Heater issues.

[Jon Fishman]

This is only partly question, and mostly early morning ranting

I am most definitely having newbie issues when it comes to heating my tank.

I actually don’t know that I have ever had my tank heated properly since putting it up. I just can’t seem to keep the temperature swings in check. I have read numerous “best heater” threads, tried several suggested ones, use 3 in my tank for redundancy currently, use an inkbird controller/thermostat, a small digital thermometer, and an Apex probe.

I wake up, my temp this morning is 76.1, the temp runs 79.5 or so with lights on...... it’s all over the place. UV and pumps are probably heating my tank more than my heaters actually doing their job at this point.

Why can’t I keep my temperature stable?!?

 

[Mical]

I'm assuming your heaters are programmed via your apex?

 

[Auquanut]

Are you certain all of your heaters are heating when the tank is that cool? I run 2 heaters on a BRS controller set at 79. The tank cools to 78.? by morning, but we keep the house pretty cool in the winter. If all heaters are heating at the same time, I'd say they just can't keep up with the ambient room temp. Just a thought.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I have a heater in an ink bird, and 2 with their own built in thermostats..... I don’t run anything with my apex other than lights/powerheads because I am awful at programming

 

[Samina]

What is the normal temperature (day and night) for the room that has the tank in it?

Is it possible that the ambient room temperature is too cold for the heaters to compensate?

 

[Jon Fishman]

What is the normal temperature (day and night) for the room that has the tank in it?

Is it possible that the ambient room temperature is too cold for the heaters to compensate?

76 in my house, day and night......

 

[Samina]

Wow that is a head scratcher then. I keep my house at 70 and my tank stays pretty well maintained temp wise.

What is the wattage of your heaters and size of your tank?

Do you happen to have a drafty window by your tank?

 

[Auquanut]

Is there any chance your heater thermostats are inaccurate or set to a lower temp than you realize?

 

[Flippers4pups]

@Jon Fishman , I've tried two different inkbird controllers with no luck. Both times the controllers would drift out of calibration. Each time they would drift a little and I would have to recalibrate the unit. This continued till the range of the inkbird wouldn't allow me to adjust a set point consistent with the tanks temp. This rendered the inkbird unusable as there isn't any "reset" settings. Tank temp was confirmed with a lab calibrated fluke digital temperature unit.

The first one I bought, the second one was sent to me from inkbird directly. Both became unusable.

In correspondence with a rep from inkbird confirmed from them that they were aware of this issue and was working on correcting it. Apparently it wasn't resolved.

Just a heads up for you. Hope you find a solution!

 

[Jon Fishman]

Window on one end, but I wouldn’t call it drafty

140-150ish gallon tank, 1-300w and 2-150w heaters, 100w UV I run 24/7 (so should be cooking some serious water)

I was planning on a Chiller before winter ended, never thought the Heaters would be this problematic for me.

Edit: 1” acrylic too, as I think that helps insulate no????

 

[WVNed]

I run 3 heaters on an Inkbird totaling 800 watts in a 400 gallon system. I don't have temp problems.
Before I combined the tanks into one system I had an inkbird on each tank running 2 heaters per tank. I did not have any issues then either.

 

[Mical]

I have a heater in an ink bird, and 2 with their own built in thermostats..... I don’t run anything with my apex other than lights/powerheads because I am awful at programming

Well we're going to make you a programming genius (at least for your heaters)

#1) On top of your apex list is a bunch of icons - click on "tasks" icon
#2) Under tasks there's a listing that says - Heater - add or configure heater - click there
#3) Then just follow steps as what outlet heater is plugged into, what temp you want heater to come on and what temp heater to turn off.

It's a pretty simple & easy way to configure your heaters.

 

[Samina]

Are the heaters in an area of higher flow? Are they in the same area or are they in different locations?

 

[Auquanut]

Are the heaters in an area of higher flow? Are they in the same area or are they in different locations?

Good question! Also, are your temp probes in the same chamber as the heaters? I have the probe in the overflow section and the heaters in the return section. That way the whole tank has to get up to temp before the heaters shut off.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I will have to check, but I know the heaters are in 2 different chambers. I will check the probes. I know it is all high flow.... Ozone Reactor has a pump, Algae scrubber has a pump, and I have 2 pumps for my UVs (4 25w units run w/2 pumps) so there is constant water movement in my sump

 

[Uncle99]

Some heaters are crap, high variances, like Eheim Jager, tossed mine out!

Best is Cobalts