With winter coming, my tank probably swings about 5 degrees between night and day. Too much right? Was thinking of getting a controller for my 300watt Jager heater, or should I get another heater instead, and use 2? I can never seem to get the temp to be stable though with just the heater thermostat. Any opinions?
which is better, 2 heaters, or a temperature controller?
- Thread starter cncguy
- Start date
oscarinw
New member
Hard to say with the provided info. Is the problem that it rises too much at lights on or that it drops too much at night? A 300 jager should be enough for 90 gallons of water so I think your problem is not the heater. It is maybe that your lights are warming up the tank during the day and the heater doesn't even need to kick in... Or the alternative (and since you make allusion to this getting worse now that it's getting cold outside), is that it gets so cold at home that your heater cannot keep up, in which case I would recommend you turning up your heating at home a bit more. 5 degree change is definitely not very good. Ideally you want 1 or less. Please explain a bit more.
We heat with a pellet stove, which warms up pretty quick, so I turn it down at night, and the tank has been going to about 75-76 degrees, then with the heater on the rest of the day, the tank is fine around 78-79. And is hasn't gotten too cold outside yet. So with the lights on and stove turned up it's fine, but I just can't seem to get a consistent temp with just the heater, and wondered if a controller would cure this, or use two heaters? Any heater I've ever used just doesn't seem to work 'correctly' if I use the 'turn it up with the tank temp where I want it, then just back off til if shuts off' method. I guess the question is, what would give the most consistent temp?
oscarinw
New member
Assuming the heater has the capacity to heat at your room temperatures and considering the size of your tank, then a heater alone should be able to keep the temperature stable. If the problem is that the room gets so cold that even with the heater on, the tank continues to get colder and colder, then you need a second thermometer. The Jagers by Eheim are very precise and assuming they can heat up the tank at your specific room temperatures, they should be able to keep it steady. From what you tell me, I assume that your problem is that the room the tank is in gets so cold that the heater can't keep up. In that case you need a second heater. The benefit of a controller is only that it can act as a fail safe when it comes to operating a heater with thermostat like the Jager. In other words, all it does is allow electricity to pass through and power up the heater when the temperature hits a specfic low point and stops the electric current when the water hits a high point. Even with a controller, depending on where you set the high and low, you can have variation. However, if I am right in that your problem is that it's getting too cold in your room, the controller will just remain in the ON position and the tank temperature will continue to drop.
Just to confirm my guess, what's your room temperature at night and what is it during the day?
Just to confirm my guess, what's your room temperature at night and what is it during the day?
