PDA

View Full Version : Heater Advice....


Moosetache
01/01/2009, 01:13 PM
I am having a very hard time keeping a consistent temperature in my tank and am worried about the health of the tank (ick, coral health etc). The temperature is fluctuating between 71-80 for the most part, and I know low 70's is not a good situation. I have 3 heaters in there now....total of about 400 Watts on a 65 Gallon tank, and all the heaters are functioning (to what extent I am not sure). The room is not that cold really, probably upper 60's and I just have a small 4" fan blowing out for when the metal halides are on.

So, my question....

Is there a heater that anyone would recommend to help me with this problem? I feel like if I turn the current heaters up they will just overheat the tank when the metal halides come on.

kfisc
01/01/2009, 01:19 PM
If your heaters are older, they may likely have broken theromstats, which means they'll be very unreliable. A pair of 150's (Ebo Jaeger is a good brand) on a controller (lots to choose from) could do it for that size system- but making sure they're new.

Moosetache
01/01/2009, 01:43 PM
Well, my digital thermometer may have been a little wacked out....I checked it with my old school mercury thermometer and that says 76 when the digital is reading 72.......

On the downside, my digital thermometer has been up to 81 recently, so I wonder if that really meant 85..

Just going to have to get all new heaters and thermometers to take care of this problem.

mbell09
01/01/2009, 01:50 PM
+1 new heater

mg426
01/01/2009, 03:34 PM
A controller is the way to go.

lewismw
01/01/2009, 03:43 PM
I went through many problems with temperature swings and finnally solved it when I purchased a controller and now I can add whateever kind of heater in any combination and not worry ...the controllere with click them on and off when needed. I have had great success with Ranco controllers.