Question about heater(s) in large system.

[Vapour1ze]

Hi all, I have a bit of an issue. My heaters are RUNNING NON-STOP in the cold months. Today, they can't even keep up. The warmest I can get my tank is 76.5

The past year and a half I haven't really had to big of an issue, but it does take about 8 hours to go from 76.5 up to 78.

Here is my situation. I have a 220 in my office at home. (Next to outside wall)
I have a 93 cube, in my living room, next to outside wall. Both are near HEAT vents too though... I keep my house at 66 / 68 degrees during winter.

I have a 300W heater in the 220 display. Nothing in the 93 display, and both are plumbed together to a sump in the basement. (Basement is very cold, probably ~60 degrees. The sump has (2) 250w heaters.

So, total water volume = ~ 400 gallons. (2) 250w in sump, and (1) 300w in 220 display.

Not enough?

Thoughts?

Everything is controlled via APEX.
Cheers!

 

[anbosu]

What kind of lighting do you run? It doesn't sound like you have enough heaters on the tank to keep it at 76 - why not run it at 72 in the winter? It's not like the reef doesn't change temperatures with the seasons. Unless you're running halides, as long as your house is 66-68 you're going to battle keeping the tank 10 degrees warmer.

 

[Vapour1ze]

I haven't seen two many people running reefs at 72. This is OK? All leds BTW.

 

[Fitz19d]

One thing I'd consider, is if most of the heat is in basement, and that sump aside from being in the colder room, is supplying 2 different tanks in different rooms. I'd question if perhaps there's enough flow I guess to get the warmed water up to the main tanks. (Check to see if sump warmer than DT)

Other than that, yah, running 400 gallons on too little heater. My 220+ 75g sump with 2x 250 or 300 can't remember ran most of the time in a cold basement. I'd think you need another 150 or 250.

Though really at that point, might be cheaper to just heat the house a bit more to like 72.

 

[Vapour1ze]

One thing I'd consider, is if most of the heat is in basement, and that sump aside from being in the colder room, is supplying 2 different tanks in different rooms. I'd question if perhaps there's enough flow I guess to get the warmed water up to the main tanks. (Check to see if sump warmer than DT)

Other than that, yah, running 400 gallons on too little heater. My 220+ 75g sump with 2x 250 or 300 can't remember ran most of the time in a cold basement. I'd think you need another 150 or 250.

Though really at that point, might be cheaper to just heat the house a bit more to like 72.

That's what I was contemplating... Gas = Cheaper than ELECTRO so maybe just run the heat in the house a bit warmer... It definitely gets chilly in the basement...

 

[Dmorty217]

get a 1000W heater off amazon without a controller and hook it to your Apex to control... That will keep your tank at whatever temp you want

 

[anbosu]

I haven't seen two many people running reefs at 72. This is OK? All leds BTW.

The water temperature on the Great Barrier Reef fluctuates between 62.6 and 78.08 degrees Fahrenheit during their coldest part of the year. The water in the Keys averages around 72 during the winter.

 

[Vapour1ze]

get a 1000W heater off amazon without a controller and hook it to your Apex to control... That will keep your tank at whatever temp you want

Won't that pull 10 amps? Jesus.

 

[thegrun]

Many successful reef tanks allow their temperatures to drop to 74 in the winter (I keep mine at 75). 72 seems a little cold to me.
The general rule of thumb is between 4 and 5 watts per gallon for your heaters, so it looks like you could use at least 800 watts more.

 

[Vapour1ze]

Many successful reef tanks allow their temperatures to drop to 74 in the winter (I keep mine at 75). 72 seems a little cold to me.
The general rule of thumb is between 4 and 5 watts per gallon for your heaters, so it looks like you could use at least 800 watts more.

Good tip.

Thanks, I'll tone mine back a bit in winter months instead of striving to reach 78... Maybe I'll do 75-76 during winter, and 76-79 in summer.

Cheers.

 

[Dmorty217]

Won't that pull 10 amps? Jesus.

Not sure on the amp draw but not 10 amps... Some of the 4kw heaters you can buy barely pull that many amps

 

[roberthu526]

I think you can simply add another 300W heater or maybe even a 250W will do.

 

[Reef Frog]

If your system can reliably maintain 76-78F, I don't think you'll have any problems.

But It sounds like your system has no "excess" heating capacity to rely on in the event your heating system goes down and room temperature inevitably drops on a cold winter day. If this is a high probability, I would consider adding some more hearing capacity or at least have another heater or two on hand in storage, along with an alternative source for electricity (genset, AC inverters) to run them all.

In my case I run my tank at 79-80F at a room temp of about 72F. Under normal circumstances the heater never comes on. I have about 150w of heat coming from various pumps & 150w from on line heaters, and 150w worth of heaters in reserve. With this set up, I estimate I would have plenty of time to react in most situations before temps got low enough to start killing things, even on a very cold day.

 

[hkgar]

I have always split the heating between 2 or 3 heaters. It is a precaution against one of the heaters going down and not having a back up.

 

[ca1ore]

As comparison, my system is about 500 gallons, and requires 1,100 watts of heating to maintain at 78.5 plus or minus during the cold months when the main tank is in 67 ambient; sump and frag tank in 63-65. I think it's simply that you don't have enough watts. I subscribe to the more, smaller approach. Running three at 300 watts and one at 200 watts. No heat added from lights. In the warm months my tank requires 0 watts when the room ambient is 78.