period. The 1 degree spread was the most efficient energy wise in my system.
Here is an example of a digital alarm. Tons of them on the market.
Lifegard Aquatics Big Digital Temperature Alert Reviews
Another note that I thought of that just may be good to know. My ranco would not turn on at say 76.9 and then off at 77.0 causing a vicious cycle of bouncing on and off, it would not kick on until 76.0 and would not turn off until 77.0 so you did get a full 1 degree spread before any on/off cycle happened.
A couple of questions.
1. I noticed the Ranco controller is not an aquarium product. Is there any problem submersing the probe?
2. Nanoreefing4fun mentioned a JBJ controller. How are they?
Another thing about the smaller temperature swings. That will more closely mimic what nature provides.
1. I noticed the Ranco controller is not an aquarium product. Is there any problem submersing the probe?
2. Nanoreefing4fun mentioned a JBJ controller. How are they?
Another thing about the smaller temperature swings. That will more closely mimic what nature provides.