heating problem

[Kolesmytoad]

My husband put a 100 gallon sump in our basement for our 125 gallon and 45 gallon tanks. (it's absolutely wonderful makes life so easy) anyway we are having trouble maintaining the heat. We have 4 heaters in the sump now. In the day it gets too hot, and at night too cool. Any suggestions?
Thanx in advance.

 

[lizardarm]

have you tried insulating the sump and plumbing?
maybe something like this:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=13358-56291-13358&lpage=none
and this:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=21377-2249-444-184-06U&lpage=none
they also make a styrofoam type insulation that you can buy in 4'x8' sheets for cheap and cut to fit.

 

[lizardarm]

Oh yeah,
Welcome to RF!

 

[trido]

My husband put a 100 gallon sump in our basement for our 125 gallon and 45 gallon tanks. (it's absolutely wonderful makes life so easy) anyway we are having trouble maintaining the heat. We have 4 heaters in the sump now. In the day it gets too hot, and at night too cool. Any suggestions?
Thanx in advance.

How big are the heaters?
Is it an unfinished unheated basement?
How big is the room the sump is in?

For cooling, a fan or two blowing across the tank and sump will go a long way.

 

[Holygral]

Get a Ranco duel temperature controller. Fans/chiller plug into one end, heaters into the other end and set the temp that you want. It will turn fans or heaters on as needed to keep set temperature. Even if you have a heater go back and get stuck on, it will shut off the electricity to the heater and turn the fans on. Cost about $150. Wouldn't run a tank without one.

 

[tike]

Welcome to RF! I too am interested in knowing the wattage of these 4 heaters. Do you run Metal halides over the tank? If so how many? Also what exactly is too hot and too cold temperature wise?

 

[Kolesmytoad]

Oh yeah,
Welcome to RF!

Thank you. The lady at the fish store suggested that same thing, we were just hoping not to have to do that because it would.......look ugly
buy we do appreciate your help.

 

[Kolesmytoad]

Welcome to RF! I too am interested in knowing the wattage of these 4 heaters. Do you run Metal halides over the tank? If so how many? Also what exactly is too hot and too cold temperature wise?

The heaters that we have are the "tube" ones with the dial at the top. In the day the temp has gone as high as 81 degrees (this has only happened once) and at night it drops to about 72 73 degrees. The flucuation drives my husband crazy. As far as the lights go we have metal halides 400watts each 2 bulbs.

 

[Kolesmytoad]

Get a Ranco duel temperature controller. Fans/chiller plug into one end, heaters into the other end and set the temp that you want. It will turn fans or heaters on as needed to keep set temperature. Even if you have a heater go back and get stuck on, it will shut off the electricity to the heater and turn the fans on. Cost about $150. Wouldn't run a tank without one.

Awesome! thank you.

 

[Kolesmytoad]

How big are the heaters?
Is it an unfinished unheated basement?
How big is the room the sump is in?

For cooling, a fan or two blowing across the tank and sump will go a long way.

the heaters are the "tube" kind with the dial on the top. Most of the basement is finished and right now the area that the sump is in is aprox 650sf give or take. (Its near our laundry room) We had to knock out a wall so it would fit where we wanted it. We will build a new wall soon making the area that it will be in aprox 100sf.

 

[trido]

the heaters are the "tube" kind with the dial on the top. Most of the basement is finished and right now the area that the sump is in is aprox 650sf give or take. (Its near our laundry room) We had to knock out a wall so it would fit where we wanted it. We will build a new wall soon making the area that it will be in aprox 100sf.

Unfortunately, "the tube kind" isnt going to help. We need to know how many watts each of them are. For example if you are using four 50 watt heaters, you dont have nearly enough heat at only 200 watts. if you have four 300 watt heaters somethings definately wrong. I have three 250 watt heaters on a 500gallon system and dont have heating problems.

With 2 400 watt bulbs a simple clip on fan should cool the tank just fine this time of year

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Along with trido's question, the other one is what temperature do you have them set for?

If you're getting down in the 72-73 range, either the total wattage isn't enough or you just plain don't have them set high enough. The temperature on the dial/knob you use to set the heater is rarely accurate - use a separate thermometer to figure out where to set the thermostat. Or as already mentioned... get either a Ranco or Johnson Controls temperature controller. Only way to really get multiple heaters to come on and off at the same time.