Having some heater problems

Capt_krill

Capt_krill

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Ok, since the move to a 90 i have been keeping an even closer on my temp and something has gone horribly wrong with an alcohol and digital thermometer or my heater is busted as my tank drops to 75F at night and skyrockets to 80-82F during the peak of the days.

I have gotten it to slightly level out using a tower fan blowing on the tank but the other half says hell no to a tower fan blowing on my tank...so do I.

So I have a Neo90 with a 400w Hydor heater in it set to 71F. digital thermometer is set on the other side of the tank and the alcohol thermometer is setup near an adjacent corner, both read around the same temp at the same time of day.

House is set to 74 all day, maybe bump it up to 76 on really cold nights, but its Texas, no real cold nights in Texas. [smilie=dull.gif]

Anyway, anyone have an idea as to what the problem might be?

BTW, in case anyone thinks of this, there's no heat projecting into the tank...half the reason I decided to go LEDs, no need for a chiller to keep MH heat from heating up the tank.

Anyone have any suggestions on heater brands?
 
I keep our house at 63 at night, and 69 during the day, and it stays between 77 and 79. The 150w heater is on a timer to only run at night, because I don't want it coming on during the day! I know it is supposed to only come on when it needs to, but I think that they sometimes come on anyway. That's what I think. And I would not put a 400 on there. I think 2 150s, or 200s is better, in case 1 sticks on, or quits.

David
 
@200mfromocean wrote:
You probably have a bad heater. I would put gthe hydor in the trash and buy yourself a jager. said:
+1

And as suggested, go with two lower wattage unit's. I would change the heater out asap, if it fails totally full on that 400W heater will cook your tank. You can test your heater also by putting it in a small container along with one of your thermometers. [smilie=smile.gif] HTH

Cheers,
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Heh, I called both LFS here this morning and they haven't even heard of Jager. So I'm going go order one from BRS along with my reactor.
 
Oh and one more thing that I can think of right now.

Are the temp controllers worth a look at? or should I just keep it attached to my light's timer?

Also, are there any other brands of heaters that are top notch?
 
Brs is a good vendor. I know Dallas North Aquarium carries the Jager heater locally. I use a temp controller in conjunction with Jager and have not had issues for years. I set the Jager to 80. And the digital controller, Aquacontroller in my case to 79.2. If the digital t-stat with AC comes out of water my temp will not got over 80. If I set the the digital to 85, my temp will not go over 80. I also keep a $3 mercury stat in my tank as well. The temp controller allows you to control a chiller or fans lights or pumps to bring down the temperature if tank goes of 80.

I will not chance on other brands of heaters. German made pumps, heaters and etc are worth the extra $$.
 
If you don't have a controller than I would get a temp controller so you have a double backup to make sure your tank does not get to hot. I have my heater set to 77 and controller set for 78.5
 
Im in the process of building a controller for my LED set up but not for temp controller.

I just called DNA and they said they dont stock the Eheim heaters, just Aqueon and Marineland. Im ordering a 250w from an online retailer for $33 shipped not too shabby, now as for the controller goes, what are the top brands in controllers? I know reef angel, reef keeper etc, but is there just a decent controller for just the temps?
 
I have heard of "rancho" temp controllers. I do not think it would hurt to keep it simple, and not go plugging 24 things into 1 control system. Most popular are the neptune systems controllers, but do your do dilligence and you will see that they are not infallible. Notice that most LFS are not running them or any other fancy controller for that matter.
 
Just did a test last night

unplugged the heater around 7ish

woke up this morning tank is 78.2F

Little over 11hours and it keeps at 78 degrees?
 
I ended up putting a JBJ thermometer in each tank to monitor. I found out 2 of 5 of my heaters were bad and only 3 months old.

Perhaps you have other heat sources besides the heaters? Any Rio pumps?
 
I was playing with my tanks heaters, the randoms sitting around the house, and found a way to keep my tank between 76-79. At the middle of the day right before my tank comes on its about 76.4-.7 documented over a week. About 7PM 3 hours after my LEDs come on, 77.7 exactly all 5 days. At 10PM roughly 30-45m after lights out tank is about 78.5-79. This is with the same heater I had in my old tank set to 75.

My equipment is as follows.

Rio Hyperflow 32
Reef Octopus 6" NWB
BRS Dual GFO/Carbon Reactor
Hydor Korallia 5
Hydor Korallia Nano

Then my light fixture. It does produce heat in the fixture, but the entire thing is made of aluminum, even the legs, so its one giant heatsink. 4 120mm fans produce great airflow in one side of the fixture, over two fans blowing up and down on the actual heatsink, then one fan blowing warm air out of the other side of the fixture, and I stress warm as its probably around 80-90F as a guesstimate.
 
Sounds like you have a little over 100 watts of pumps generating heat in your tank. Without the lights on, your tank will always be a few degrees higher than room temperature. It may be more difficult to maintain temps during the summer months without some kind of auxillary fan or chiller run by a control system or timer. The control system is great because I do not have to listen to fans when my tank does not need it or the extra evaporation for that matter.

The distance of the lights off the water makes a big difference too.
 
@Capt_krill wrote:
The actual LEDs are 8" from diode to water. said:
Probably not too big of a factor being LED to begin with. You could probably even lower them more and not notice a pronounced swing in temp levels.

Did you buy a new heater? If it is working properly and the room temperature is relatively low I do not see why should not be able keep the tank within 2 degrees.
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