Heater in SW Mixing Station

[Eye H8 Empty V]

Hey Reefers!

How do you place your heater in you SW mixing station tanks? I’ve got the uniseal for dropping it in but do you just lay it on the bottom with suction cups? Thanks!

 

[Julbra]

When I used to heat my mixing bin I had it on the bottom with suction cups.

But I have since stopped heating my mixing container.
You can mix cold and have less precipitation with no fire risk?

Also the heat from the pump over 24h is normally enough to bring it close to usable temperature.

 

[slythy]

I have a 800w finnex in mine. I cut my end off of the heater so i could put that and my inkbird sensor in the container through a water proof bulkhead.

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

I have a 800w finnex in mine. I cut my end off of the heater so i could put that and my inkbird sensor in the container through a water proof bulkhead.

Thanks! What are the bulkheads you used? It looks like you’ve got a Norwesco upright tank. I’m doing the horizontal leg tanks so every surface is curved.

 

[Mikey-D]

Use a pvc pipe and zip tie together so if you need to pull it you dont have to dive in or fish it out. Just pull it out. Thats what I am planning on doing.

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

So are your heaters just hanging in the water column?

 

[slythy]

Thanks! What are the bulkheads you used? It looks like you’ve got a Norwesco upright tank. I’m doing the horizontal leg tanks so every surface is curved.

Amazon bulkhead link

Those are what I used, You might have to do something different if you are completely round. I have a pvc pipe in my container that holds the temp probe lower in the tank and then the heater just sits on the bottom near the outlet. So the warmer water is immediately sucked up and to the top. It takes about an hour to go from 68 to 77 ready to do a water change. Its all on a smart outlet so I can turn it on from my phone and then when im filling I can also turn the pump off so there isnt any running lol.

 

[n2585722]

I do not heat my mixing tank or the fresh satwater tank. I do AWC with the changes happening three times a day for a daily maximum of 1000ml. There is not enough changed at any one time to make a difference in the tank temp. My storage tanks are in my garage which in not heated or cooled. This summer it got to 106 degrees in the garage. In the winter it has been down to as low as 36 degrees out there. I have been doing it that way for 7 years now. The first screenshot is a graph of the tank temp for the last 5 days. The second screenshot has a graph for the garage temp and mix tank temp for the same time period. Can you tell when the three water changes happen during the day?

 

[AlexG]

For my in-line mixing station I keep my heaters on a large PVC tee with zip ties so the heaters are suspended in the middle of the in-line storage tanks and are not allowed to touch the tank sides. Since I only use these heaters during water changes they are removed from the water storage tanks when the water change is completed and the water in the storage tanks are valved open water from the system flows in to complete my water.

 

[Eye H8 Empty V]

Amazon bulkhead link

Those are what I used, You might have to do something different if you are completely round. I have a pvc pipe in my container that holds the temp probe lower in the tank and then the heater just sits on the bottom near the outlet. So the warmer water is immediately sucked up and to the top. It takes about an hour to go from 68 to 77 ready to do a water change. Its all on a smart outlet so I can turn it on from my phone and then when im filling I can also turn the pump off so there isnt any running lol.

Thanks for the link! That looks super clean. I was able to fit the plug end through a uniseal. I think I’ll and cut out a channel in a PVC plug for the cord and ink bird temp probe lead. I’ve got some spare Crestron outlets that I can program and manually switch for the pump. Didn’t think about that! I can even set times via programming and add 1-15min increments to the timer. I did that with a ceiling fan speed controller in our master bedroom cause they wifey doesn’t like it to be on all night.