This week, one of my trusted Cobalt Heaters decided to crap out, so I decided to take an opportunity to get my tank's temperature under greater control with an Inkbird controller and ordered 2x BRS 200w titanium heaters for my 80 gallon.
I posted yesterday about some concerns about what I perceive as the Inkbird only measuring temp intermittently, but to allow for a bit more responsive control decided to switch the temperature setting to Cº with heater activation at -0.1º C hoping that I could control heater activation with less dramatic swings in temp. The temperature sensor is installed in my overflow.
Well, today the BRS heaters arrived, and I installed them in the return chamber of my sump. Note that before I installed the heaters, I tested for stray current and both passed flawlessly.
A couple hours after, while doing some maintenance in the sump, I noticed that the return chamber was STEAMING! I dipped my finger in the water and it was literally Sous Vide temperature, probably upwards of 150º F. I'm assuming everything in that chamber (probs amphipods, feather dusters, sponges) is now cooked. Even with one heater unplugged, the water still gets cooked and I'm pretty concerned that the return pump will crap out because of the water temp. (Note the DT temp obviously changes at a much slower rate and is under control).
These heaters are so strong that they literally cook the water within minutes, no amount of increased flow from my return pump will dissipate the heat fast enough. The Inkbird controller is also so slow that it allows the tank temperature to drop more than 0.3º C. I can't really install the heaters in any other chamber or the tank for fear of their strength will also cook whatever's nearby.
Looks like I'm going to get some Eheims...
I posted yesterday about some concerns about what I perceive as the Inkbird only measuring temp intermittently, but to allow for a bit more responsive control decided to switch the temperature setting to Cº with heater activation at -0.1º C hoping that I could control heater activation with less dramatic swings in temp. The temperature sensor is installed in my overflow.
Well, today the BRS heaters arrived, and I installed them in the return chamber of my sump. Note that before I installed the heaters, I tested for stray current and both passed flawlessly.
A couple hours after, while doing some maintenance in the sump, I noticed that the return chamber was STEAMING! I dipped my finger in the water and it was literally Sous Vide temperature, probably upwards of 150º F. I'm assuming everything in that chamber (probs amphipods, feather dusters, sponges) is now cooked. Even with one heater unplugged, the water still gets cooked and I'm pretty concerned that the return pump will crap out because of the water temp. (Note the DT temp obviously changes at a much slower rate and is under control).
These heaters are so strong that they literally cook the water within minutes, no amount of increased flow from my return pump will dissipate the heat fast enough. The Inkbird controller is also so slow that it allows the tank temperature to drop more than 0.3º C. I can't really install the heaters in any other chamber or the tank for fear of their strength will also cook whatever's nearby.
Looks like I'm going to get some Eheims...