Sump heaters yes / no ?

[blazk]

Well you must be getter sick of all my posting by now. I dont have a heater in my 250L / 65G main tank or in the 50L / 16G sump. The heater i did have was a AquaOne 300W which i got with the 2nd hand tank. I was curious to know why my tank was spiking 28+ degree celcius temps. I did some troubleshotting and found out the my heater was on all the time didnt keep a constant temp, the light didnt come on when it was heating etc (all the springs in the heater were covered with some sort of crust). So in the bin it went. What brand, type, wattage of heater do i need? i would really like to just chuck it in the sump out of view. I do have a 100W AquaOne that i had in my old tank, not sure if that would do the job or if it would break in there. Tank is running at a constant temp of 25-27 at the moment without a heater but it is summer here. Any help would greatly help my issue.

 

[cgoodman381]

Yea you can definetly throw heaters in your sump! I don't know about your setup but if you have overflows you can throw it in there as well.

Also it would be beneficial for you to get some sort of controller for your temp so your tank wont overheat at all.

 

[blazk]

Oh sorry my setup is here
https://www.livingreefs.com/forums/tank-showcase/16696-blazks-250l-tank-50l-sump-lots-of-pics.html

 

[yote]

I perfer to use 2 smaller heaters than one big one.9 times out of 10,if a heaters going to mess up,its going to stick on.
But like Game said,A temp controller would be a great investment.

 

[ccCapt]

A temp controller would be a great investment.

I couldn't agree more. I've yet to find a heater that has a good, reliable built in thermostat.
Ranco temp controllers are excellent. Either a 1 stage to control only heating or a 2 stage to control heating and cooling(fans or chiller).
http://www.rancoetc.com/-c-38.html?osCsid=ac79655da076cf93e2fefb6002473b20

 

[dustin_P74]

i have the ranco temp controller and i love it

 

[d2mini]

I use a heater in my sump. Has a temp dial on the top making temp adjustment fairly easy.

 

[dustin_P74]

I use a heater in my sump. Has a temp dial on the top making temp adjustment fairly easy.

but they tend to stick after extended use

 

[d2mini]

but they tend to stick after extended use

Yup, that's what I hear.
But I'm not pulling the trigger on a controller until i understand more about them.

 

[dustin_P74]

Yup, that's what I hear.
But I'm not pulling the trigger on a controller until i understand more about them.

basically they work like this, you plug your heater (or heater and chiller or heater and fans) into one end and plug the other end into the wall. you stick the temp probe into the water so that the controller knows what the temp is at all times. you then configure it to the desired temp you want in your tank and how far off the temp can stray before it kicks on the heater, chiller, or fans depending on the stage controller you have and what you have plugged into it. once it reaches the desired temp again it turns those systems off

 

[d2mini]

Ya, but there are other controllers that control more than temp.
Those are what I want to study further. Not sure if I need any of that other stuff or not, which is part of what I want to look into. For instance, some monitor/control ph, orb, etc. But i guess if I wanted any of that I would need to have equipment that doses for those things, right? Otherwise what's the point. So i guess the real question is do I need to monitor/control anything besides the temp.

 

[dustin_P74]

if you test for pH and it is stable then there is no need to monitor it on a constant basis. i would really only monitor pH if you have a calcium reactor and or have a kalk reactor. ORP is used to monitor your usage of ozone

 

[ccCapt]

Controllers/monitors just make life easier. Depending on the set up, some are definitely needed and some just make things easier and keep the tank more stable. It just comes down to how automated do you want to get and how much $$$ do you want to spend. Even an ATO is a controller of sorts. You can just as easily add water manually, it's just the ATO does it for you.

IMO, a temp controller is a great investment. The Ranco is a high quality industrial controller. Aquarium heater thermostats for the most part are junk. They can and will stick on and/or not turn on at all. With the controller, set the heater for like 82, set the controller for 78-80 and your set. I like the dual stage because I can set it so my heaters come on if the temp drops below 78 and if the temp goes over 80, the fan over the sump and big fan in the canopy turns on.

If you are running an ozone generator/reactor, you must use an ORP controller. If not, there is no need to monitor ORP.

If you are running a calcium reactor, you must use a pH controller that will shut down the co2. If not, a hand held pH monitor is nice, but not necessary. A test kit will work fine for as often as pH needs to be tested.

You can buy a controller/monitor that does all the above and more, but it just depends on how fancy you want to get.

 

[yote]

Right now I'm using a Aquacontroller Jr with just the PH probe.My eyes have been burned too many times from welding,so I have trouble with the color differences.
I do plan on eventually setting it up to run my lights,calcium reactor,and control the temp.
Some you can hook your powerheads to and control them for wave making.
Like Capt said though,Some thing you'd have to run a controller,most thing you dont really need one.

 

[blazk]

I will prob go for the 2 stage so my fans (diy as you can see in the pictres of my setup) come on when its to hot, i forgot the other night and lucky for me it was a warm night so the temp stayed about 25C /77 F so definatly considering it.