Reef tank heater recommendations

[Taiko713]

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I'm looking for help in choosing a heater or heaters for my new set up.

I would like a heater or heaters that i can place in a trigger ruby 36 sump. The display tank is 120 gallons. It has a bean animal, running a lifereef skimmer, no refugium and a Sicce return. I'm also running an Apex Neptune EL.

I do have an inkbird that I've used before on another tank and can use on this one. I'm presently running (90 gal) an Ehiem in the tank and a finnex 200w in the sump.

Any suggestions how to run either 1 or 2 in the sump would be greatly appreciated. I could run the inkbird if needed. As long as everything connects to Apex.

Thanks

 

[S2G]

Eheim on a stat. They can be long though

 

[vetteguy53081]

Titanium and three good brands are:
Finnex
ViaAqua
BRS

 

[Taiko713]

All the ones i have are titanium, but the eheim doesn't fit in the sump. (at least not laying down)

 

[tkd]

I agree with Vetteguy with the titanium heaters,. I have been using the BRS titanium heaters and have been rock solid.

 

[blaxsun]

All the ones i have are titanium, but the eheim doesn't fit in the sump. (at least not laying down)

Possibly a pair of BRS (white-boxed Schego) 200-watt titanium heaters run off the Inkbird. 400-watts should be enough (500-watts can heat my 200 gallon without issue). Then plug the Inkbird directly into one of the outlets on the EB832 power bar. Program your Inkbird for 78.0 and 78.5.

Here is the Neptune configuration I use for the outlet:
• Control Type: Heater
• Fallback: On
• Probe Name: Tmp
• On Temperature: 77.5
• Off Temperature: 79.5

 

[Taiko713]

Awesome blaxsun, this is exactly what I was looking for. Will the inkbird take care of which heater to use or run both simultaneously?

Thanks

 

[blaxsun]

Awesome blaxsun, this is exactly what I was looking for. Will the inkbird take care of which heater to use or run both simultaneously?

Thanks

There’s no option to control either heater insofar as I know - it just turns the 2-outlet plug on or off based on temperature hitting the low/high setting on the Inkbird. The Neptune config is just a backup in case the Inkbird fails and/or the thermostats get stuck on. If both heaters fail the Neptune will alarm you with a low temp alert.

You’ll also want to have a 2-hour continuous heat time on the Inkbird. If it exceeds that it means something is amiss with either the probes and/or heaters (one may have failed and the other is struggling to keep up). The Inkbird makes a heck of a racket when this happens.

 

[Taiko713]

So should i go w 2 heaters into the inkbird and then into the apex or 2 heaters (like finnex) with individual controllers into the apex?

Which would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[blaxsun]

So should i go w 2 heaters into the inkbird and then into the apex or 2 heaters (like finnex) with individual controllers into the apex?

Which would you recommend?
Thanks

Well, it's really down to personal preference and how much redundancy and wiring you want to have. Sometimes space is a premium, too. Heaters with controllers will all invariably fail at some point, so I'm a big fan of the inanimate titanium rod.

I run a pair of Schego 300-watt titanium heaters off an Inkbird connected to an Apex and then a backup Hygger 500-watt titanium heater controlled solely by the Apex. And then I have another unused spare Hygger 500-watt titanium heater sitting in a box should the need ever arise. None of my heaters have controllers - they all rely on either the temperature probes of the Apex and/or Inkbird.

Option 1: Inkbird running 2 titanium heaters off a single Apex port.
Option 2: Apex running 2 controlled heaters off a pair of Apex ports.

 

[Taiko713]

Thanks blaxsun.

My greatest fear isn't if one fails, it's when the power goes out during storms. I know that everything is going down except for a couple of powerheads until i switch everything over to a battery backup or a generator.

I'm looking for a manner to perhaps run one then the other in order to maintain a constant temperature (switch between the two) or have one serve as a backup in case the other fails.

Is it better to use the inkbird or 2 independently controlled heaters?

Thanks again for your assistance with this.

 

[ReefRondo]

Titanium Schego and Aquamedic have been perfect for me. My schegos are over 5 years old now and still perfect.

 

[blaxsun]

Thanks blaxsun.

My greatest fear isn't if one fails, it's when the power goes out during storms. I know that everything is going down except for a couple of powerheads until i switch everything over to a battery backup or a generator.

I'm looking for a manner to perhaps run one then the other in order to maintain a constant temperature (switch between the two) or have one serve as a backup in case the other fails.

Is it better to use the inkbird or 2 independently controlled heaters?

Thanks again for your assistance with this.

There's a difference between planning for failovers and planning for extended power outages.

BRS had an informative video where they talked about a 2-3 day power outage they experienced at their facility, and how their tanks survived it intact with just their wavemakers on battery backup (everything else - including heaters - were offline). Oxygenation is presumably more important than temperature.

Based on the power draw for heaters, you'll be hard-pressed to get more than an hour or two off most battery systems - so I don't think that's practical to plan for - other than the odd minor power outage that most of us experience (other than a generator for the whole system, which is an entirely different topic).

Yes, if you have a pair of heaters and each is sufficient to heat the entire tank you can certainly alternate between them using the Apex. Here is an example of how you could configure each outlet:

Heater 1
Fallback ON
If Tmp < 77.5 Then ON
If Tmp > 79.5 Then OFF
If Time 12:00 to 23:59 Then OFF

Heater 2
Fallback On
If Tmp < 77.5 Then ON
If Tmp > 79.5 Then OFF
If Time 00:00 to 11:59 Then OFF

In both instances if the temperature drops below/above a certain threshold it will turn the outlets on or off, respectively. I don't have my system setup like this, so you'd have to try and see if you need to tweak anything in the code (or someone more knowledge is welcome to jump in and make any suggestions). Hope this helps.

 

[MPERL]

Possibly a pair of BRS (white-boxed Schego) 200-watt titanium heaters run off the Inkbird. 400-watts should be enough (500-watts can heat my 200 gallon without issue). Then plug the Inkbird directly into one of the outlets on the EB832 power bar. Program your Inkbird for 78.0 and 78.5.

Here is the Neptune configuration I use for the outlet:
• Control Type: Heater
• Fallback: On
• Probe Name: Tmp
• On Temperature: 77.5
• Off Temperature: 79.5

This is what we have been using, and very happy with it.