Mixing station, need some ideas where to put a heater

Legonch

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1

I just built a new mixing station for my 180 setup, and the last thing I' trying to figure out is where to add a heater to this system. The lids aren't large enough to reach into the tanks and attach a suction cup type heater to the bottom. Any ideas would be great! Attached is a picture of the station. These are two 75 gallon tanks
 

Balz3352

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
Legonch;668081 said:
I just built a new mixing station for my 180 setup, and the last thing I' trying to figure out is where to add a heater to this system. The lids aren't large enough to reach into the tanks and attach a suction cup type heater to the bottom. Any ideas would be great! Attached is a picture of the station. These are two 75 gallon tanks
I don't heat my water. I only do relatively small water changes in my system. Just a thought. I do keep some heaters on hand in case I need to heat in a pinch.

Theory in my thinking (and what ive been told by kris aka walter white) is the cool water displaces old water more mixing better and getting old out. Also like a little cold streak temporarily in a reef.
 

Irishman

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
Zip tie the heaters to a pvc pipe and stick in there


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Walter White

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
There really shouldn't be any need to heat it. I don't heat mine. I do 50g changes on a 210g tank and it dosnt even register 1 degree difference.
 

halmus

Registered Users
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#5
The temperature differential is probably a big factor to look at. If the mixing station is in the garage and that water is at 40 deg, I wouldn't do a major water change. If the station is right next to the tank and its hovering naturally at 70 deg (room temperature-ish) then it's not as big of a deal. Sorry if I'm just pointing out the obvious.

Station looks nice! Well done.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
Just drop them in the top and let them hang. No big deal unless you are using a 1K or larger heater that can melt the plastic. If you cannot remember to turn them off when you are changing water (so that they don't sit dry), then get a float activated outlet.
 

Legonch

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
Hi guys, the mixing station is in the basement, and the tank is upstairs, so there is a little temperature problem downstairs. One of my big concerns is in the event of needing a big water change quickly, fresh rodi mixed with salt would be pretty cold still. Im trying to come up with a design that would have a heater attached to it, but would mount on the tank where the lid goes, about 4 feet long, with the heater at the bottom. Stabilizing this structure may be an issue. Do you guys heat your rodi, or heat the saltwater mix as its mixing? If I just heated the rodi, there wouldn't be all the turbulent water to worry about.......
 

Walter White

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
For reference my mixing station is in the basement and the tank upstairs. My basement is about 55 in the winter. My mixing pump is a reeflo dart which probably transfers some heat but not very much if it does. Dont under estimate the thermal energy that is stored in the rock work of your tank. Youd be surprised how quickly the temperature of the new water comes up to the temperature of the tank even with a 30-40 deg difference.

However if you are really worried about it do like jda123 says and just hang them from the top in the rare instances when you will need to do a really large water change.

Or if you are dead set on adding a heater go to Ace and buy a rubber grommet big enough to seal around the heater cord. Drill the top of the container for the grommet, then cut the heater cord to feed through the grommet from the inside. Splice and heatshrink the cord back together on the outside.

That is how I did it at one time. Like you I was worried about but found it just really wasn't needed in my case.
 

Legonch

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
okay, sounds good. Ill just have a makeshift heater hanger thing in case! At least without heating the salt mix in the tank, maybe the junk on the sides stuff wont be an issue?

Next question........and im sure there are tons of opinions.....how often are you doing a water change Walter? And how much?
 

Walter White

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
Legonch;n668132 said:
okay, sounds good. Ill just have a makeshift heater hanger thing in case! At least without heating the salt mix in the tank, maybe the junk on the sides stuff wont be an issue?

Next question........and im sure there are tons of opinions.....how often are you doing a water change Walter? And how much?
You will still get some brown precipitate forming in the container after time with or without a heater. Some salts seem to be worse that others in my experience bit dosnt hurt anything. If it bothers you run some muriatic acid through it ever 6 months or so thats what I do. Just be sure to flush it well with fresh water.

I do a 40-50 gallon change every 2-3 weeks on 350g (total volume)
 

Legonch

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
I fabricated a pvc pipe that screws into the lid of the mixing tank. Attached a 200 watt heater to it. Its all really rigid. If I need to heat water quickly this should work, and keep the heater in one place with the water flow. Thank you guys for all the information. Hopefully by this time next week, I'll have water in my sump and 180 and start the cycle. Keeping fingers crossed.
 

sethsolomon

Hammerhead Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
Or you could go hardcore and get an apex flow meter and an inline heater and have the heater running when the flow meters are detecting flow. it would be super cool!
 
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