Running a heater with Apex, best route for Apex durability?
 

Basically a question on the durability of the Apex outlets, if I have the Apex heater program set to a narrow range of temp, and the Apex outlet is constantly turning on and off all day long. For longevity of the Apex outlet, would it be best to let my built in heaters temp control setting turn the heater on and off, and only set the Apex to turn it off if the heater got stuck on and got too hot? Or is it better to let the heaters self control be set above my desired temp, and let the Apex outlet turn on and off thousands and thousand of times.... What’s the best route here, to not wear out my Apex outlet? I hope the question makes sense, thanks

If the goal is to not wear out the Apex outlet, then not using the outlet and using the heater's thermostat would pretty much achieve that goal 100%.

Personally, I use the Apex to control the heater on/off and use the heater's thermostat only as a fail safe in case the Apex sticks on... which it's never done to me, running two heaters on the same two outlets for 8 years. Even if your heater is cycling twice every hour, that still only a bit over 17,500 cycles per year... 175k cycles every decade. I'm not an electrical guru, but I'm thinking those outlets are good for more cycles than you'll probably have your tank.

If you're cycling really often, you might think about opening up the range of temperature for your tank. I've got mine set for a one degree F window, but know many folks that swing 2-3 degrees with no issues... like they used to with built-in heater themostats... that fail way more often than an Apex outlet would!

The apex is way more reliable then any heater I have ever used. However you should not have your apex turning the heater on and off thousands of times a day. I suspect you have your heater too close to your temperature probe and have the range set to tight. If your fosh are health they can deal with a 4 degree temp swing daily. So set your heater for a 1-2 degrees between on and off. Set you fans or chiller to come on at least 3 degrees hotter than the heater off temp. Again give a 1-2 degree range. To do otherwise your just wasting electricity and wearing out your equipment prematurely. Both the heater snd chiller should away from the temp probe. If you heater is in the first chamber of you sump and the temp probe is in the second. It is only going to heat a portion of the 2 sections before the probe shuts it back off, whil the tank has not really been heated at all.

I always have my temp probe in the drain section or baffles , send the heater always beside my return pump... water has to make afool cycle through the tank to get back to probe. As long as the chambers arent side by side,and I set the histerix on the controller for 1°

To reduce the number of cycles on the power bar I have my range set at about 2 degrees and I have the heater matched to my tank size 250 watts for a 90 gallon. The tank cools slowly from 80 to 78 over about 3 hours and the heater is turned on for about 2 hours to slowly reheat back to 80. There are 4 to 6 cycles per day -- so there is very little 'stress' on the power bar.

:fish1: I should be long planted by the time the power bar fails for this reason.
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