titanium heater

[thatguy559]

what is a good wattage for a 120g. i had 2x400w heaters on my 210g tank controlled by my aqua jr. i have been reading that the 300w-800w titanium heaters require a controller? or can i just set it up on my aqua jr to turn on and off at certain temps?

here is the one i was looking at
http://www.saltwatereddies.com/cont...t_id-1587/800_watt_titanium_heater_jalli.html

thanks for your help

 

[fishoutofwater]

Check your manual. It should be able to run it. I am using a 500w titanium heater on a ranco controller.

 

[ac7av]

Man 800 watts
I only use one 200 watt to heat my 210.
Temp swing is too fast with a high power heater IMO.
Herd about too many tanks getting fried because the heater goes wacko. That will not happen with a lower wattage heater. Unless you keep your house 60 degrees or less 200 is all you need on your tank.

 

[Holygral]

I small heater can also fry your tank if it gets stuck on. Two heaters on a Ranco 2 stage, will shut the power off to the heater if it gets stuck on. Ywo heaters also will help if one goes out.

 

[ac7av]

For a small heater to fry a large tank you would have to be gone for a week and that’s if it could even get it that hot.

The controllers can fail just as often as a good heater. I see lots of people claming you will never have any problems if you use a controller but that is just not the case. That controller no matter what you paid for it can still fail. I work on multi thousand dollar temp controls every day and trust me, they fail or I wouldn’t be there. Nothing is fail safe. You can have an added security by using a self regulating heater and a controller but even then it’s not 100% fail safe but it’s probably getting pretty close.

 

[thatguy559]

well i had 2 hydo theo 400w heaters on my 210 controlled by my aqua jr for 3 years the only temp swings i saw was between 78.3-78.7 as per my log for 3 years straight. i had the other one as a back up. i did keep my hous at 75 degrees. i dont like it hot in my house. im not use to having a smaller tank.

 

[NWDiver]

It should work fine. I use a pair of heaters on my 120, controlled by the Neptune Apex. It should turn off the power to the heaters before any bad things happen.
ac7av: I agree that controllers fail, but in our case both have to fail to overheat. The heater has to be in an on only state and the controller has to fail to turn it off. If you have your heater set at your target temp, and the controller fails to turn off the heater, it will only heat to target. If the heater is in run-away, the controller shuts it off as it passes through target.
This is only the case with selectable heaters plugged into a controller, I had a JBJ Ti heater and controller where the controller was the only safety, and if my picture works, you will see the result.
That said, without a controller, I rather like your two smaller heaters plan.

 

[ac7av]

I’m surprised with a house temperature of 75 degrees your heaters ever turned on. Especially with any head generated by pumps, and lights. I would think your were having to cool it with fans or a chiller.

NWDiver
I agree it is safer with two of everything. I vote for two small heater and two separate controllers. You will have virtually no chance of failure ether way. That way if any one of the systems fails to function or heat at all you have your backup. If you plug both heaters into one control your still relying on that one control to operate both heaters. What if it fails to heat at all? You still in that same boat. Besides having two 100 or 150 watt heaters will be so much less power draw since a lot of the stuff we already plug into the one circuit (in most cases) is power hungry. That one 15 or 20 amp breaker that is powering that plug behind your fish tank that is usually in the living room is almost always on the same circuit with all your expensive flat screen TV’s and surround sound systems and every other thing plugged in, in that room. It was just a thought. With a big tank its easy to overload the electrical system.

 

[ac7av]

Hay I thought you were setting up a new 210?

 

[NWDiver]

ac7av:
I agree with you, I'm not sure that came across clearly
I was trying to say that controller failure can be mitigated by using a heater that has it's own onboard control in addition to the "controller". Unlike my JBJ which did not have a seperate dial on the heater.
Two is cheap insurance.
I use a 500w primary (planning for the upgrade) and a 300w backup. Very much over kill, but the emergency notification SHOULD tell me if things are getting too hot.
The JBJ meltdown was pre-Apex.

 

[thatguy559]

no i had a 210 in my old house but it does not fit into the house i live in so i went an bought a 120g the heaters are on separate controlled outlets on my dc8 with 2 different programs. thanks for all the inputs on this

 

[holdendaniel]

any suggestions for my 55gal reef tank? controller for heaters and heaters? about 35 gal of sump water average room tempature is 55-65

 

[holdendaniel]

any help still lokking for heaters and controller to use i have been told 2 300 watt heaters

 

[NWDiver]

Hey Dan,
The rule of thumb is (I think) 2.5w to 5w per gallon.
So 300w is plenty, you could use less if the room temp is pretty steady.

-Todd