Heater

[Munch]

So I am running 3 Jager heaters, 2 200W and 1 150W, and they struggled with the cold temps last night. I have a basement sump, so the air temp down there was likely in the low 50's last night.

Total system is about 110 gallons. I added a 4th heater, but hate the idea of running 4 heaters. So I'm looking to upgrade to two heaters, maybe 300W each - any recommendations? The length on the 250W Jagers becomes an issue. I run an Apex for backup temp controlling.

 

[Craigar]

Rancho heater controller with a 500 watt blueline heater.

 

[Munch]

Would a single 500W be more efficient that the 3 total 550W I was running? I had a 4 degree temp drop at the lowest this morning.

 

[Craigar]

I am running that setup on my 660 with 150 gallon sump and tank temp don't move a but 1-2 degrees I have a second one on there just in case the first fails

 

[Haddonisreef]

Are you running on a controller? I have found the built in thermostat heaters struggle. Useing heating elements on a controller is the way to go.

 

[Munch]

Yes I use an apex, but not opposed to another controller for the heaters.

 

[Haddonisreef]

Ya I think if ya up the wattage heater to allow it to keep up should help.

 

[Blindrage]

I would personally still run at least two separate heaters. One may not be able to keep temps up if the other fails, but the thought of having the only heater fail at 0200 scares me to death.

 

[jda123]

Just add one or two more.

69 degrees is better than 85-89 degrees.

High wattage heaters on any controller are single points of failure. A 500 or 1000W heater can melt a tank if the controller fails. IMO, you are better off with 3 300W heaters with individual thermostats on a controller for dual checking, than a single "dumb" heater on a controller alone. Rancos are pretty good, but there are all kinds of threads where they stuck on and let a high-wattage heater run wild.

FWIW - I have 5x 300W Jagrs on a Ranco on my SPS system. If one of them failed and stuck on, the others would not run as much since one could never heat the tank alone. I check them about once a week to see which ones are running and to make sure that none of them are stuck on.

How much wattage can a Apex handle?

 

[jahmic]

I run a 250W and 300W heater on my Apex for the same reason that jda pointed out...each one individually, even if stuck on, won't raise my tank temp above 83 from what I've seen.

I have a 300W ViaAqua titanium heater, and the element is much smaller than the 250W Jager. It also has an inline thermostat that runs off an independent probe, similar to what the Apex has for its thermometer. I set the ViaAqua to 81 degrees and have my Apex set to shut it off at 79.5 I figure the redundancy is nice in case either the Apex or the heater gets stuck on...the chance of both failing is slim.

 

[High Plains Reefer]

I run 2 400 watt eheim jager and have no problems

edit: have an apex they are both on the same outlet on the apex

 

[jahmic]

How much wattage can a Apex handle?

Pretty sure the only limit is the amp load; the EB8 can handle a 15A load.

 

[Bajamike]

I agree with jda multiple small heaters better than 1 large.