Heater and temp issues/questions

DLANDINO

D.L. Heritage Rings
It seems that now that the outside temperature is turning warmer I have been experiencing some high temp issues for the past few days. I am running a 150w submersible heater. The dial is underwater and have recently had to turn the temp down to 68 on the heater so that it doesn't turn on. Yet, even with this temp setting the tank temp sits at about 79-80 degrees. I am running power compacts with dual cooling fans and when the lights turn on the temp last night just before lights out was at about 84 degrees.

Is my heater too large for a 46 gal aquarium with 60 lbs of live rock? I know that I am probably going to get a heater with an external temp control but what wattage would be a good choice for my tank size? And, are there any suggestions on how to rectify my problem with my existing equipment? Thanks in advance.
 
Is your tank in front of a window or does it get any direct sunlight? could it also be that your heater is going and wont stop heating once it hits a certain temp?
 
No direct light at all from a door or window. Not sure about the heater question. I am thginking that maybe the heater is shot and is not controlling the temp the way it should. Sometimes the temp is at like 82 and the heater is on even though it is set for 68. Hummmm
 
A new toy to look at. Thanks! My fans are actually automatically tripped when the 10,000k daylights turn on.
 
This way you do not have to run the fans all the timewhen your day lights. I have my Ranco temp controller set to turn my heater off when the tank rises to 79 and my fan comes on when the tank rises to 80 and the fan will turn off when the tank lowers back down 79. So basically everything turns off at 79 degrees.
 
Yes, I do not trust my heater controls at all since they are the part that normally fails. Ranco is a great product for control of heaters and fans.
 
Are you sure its not your thermometer/temp probe? I just went through a similar thing, but instead of it getting warmer, I thought it was getting cooler. The temp on my tank kept dropping (its still kinda cold here in the Northeast) and would never quite get over 75-76 and I just kept turning up the heater on the tank. Then i picked up an AquaController Jr and when I put the temp probe in the tank it said it was 82. Turns out my old temp probe had gone bad.
 
Yeah, I am using a regular old mercury based glass thermometer, low tech. I have two fo them and both read the same. I bought a new heater last night and will install it tonight. I had to kill the heater again last night as it was running even with the temp skyrocketing to 85 degrees. Better days ahead I hope. Thanks again.
 
Sounds good, but make sure you get that Ranco. I read a post a few few month back. How a fellow reefer came home and his tank looked like white creamy soup. His hearter thermometer malfunctioned and got suck on 100 degs. He lost just about everything. So alot of other reefers were sug. a temp controller to avoid this happening to him again. I thought about all my fish and corals and got the heeby geebies amagining that happening to me. I immediately ordered my Ranco.
 
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