Heater in acrylic sump?

[LMDAVE]

I'm gathering equipment for my first sump system, and I have to admit I thought when I searched for pictures of heaters placed in sumps that I'd find a boatload. But, not really that much.

My sump is 36 inches long 15" front to back, 120 gallons total water from DT and sump. I bought two 125w heaters (13.5" long) to place in the sump.

I was planning on putting one in the first chamber near the baffle, and one in the second chanber (refugium) near the baffle going to the third.

I'm concerned about if heater suction cups popped off and heater lies on bottom of acrylic sump, will it damage the tank? Any down side to the one in the refugium side (plan to have chaeto, rocks and sand bed)?

 

[Big G]

You'll be fine. And having the heater in with the chaeto is ok. Just turn the chaeto over every couple of days or so.

 

[LMDAVE]

I made these little heater holders with some red acrylic and egg crate I had around, and also siliconed around the suction cups. I’m placing them on each side of the first baffle.

 

[ChaseBurke]

Just make sure when system is running that they will always be under water. The water will absorb a lot of the heat. If you get a temp controller, another layer of security if you lose flow through sump.

 

[LMDAVE]

The first two chambers are constant level of 9.5 inches. And I will be adding a temp controller eventually for added backup.

 

[redfishbluefish]

You'll be find with the heaters in direct contact with the acrylic. When I build my sump, I mounted the two heaters, back to back, separated by the acrylic baffle, and held in place with PVC conduit clamps. You can see the clamps just below the blue baffle in this picture:

 

[LMDAVE]

Yeah, guess it was just kind of a dumb question now considering the heater comes with plastic clamps on the glass tube that never seem to melt.