Thinking about upgrading heaters. Please help

[greetl01]

I’m going to pick an ink bird and I want duel heaters. Right now I have a 150w Eheim on a 29 gallon. I want to go with 2 heaters for redundancy. What size should I get if i’ll be running 2? Right now I have 2, but one is set about 75 degrees and should only cut on if the other one fails. It’s never running at the same time like I am planning to do with the upgrade.

 

[Jekyl]

You still use heaters that can do the job on their own. I have an inkbird also. One heater is set for 76 to 77 the other for 77 to 78. The first one is just for if the second fails.

 

[Snoopy 67]

Heaters usually go by water volume as 1 parameter & you do not say, so I can guess but I can be completely wrong too.

 

[greetl01]

Heaters usually go by water volume as 1 parameter & you do not say, so I can guess but I can be completely wrong too.

29 gallon

 

[greetl01]

You still use heaters that can do the job on their own. I have an inkbird also. One heater is set for 76 to 77 the other for 77 to 78. The first one is just for if the second fails.

Nice! Then I’ll just keep the one I have and buy another Eheim. The ink bird will shut it off if it overheats, correct? Will it just cut the over heating one off or both? Also, do you get text alerts with the WiFi one?

 

[Jekyl]

I didn't get the wifi version. The inkbird will use the one heater to maintain 77 to 78. It will not allow it to over heat so make sure you turn the heater itself up. If that one stops working it will use the second one to make sure the temp doesn't go below 76. If both fail an alarm will go off.

 

[jtp7004ft]

I would still do 150w. your tank is small enough so the main one won't be working as hard

 

[greetl01]

I didn't get the wifi version. The inkbird will use the one heater to maintain 77 to 78. It will not allow it to over heat so make sure you turn the heater itself up. If that one stops working it will use the second one to make sure the temp doesn't go below 76. If both fail an alarm will go off.

Last question LOL how accurate is the thermostat on it? Should I get an expensive thermometer to calibrate it?

 

[Jekyl]

I don't remember if I ever had to calibrate it. I doubt I even had to.

 

[greetl01]

I don't remember if I ever had to calibrate it. I doubt I even had to.

Thank you. Knocked all my questions out lolllll

 

[PeterLL]

IMO you should be 2000x more worried about a heater being stuck on, instead of stuff off. The vast majority of tanks can survive a gradual cooling to room temperature if a heater breaks off. If a heater breaks on, and heats the tank 30C + it is far more detrimental. Hence Instead of 2 heaters, both capable of heating the tank completely, and having 1 backup in the case one gets stuck on, you have 2 heaters, slightly underpowered. If one gets stuck on, the other turns off. The one stuck on can't boil your livestock on its own. If one fails off, the other one senses and keeps your tank warmed, even if below the optimal temperature you would like.

 

[LegendaryCG]

I run 2 slightly undersized. They both operate at the same time to provide heat and the wavebird will shut them off when heat gets to high (or my apex will). I can still maintain an ok temperature if one of them fails.

Order of operation for me:

heater thermostat (79F), wavebird - 80F, apex- 82F

 

[Jekyl]

IMO you should be 2000x more worried about a heater being stuck on, instead of stuff off. The vast majority of tanks can survive a gradual cooling to room temperature if a heater breaks off. If a heater breaks on, and heats the tank 30C + it is far more detrimental. Hence Instead of 2 heaters, both capable of heating the tank completely, and having 1 backup in the case one gets stuck on, you have 2 heaters, slightly underpowered. If one gets stuck on, the other turns off. The one stuck on can't boil your livestock on its own. If one fails off, the other one senses and keeps your tank warmed, even if below the optimal temperature you would like.

This is not right. Using a heater controller makes it impossible for a heater to be stuck on. It's the whole purpose of using a controller

 

[LegendaryCG]

This is not right. Using a heater controller makes it impossible for a heater to be stuck on. It's the whole purpose of using a controller

Impossible is a strong word.. unlikely is probably a much more accurate statement.

 

[greetl01]

IMO you should be 2000x more worried about a heater being stuck on, instead of stuff off. The vast majority of tanks can survive a gradual cooling to room temperature if a heater breaks off. If a heater breaks on, and heats the tank 30C + it is far more detrimental. Hence Instead of 2 heaters, both capable of heating the tank completely, and having 1 backup in the case one gets stuck on, you have 2 heaters, slightly underpowered. If one gets stuck on, the other turns off. The one stuck on can't boil your livestock on its own. If one fails off, the other one senses and keeps your tank warmed, even if below the optimal temperature you would like.

This is not right. Using a heater controller makes it impossible for a heater to be stuck on. It's the whole purpose of using a controller

I was thinking the same thing. Without the Inkbird, peter’s set up would be ideal. With it though it doesn’t seem like it matters. Would save a few bucks though could banish the big one to my salt bucket or QT.....

 

[LegendaryCG]

I was thinking the same thing. Without the Inkbird, peter’s set up would be ideal. With it though it doesn’t seem like it matters. Would save a few bucks though could banish the big one to my salt bucket or QT.....

All it takes is for the wavebird temperature probe to come out of the tank for the system to fail. I’ve had it happen on more than one occasion.

 

[greetl01]

IMO you should be 2000x more worried about a heater being stuck on, instead of stuff off. The vast majority of tanks can survive a gradual cooling to room temperature if a heater breaks off. If a heater breaks on, and heats the tank 30C + it is far more detrimental. Hence Instead of 2 heaters, both capable of heating the tank completely, and having 1 backup in the case one gets stuck on, you have 2 heaters, slightly underpowered. If one gets stuck on, the other turns off. The one stuck on can't boil your livestock on its own. If one fails off, the other one senses and keeps your tank warmed, even if below the optimal temperature you would like.

So what size would you recommend for 2 heaters to heat a 29 gallon? 2 75w? 2 50w?

 

[Jekyl]

Impossible is a strong word.. unlikely is probably a much more accurate statement.

I guess you're right. If the controller completely fails on the one thing it was designed to do.

 

[PeterLL]

Of course they can fail. It's a 30 quid bit of electronics, It's ridiculous to say they can't.

 

[PeterLL]

So what size would you recommend for 2 heaters to heat a 29 gallon? 2 75w? 2 50w?

I have a 250L run by 2 150W heaters. If you're tank is around 100L, then 2 75Watts would should be a pretty failsafe.

FWIW, I run a temperature controller. Why take any risks when you could be playing with thousands of worth of live animals. I sleep easier when I don't have a single point of failure to a boiled tank.