Heat from powerheads

Jekyl · Apr 18, 2019

How much heat is actually generated from powerheads? I have a 90 gallon no sump. 3 powerheads plus the pump for my rugf system. I'm wondering if maybe I should have gotten a chiller rather than heaters. I keep my house at 68 degrees. I cant tell if my heater is sticking on or the pumps are just generating enough heat to keep me above 78. Got home from work today and I was at 79.2. I have a heater controller due to be delivered any day now.

Flippers4pups · Apr 18, 2019

Powerheads would produce very little heat.

Do you have glass tops? Lights close to water line?

Gonebad395 · Apr 18, 2019

I’ve never had a heat problem from power heads I would bet it’s the heater. Watch it over the weekend and see if it fluctuates over the day

Mastiffsrule · Apr 18, 2019

Depends on pump/power heads they vary in amount of heat they throw off. Good you are getting the controller in. You can take the heater off line when you are at home a while to monitor the tank to see if it is the issue, or wait for the controller. You can also just feel the pumps to see how much heat they are giv8ng off.

Jekyl · Apr 18, 2019

I have about a 6" wide piece of plexi on top to prevent moisture inside my wall. Currently I have both heaters unplugged. I dont trust the internal temps on them at the moment. Currently I have the 350gph powerhead running my RUGF. 1 jebao ow-40 running at about half speed. Then 3 more 800gph no name brand pumps to help with agitation and flow on the backside of the tank. Lights are 2 Marsaqua 125w sitting 12" above the water.

Jekyl · Apr 18, 2019

I thought my thermometer may be off but when I added some top off water the temp came down immediately.... I'm ready for my inkbird lol. Was supposed to be here today

Jekyl · Apr 18, 2019

Gonebad395 said:
I’ve never had a heat problem from power heads I would bet it’s the heater. Watch it over the weekend and see if it fluctuates over the day

dang heaters. 2 brand new eheim adding to my stress already

Gonebad395 · Apr 18, 2019

Yeah they are the one thing that crash a tanks faster then blinking a eye

Jekyl said:
dang heaters. 2 brand new eheim adding to my stress already

Jekyl · Apr 18, 2019

Got the controller with the cooling option. Should I just run the 1 heater since that's all that will be controlled?

PatW · Apr 19, 2019

Jekyl said:
Got the controller with the cooling option. Should I just run the 1 heater since that's all that will be controlled?

It would be best to do so if one heater is enough to heat your tank. You could plug both heaters into an extension cord and plug that into the controller.

lapin · Apr 19, 2019

PatW said:
It would be best to do so if one heater is enough to heat your tank. You could plug both heaters into an extension cord and plug that into the controller.

This ^^
If you dont really need both, then set one heater to come on at 2 degrees lower than the other. It will come on first. If the first one fails you have the second as backup. This way they are not both coming on.

Jekyl · Apr 19, 2019

lapin said:
This ^^
If you dont really need both, then set one heater to come on at 2 degrees lower than the other. It will come on first. If the first one fails you have the second as backup. This way they are not both coming on.

Won't be able to set them differently if only 1 spot for heat on my controller. They are eheim 300w's so 1 will be enough.

FREAKINRICAN69 · Apr 19, 2019

Jon Fishman · Apr 19, 2019

Mastiffsrule said:
Depends on pump/power heads they vary in amount of heat they throw off.

Yep. my in-tank ones seem to produce none/little. the two old ones I mix salt with get warm to the touch and will actually heat the warm quite a bit

Jon Fishman · Apr 19, 2019

Jekyl said:
Won't be able to set them differently if only 1 spot for heat on my controller. They are eheim 300w's so 1 will be enough.

One is never enough. if you have 2 or more you are covered for a failure if it occurs

Jekyl · Apr 19, 2019

I have 3 Eheim Jager 300w heaters all together. The controller I bought is the inkbird cool. Pretty sure its 1 socket for a chiller and 1 for a heater. Not sure if both can be used for a heater or not. My house isn't empty very often. If I have a heater fail someone will be home well before the water gets too cold to replace it.

Jekyl · Apr 19, 2019

2 are already in my tank and 1 is still in the box. In the event stops heating it's as simple as changing the plugs. If it sticks in the on position my controller will shut it off and I can do the same