Heater replacement — low, medium, or high tech

[trapphd]

Hey all — my heater just bit the dust after a little over 2 years of smooth and steady operation. I noticed the temperature was low in the mornings (I keep my place around 78-80 ambient during the day, around 70-72 at night) and verified with my probe and analog thermometer. Time for a replacement! It will go in the middle chamber of a IM 20 Peninsula AIO, so the main consideration is that it can't exceed 11 inches in height.

The prior unit was a 75W Eheim Thermocontrol-E. I'm now considering a few options: 1) simply getting a new Thermocontrol-E; 2) adding an Inkbird controller with the new Thermocontrol-E; or 3) the IM Helio PTC with controller (100W). The first two are pretty standard options, and honestly, it will probably be good to incorporate a controller. The Helio is appealing and would be perfect for an IM tank, but I don't necessarily know if I *need* it (happy to be persuaded otherwise, though). Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

 

[Doctorgori]

I say skip it , esp if you keep your ambient at 78F anyway….but thats hardly a consensus

 

[trapphd]

I say skip it , esp if you keep your ambient at 78F anyway….but thats hardly a consensus

If only! The 78-80 is probably ~14-16 hours a day but I cool it off to sleep. When I checked the tank temp first thing this morning, it was only around 74-75.

 

[Doctorgori]

I don’t have any scientific cred, but in my long years reefing I’ve never observed any ill effects from running tanks in the low mid 70’s … I’d bet there is some growth slowdown but nobody has proven that to be detrimental…
IMO the 78F (parroted) target could be totally valid but not worth the heater failure (stuck contact) risk or wasting the electricity on….
Ask yourself what are the reasonable odds of death, disasters or even negative impact of you don’t use one vs the very real risk of a stuck thermostat …

Anyway, if you choose to go that route Jaeger (or whomever they currently are) and Finnex are my choices…. Also I do have and used Inkbird (very solid)

 

[Doctorgori]

BTW, if you own a Apex, check your heater charts…
I have 4 tanks: Red Sea 170 (45g), 450 (110g), 300 (80g) and 650 (180g) …
my 170 varies 1.5F over 24hrs… 79 -82.5 …my home thermostat is set to 75F

 

[bureau13]

I've been debating adding one to my 240 gal. My tank averages 80-81 here in S. FL in the summer so I clearly don't need one now. In the winter it gets significantly cooler, but I'm not sure it will cool down for long enough to make much of a dent in a 240. Those Helio PTC are pretty cool though, and I do love new gadgets...

 

[trapphd]

You know, this may have sparked sort of a compromise! The Helio PTC comes in a 30W version, which typically is considered too small for a 20 gallon. However, if I'm only really using it for ~8 hours a day due to high ambient temp of my place, and it's located in a chamber where a relatively small volume of water passes through, I wonder if it might be a logical idea to set up an underpowered heater...

 

[Doctorgori]

You know, this may have sparked sort of a compromise! The Helio PTC comes in a 30W version, which typically is considered too small for a 20 gallon. However, if I'm only really using it for ~8 hours a day due to high ambient temp of my place, and it's located in a chamber where a relatively small volume of water passes through, I wonder if it might be a logical idea to set up an underpowered heater...

That’s VERY logical … at worst a stuck thermostat won’t fill the tanks with “New England Broil” …
I dunno I’ll say this and say it again, unless you live in a cave anything from 72 -82F is fine … and I’ve yet to see a large tank w/o halides vary that much to matter,,,

 

[trapphd]

That’s VERY logical … at worst a stuck thermostat won’t fill the tanks with “New England Broil” …
I dunno I’ll say this and say it again, unless you live in a cave anything from 72 -82F is fine … and I’ve yet to see a large tank w/o halides vary that much to matter,,,

Absolutely! Even when I observed the (lower than usual) temperature this morning, none of my corals or fish looked any different... clearly they didn't mind. I think the 30W should essentially just kick in for a few hours overnight and then it should remain stable on its own for most of the day anyway. And you're right -- having the reassurance that, even if the worst-case scenario happened, it wouldn't even be that powerful to cook everything like the a traditionally-sized heater would.

 

[Doctorgori]

ask yourself, if corals were that evolutionarily “wussified’ then a 1-3F daily swing would have made them extinct already …

“stability is the key” idiom plus the over parroted 78F sells a lot of heaters/scares a lot of people….
…but of all the ocean params: Alk, Ca, Phos, pH, et TEMPERATURE would be in the most variable for any given single location (thats even is the so called “Stable” ocean)…
…trust me on this, if you got halides or a small tank under 40-50g, yes get a heater…
but if you got a set home thermostat, ask yourself why?
whats more likely: your $50 heater getting stuck or your furnace going out (and even then a heater only is a delay)

 

[jda]

Ranco is industrial grade heater controller - look into them. Inkbirds are child's toys in comparison.

I use Ehiem Jagrs in the Ranco.

Set the Ehiem a degree above the Ranco so that both the ranco and 2 or 3 of the heaters have to stick on to overheat the tank.

 

[Doctorgori]

Ranco is industrial grade heater controller - look into them. Inkbirds are child's toys in comparison.

I use Ehiem Jagrs in the Ranco.

Set the Ehiem a degree above the Ranco so that both the ranco and 2 or 3 of the heaters have to stick on to overheat the tank.

Heck Ranco is “fishroom” commercial level gear, I had one once upon a time….

 

[bureau13]

ask yourself, if corals were that evolutionarily “wussified’ then a 1-3F daily swing would have made them extinct already …

“stability is the key” idiom plus the over parroted 78F sells a lot of heaters/scares a lot of people….
…but of all the ocean params: Alk, Ca, Phos, pH, et TEMPERATURE would be in the most variable for any given single location (thats even is the so called “Stable” ocean)…
…trust me on this, if you got halides or a small tank under 40-50g, yes get a heater…
but if you got a set home thermostat, ask yourself why?
whats more likely: your $50 heater getting stuck or your furnace going out (and even then a heater only is a delay)

I've been scuba diving many times and felt a current change and suddenly it seemed the water got 10 degrees cooler. It was probably less than that, but the point is there are definitely temperature swings in the ocean that are tolerated perfectly well.

 

[jda]

There are temperature swings in the ocean and some of them swing a few times a minute. However, those corals are otherwise at the peak of health with 2000 PAR, perfect parameters, etc. many species can handle temp swings when healthy and not so much when not.

 

[blaxsun]

Love my Helio - this is one heater that I won't be switching from.

 

[sc50964]

Hey all — my heater just bit the dust after a little over 2 years of smooth and steady operation. I noticed the temperature was low in the mornings (I keep my place around 78-80 ambient during the day, around 70-72 at night) and verified with my probe and analog thermometer. Time for a replacement! It will go in the middle chamber of a IM 20 Peninsula AIO, so the main consideration is that it can't exceed 11 inches in height.

The prior unit was a 75W Eheim Thermocontrol-E. I'm now considering a few options: 1) simply getting a new Thermocontrol-E; 2) adding an Inkbird controller with the new Thermocontrol-E; or 3) the IM Helio PTC with controller (100W). The first two are pretty standard options, and honestly, it will probably be good to incorporate a controller. The Helio is appealing and would be perfect for an IM tank, but I don't necessarily know if I *need* it (happy to be persuaded otherwise, though). Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance!

I really like the titanium one that has controller from Amazon. $40 for 200w or something like that.