Ever Heard of This ???

[Mical]

I went to purchase some frags from a Reefer on Craigslist today, had some nice tanks SPS & mixed corals. I happened to notice NO heaters in tanks or sumps. So I asked - "No heaters?" He then pointed to just below each sump he uses waterbed heaters & has for years. Said he got tired of and didn't trust aquarium heaters - "these last forever". I'll take pics next time - barely visible under his sumps and controlled by his Apex(s) I'm still trying to wrap my head around this idea...

 

[Cell]

Interesting, if not probably a bit inefficient depending on tank size/thickness of glass.

 

[Webslinger]

faulty heater killed half my tank once

 

[Mical]

Interesting, if not probably a bit inefficient depending on tank size/thickness of glass.

The two tanks he showed me were a 150 & 120 and heaters were below his acrylic sumps.

 

[JasonK84]

I went to purchase some frags from a Reefer on Craigslist today, had some nice tanks SPS & mixed corals. I happened to notice NO heaters in tanks or sumps. So I asked - "No heaters?" He then pointed to just below each sump he uses waterbed heaters & has for years. Said he got tired of and didn't trust aquarium heaters - "these last forever". I'll take pics next time - barely visible under his sumps and controlled by his Apex(s) I'm still trying to wrap my head around this idea...

You know, reptile guys use radiant heat panels mounted to the ceiling of the enclosures. I wonder if those could also work for heating in the sump cabinet to get away from standard heaters? Would be quite a bit more costly but could work?

 

[Mical]

This guy said these were like $50 on Amazon. He said they're 12" wide x 24" long and lay flat below the sumps - runs his temp(s) 78-79 pretty consistently controlled off Apex Classics and has for years.

 

[Miller535]

Interesting, if not probably a bit inefficient depending on tank size/thickness of glass.

I was thinking the same thing.