Heaters 1 big or multiple small

[mlb75]

What are your thoughts on the topic? I'm curious if it's more efficient or safer to use a single heater that's sized for the total tank volume and need or if multiple smaller heaters is better.

Heaters are one of the things that honestly worry me the most since if they get stuck on they can cause more issues that just about any other normal piece of equipment than I can think of. That's why for my 300G display I currently run 2 300W heaters in my sump rather than a single 800W+ heater. In all honesty I don't' think the second one even kicks on that often but at the same time I'm sure the single 300 runs for longer periods of time than a single 800 would have to so I know there's a trade off but I'm not sure which is better.

The way I currently have it setup the first heater comes on at a certain temp and the second comes on to assist if the temp falls further with the second one turning off first once the target temp is close. That's all done from my reef keeper, I also have fans set to come on control temp on the high side.

My fear is always that the heater channel will stick on and cook the tank which would happen faster and to a higher degree if it was an 800W unit, to me the tank can deal with lower temps much better than high.

 

[Waters]

I will always run multiple heaters using a controller. I have a bucket full of dead and broken heaters (both cheap and expensive) that the thermostat no longer works.

 

[Clownmaniowa]

I just one big and on small the big one on full time the small as my backup never had a problem with it

 

[6Bolt]

I am running two in my current setup. One in my display and the other in my sump. I also have extras just in case

 

[Doclight]

I run one on my 75.. but will run 2 on my 180. Not for energy efficiency, but just in case one fails.

 

[HiddenUser]

I have 3 in my 400G system. My 40G QT tank even has 2. Always better to have an extra versus having a heater fail in the middle of the night or while you're on vacation. My Apex controls the heaters as they do not have their own built in controllers.

 

[solitude127]

I run 2 on my 150 and only 1 on my nano

 

[mlb75]

So it appears most people run multiples but are they all larger in that they're all sized to heat the tank by themselves or smaller with a backup to provide more capacity when it's needed?

 

[ihavecrabs]

I run two smaller heaters. If one gets stuck in the on position, it will not be enough to over heat the tank. If one gets stuck in the off position, it will not be enough to greatly reduce the temperature (but it will drop).

I also run an apex to control the heaters in the case where if both are stuck on (unlikely) the system will not overheat and in the case where one or both dies, I receive alerts when temperature strays out of the seasonal limits.

And yes, I run seasonal temperature program with higher lows and lower highs

 

[JonPhillips]

Depends on where the tank is and what temp fluctuations it experiences in the room throughout the year? My only fear is “pushing” a heater too much too often.

A piece of mind might be just to replace all heaters once a year on a scheduled date. Just eat the cost, but then you know.

With all the tech in our industry, it’s beyond me why a company hasn’t stepped up and created the end all in reliability for heaters...it’s at least in the top three causes, if not two, for tank failures... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯