Heater location and Size

[dfm34]

Ok so I am upgrading my 55 to a 140 and I have the tank half filled I wanted to get the temp up about 5-10 degrees so I can but the LR in but did not have a large enough heater yet so I added a small (rated for 10 Gal) heater to the tank that I use for my water changes and low and behold my temp is perfect(78).

Well this got me thinking can I use the small heater in my sump for the whole tank? I was going to place the lg 250 watt heater in the over flow box but now I am wondering if I can get away with the small in sump heater?

I appreciate any comments

Thanks

 

[harryk]

your better off using 2 heaters as apposed to one just incase one fails the other will keep working. But if you only have one and it fails you SOL. good luck

Harry

 

[Phyl]

One undersized heater will run and run and run, wasting electricity. One oversized heater could potentially melt your tank inhabitants in a malfunction. You're better off with 2 medium sized heaters, for overlap as well as redundant systems.

 

[DaveK]

My opinion on the issue of heaters is a bit different.

It's been my experience that most reef systems only need a heater in cold weather, and to keep the temp from dipping too much at night.

It's also bee my experience that heaters usually seem to fail in the "on" position.

If money is of no object, get yourself a real temp controller, such as an Aqua Logic, or a general controller such as a AquaController Jr. Either of these will provide much better method of controlling your heater, and if you get a dual stage one, you can also use it to control a chiller.

As for sizing a heater, I recommend 2w per gallon of water as a maximum. Be sure to couny all the water in the sump and refugium. This differes with a lot of old aquarium books, which recommended 5w per gallon, which I feel is way too high.

You also want to place the temp sensor, if it's not part of the heater, in the same general area as the heater itself.

 

[dfm34]

My opinion on the issue of heaters is a bit different.

It's been my experience that most reef systems only need a heater in cold weather, and to keep the temp from dipping too much at night.

It's also bee my experience that heaters usually seem to fail in the "on" position.

If money is of no object, get yourself a real temp controller, such as an Aqua Logic, or a general controller such as a AquaController Jr. Either of these will provide much better method of controlling your heater, and if you get a dual stage one, you can also use it to control a chiller.

As for sizing a heater, I recommend 2w per gallon of water as a maximum. Be sure to couny all the water in the sump and refugium. This differes with a lot of old aquarium books, which recommended 5w per gallon, which I feel is way too high.

You also want to place the temp sensor, if it's not part of the heater, in the same general area as the heater itself.

DaveK

That make a lot of sense. I use a Ranco Temp Controller on my 55 to control a fan over my sump. Seams my tank is pron to being hot as opposed to cold?