Nuvo Fusion 10 Heater Problems

[Brendan Russell]

I have recently set up a nuvo 10 which has been running for about a week and a half. However the heater that I am using doesn't seem to get the water temp up to 78 degrees. I am using an Aqueon 50W preset heater. The water temp stays at around 75, and the heater seems to think that the temp is at 78, because it is turned off. The heater is placed in the middle chamber in the back. Is there a problem with this heater? I would really like the temp to be warmer. Any ideas would be very helpful!

 

[Pbh-reef]

In my limited experience that heater isn’t the most accurate and you can’t change the setting to account for it being too cold or warm. To make matters worse, most thermometers aren’t that accurate either. My advice is to go with a more reliable heater like the Eheim Jager or cobalt neotherm. You may be able to return your heater if you recently bought it.

 

[Michael Llabona]

I would add to make sure you add a controller if you don't have one already. The ink bird is like $35. It is an added layer of redundancy. Heaters fail ALL the time. Even expensive ones. A heater can cook small tank quickly (within hours) if it fails. The controller should prevent it.

 

[Brendan Russell]

Alright thanks for the help!

 

[ca1ore]

I would add to make sure you add a controller if you don't have one already. The ink bird is like $35. It is an added layer of redundancy. Heaters fail ALL the time. Even expensive ones. A heater can cook small tank quickly (within hours) if it fails. The controller should prevent it.

Inkbird can fail as well .... both of mine did. Heater only ‘cooks’ a small tank if its oversized. Same for a medium or even large tank.

 

[Michael Llabona]

Inkbird can fail as well .... both of mine did. Heater only ‘cooks’ a small tank if its oversized. Same for a medium or even large tank.

You must have really bad luck. My condolences. The inkbird has saved me twice on heaters over the years on my office tank. I use the Neptune Apex at home now. I guess my point is you are better off having one than not having one at all. I also completely disagree with your statement that a heater cooks a small tank only if it's oversized. My 50w heater on my biocube 29 cooked my tank over night. 50w is on the weak side for a 29. Temp was reading 80 in the evening during the feeding. I was still using the florescent lights so 80 was higher than I liked but not outrageous. The next morning it was in the 90s. It was really sad. Lost some very nice corals. It looked like a desert under water. So to wrap it all up, I will never go without a controller for my heater.

 

[ca1ore]

You can disagree all you want but its a simple balance of input watts versus heat loss. Smaller tanks have higher heat loss per gallon than larger ones (due to ratio of volume to surface area) so a properly sized heater is less likely to overheat a small tank. Now, if you oversized the heater ..... well, then you are just asking for trouble.

As to the inkbird, perhaps just bad luck; but I’m hardly the only one reporting issues with it. I suggest anyone considering one do their due diligence.