Heater in Overflow?

[Coastie Reefer]

I have a 75g with a built in overflow. What's the consensus on putting the heater(s) in the overflow box? There seems to be a lot more room for them there than in the sump, and they'll still be out of sight.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I have a 75g with a built in overflow. What's the consensus on putting the heater(s) in the overflow box? There seems to be a lot more room for them there than in the sump, and they'll still be out of sight.

Does your overflow empty or fill up when the return pump is turned off?

 

[Coastie Reefer]

If I'm not mistaken the overflow maintains the water level of the durso drain so the heater would never be exposed to air.

 

[lapin]

+1 to what Crabs Mcjones asks......If your heater has a separate temp sensor then that also needs to go in with it. With the return pump off, the tank temp will not be the same as the overflow box because there will be no mixing of water. No problem for a short period of time.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Then I would think it'd be ok

 

[Danj]

I thought about doing this on my red sea reefer 500, because those 300W eheims I have are so dang long. But then I kinda got that "ehhhhhh" feeling after considering that there maybe isn't a whole lot of turnover in that column of water, since the water just goes from the weir to the top of the drain pipe. It just doesn't seem like there would be a lot of mixing the further down you go in that enclosed volume. But maybe it's fine anyway? Curious to see if anyone has been successful doing this

 

[dugthefish]

Works for me. Like others have said, just make sure its fully submerged when the return pump is shut down.

 

[ca1ore]

As long as the overflow chamber remains full at all times, I see no reason to not use it also as a heater chamber. Flow through the depth of the overflow is more than one would think, plus the heater would encourage turnover just due the thermal differences in the water.

 

[Fritzhamer]

I’ve been keeping mine in the overflow for decades.

 

[Coastie Reefer]

Awesome. Thanks for the insight. In the overflow it will go!

 

[Danj]

Same here, great thread!