Heaters, Apex and Inkbird??

FrancineJ · Jul 16, 2019

Hello,
I have a couple of questions about my heaters and controllers....

1- I will be using 2 finnex 500w heaters (I have a 110g tank RR tank and 40g sump ((trigger 39”)) so I think they should be the proper size as they are rated up to 130g’s and my house is kept at normal ambient temperature year round... I plan to use 1 heater to run the tank and the other to only come on if the main one fails... where is the best place to put the heaters? I have the over flow section for one I was thinking and the other in the sump as I will be doing AWC’s with the DOS... does this sound reasonable? And where in the trigger should I put the heater? It’s 14” so it could fit in any section... I was thinking the return pump section?

2- I’ll also be using an inkbird... I will only be using it for the heater side as I would never need a chiller in my house..: is it best to plug the inkbird into the apex and program it that way? My question in doing it that way is what if the apex fails? Would that not cause the inkbird to fail as well? Is there a better way to do it? And should I purchase 2 inkbirds and have the back up heater plugged into one as well?
Also, there are MANY models of the inkbird... is there any that are better then the others? They even have a WiFi one now... if anyone has the amazon link for the best one that would be great as I’d like to order it today as some of them are on sale for prime day lol

Thanks!

FactoryKTMmotocross46 · Jul 17, 2019

I have about the same water volume as you, 125g with 40g sump but minus rock and sand is much less. I use a 150w aqueon heater with finnex controller tied into a wifi power strip for remote control, no controller so I can't comment on that. Downstairs in the winter is 75 degrees and the 150w cycles good, as I can monitor the amount of time it runs through the wifi power strip monitoring. You should definately have a backup that only runs when the primary fails. I think the 500 is overkill and will short cycle. The most important thing about placement is that it is in a high flow area to prevent the heater from overheating internal components.

Dos_tank · Jul 17, 2019

I agree with FactoryKTMmotocross46. On both of my 125g with 40g sump I installed 300w Finnex heaters. Looking back on it now I should have went with 150w heaters. The 300w cycles a little more than I would like, 10 minutes on and around 30 minutes off. I personally would be more comfortable with it staying on longer, but that is personal preference. As far as placement in the sump, I also have a trigger set up. I placed mine in the return pump section with the Apex temperature probe in the chamber before that. Seems to work pretty good. On one of my tanks I started out with two inkbird controllers before I had the Apex ( I also have redundant heaters, one only comes on as an emergency). I was not impressed with the inkbird. The first one, main one, failed after about a year. The back up one failed a few months later. I would just run the Apex unit.

FrancineJ · Jul 17, 2019

Dos_tank said:
I agree with FactoryKTMmotocross46. On both of my 125g with 40g sump I installed 300w Finnex heaters. Looking back on it now I should have went with 150w heaters. The 300w cycles a little more than I would like, 10 minutes on and around 30 minutes off. I personally would be more comfortable with it staying on longer, but that is personal preference. As far as placement in the sump, I also have a trigger set up. I placed mine in the return pump section with the Apex temperature probe in the chamber before that. Seems to work pretty good. On one of my tanks I started out with two inkbird controllers before I had the Apex ( I also have redundant heaters, one only comes on as an emergency). I was not impressed with the inkbird. The first one, main one, failed after about a year. The back up one failed a few months later. I would just run the Apex unit.

Well just running the apex defeats the purpose of having a back up... I went with the finnex 300w because it’s rated for 70-130g... which is my tank size... I disagree with you wanting your heater to “come on more” as that will 1 wear it out faster and 2 cost more in electricity....

The inkbird has a warranty so I’m not sure why you did not get it covered if it failed... it’s definitely very very widely used...by far...

Is your trigger sump the 40g one or is it a smaller one?

Ok so it should be good in the return chamber that’s good to know however I don’t know where to put the probe as I will be doing AWC’s with the DOS... I will have one line with the NSW going into the skimmer section (behind the skimmer since the section is so big) and my waste water will be coming out of my Fuge section so that’s also why I thought the heater would be best in the return that way the new water will get heated before entering the tank...

And then I was going to place my back up heater in the over flow section as it’s a RR tank... I have an eheim that’s rated up to 106g that’s just laying around here and brand new so I was just going to use that one as it would do the job until I got a new main heater...

I was just wondering if I should have a separate inkbird for each one or just use the inkbird for the main heater and I am just wondering how the temp controller helps if it’s plugged into the apex if the apex fails? Would that not cause the inkbird to fail as well? That’s more what I was asking... I don’t really need the advice (although I appreciate it) on what heater to use... as I always go by the manufacturer’s recommended gallons... and there’s will be more than 70gallons in the tank... my other tanks like my 32g biocube holds like 27g of water and I use a 150w cobalt neotherm in there and it’s perfect... keeps the temp at nearly exactly 78F...

I just would like the best info from someone who is using the finnex heaters with an apex and inkbird and how they have it set up and how they have their backup heater set up...

Thank you very much for your input I really appreciate it

FrancineJ · Jul 17, 2019

FactoryKTMmotocross46 said:
I have about the same water volume as you, 125g with 40g sump but minus rock and sand is much less. I use a 150w aqueon heater with finnex controller tied into a wifi power strip for remote control, no controller so I can't comment on that. Downstairs in the winter is 75 degrees and the 150w cycles good, as I can monitor the amount of time it runs through the wifi power strip monitoring. You should definately have a backup that only runs when the primary fails. I think the 500 is overkill and will short cycle. The most important thing about placement is that it is in a high flow area to prevent the heater from overheating internal components.

Yes thank you for your reply... I am 100% having a back up heater however I was more asking for placement and the way someone who has both an apex and inkbird and how they have set everything up... like if they use 2 inkbirds for each thermometer or just the main heater... and if I should place the back up in my overflow or if I should just place them both in the return beside each other because the one won’t be running unless the other fails....

Thank you for your input I really appreciate it