Heater calculations/BRain Fart.

[MurphyLong]

So, after being out of reefing a couple years, I'm getting back into it and dodging a large reef this time. I'm going with a 20g Rimless with a 10g sump (nothing fancy, pic below) and it comes with a bit of equipment, but some things I'm going to have to order.

Here are my thoughts, tell me if I'm missing something since I'm not firing on all 8 this morning....

My house is always 64°F-66°F in the winter and 68°-72° in the summer. If anything, the room it's going in will be slightly warmer because that's where I have my 3D Printers setup.

I was thinking I'd be okay with a pair of 50w heaters, (I'm a fan of the failsafe) but with the house being so cool and having the open top, I'm thinking I'll be dealing with a lot of evaporative cooling, so maybe I should go for dual 100w heaters, so I'm not overworking the 50w ones keeping it at 78°F.

So, twin 100w... Sound about right?

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Sounds like a plan.

 

[clevername]

Sounds like you did research but if your interested in more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZlkWWQcIIs

Secondly, i would get 100W heaters with EACH separate thermostat. THEN get something like this.
https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/d...d7lGSWTii_neDNbzcTG7bi1MOlEMTN1BoCDxUQAvD_BwE


problem with your plan is... youll never know when one of your heaters fails. I cam explain it more in detail if you like but my suggested safer plan is only adding 35$ to your budget

 

[MurphyLong]

Sounds like you did research but if your interested in more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZlkWWQcIIs

Secondly, i would get 100W heaters with EACH separate thermostat. THEN get something like this.
https://www.saltwateraquarium.com/d...d7lGSWTii_neDNbzcTG7bi1MOlEMTN1BoCDxUQAvD_BwE


problem with your plan is... youll never know when one of your heaters fails. I cam explain it more in detail if you like but my suggested safer plan is only adding 35$ to your budget

I'm using 2 separate heaters of the same model. One will be on the tank drain side of the sump, and one on the return side, and there will be independent temperature monitors in the DT and the sump commected to my RPi's. (I bought a bunch of RP3B+ units when I started 3D printing.) If one of them stops working, the Kill-A-Watts on the heaters should give me some signs in the daily usage if one fails. I've been thinking about going to something that I can integrate more with IFTTT, a mobile app, or Google Assistant, but as long as the KaW's are still working, I'll likely stick with them for a while.

I'm all about learning how others do things though, so I'm all ears (or eyes?) if you wanna throw in suggestions!


***ETA, the heaters have thermal probes as well to kill power in the event it fails /ON/

 

[clevername]

I'm using 2 separate heaters of the same model. One will be on the tank drain side of the sump, and one on the return side, and there will be independent temperature monitors in the DT and the sump commected to my RPi's. (I bought a bunch of RP3B+ units when I started 3D printing.) If one of them stops working, the Kill-A-Watts on the heaters should give me some signs in the daily usage if one fails. I've been thinking about going to something that I can integrate more with IFTTT, a mobile app, or Google Assistant, but as long as the KaW's are still working, I'll likely stick with them for a while.

I'm all about learning how others do things though, so I'm all ears (or eyes?) if you wanna throw in suggestions!


***ETA, the heaters have thermal probes as well to kill power in the event it fails /ON/

sounds like a plan. One of the issues having two heaters controlled by separate thermostats is one will ALWAYS run a more.
Think about when one heater is set at 78 and the other set at 78.5 (which is within the +- of the heaters thermostat). That one heater will turn off early at 78 and the other one will keep going till it reachs the tank at 78.5

Your scenario isnt that big of a deal because one tank heater will be enough to raise the temps. Be warned to the rest like myself where i have 2x 300Wat on a 210 gallon. One heater will run all winter trying to get to that .5 degrees more. But from a temperature stand point the tank will always be 78. Thus the suggestion of the dual controller.

Something to think about and still suggest it. Its an easy way to precisely control the temp and wear and tear will be equal.

 

[wuzhenyu]

100w should be enough, but be sure to have one for back up as well.