What is going on?- Massive Temp Drop!

[MSB123]

If you just create a username and password, I can let you access my apex remotely from your username

 

[TheEngineer]

Are you able to access apex fusion? I can share perms with you so you can look at it yourself- I’m a bit dumb when it comes to these things.

I've never used it before in my life... lol So I'm probably not gonna be much help in that regard

Maybe we can get someone from #reefsquad to give some Apex advice.

 

[MSB123]

Yes, I have both heaters in the same outlet.

 

[MSB123]

Thx for the help so far! Temp is now back up to 76.4 The heaters I’m using are a 500 watt finex and a 300 watt cobalt. The cobalt has been in one of my systems for about 3 years now, and the finnex is new as of about 4 days ago

 

[Brew12]

I recommend running each heater from a separate outlet. I would have the 300W heater turn on at 78.0 and off at 78.3. Have the 500W heater turn on at 77.7 and off at 78.0.

That should give you better temperature stability.

 

[MSB123]

Got it- I’ll configure it now

 

[TheEngineer]

I recommend running each heater from a separate outlet. I would have the 300W heater turn on at 78.0 and off at 78.3. Have the 500W heater turn on at 77.7 and off at 78.0.

That should give you better temperature stability.

Looking at the temp graph versus the outlet state, I'm concerned his heaters are not coming on. One thought was the 800W was too much for a particular channel. The other was that the channel was possibly faulty and not coming on right away. There's no reason why his temp should continue to drop after 800W of heat comes on.

 

[jsker]

For a 150 I would suggest a minimum of 800w for heating. A four degree swing is a pretty big one and even a two degree is a pretty good swing. Yes system can have large swings every once in awhile but we want to keep our system pretty consistent like the ocean. Here is my apex setting and you can of course adjust up for your system needs
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Tmp < 78.4 Then ON
If Tmp > 78.6 Then OFF
If FeedC 002 Then OFF
If FeedD 002 Then OFF

I would suggest adding a Finnex heater without the controller. I like the Finnex heaters because they are not glass. I have a 300w for a 80 gallon water volume and I am going to add a another 300w for the reason we do not run the heat very often and last week when we hand a nice cold front roll through here I had to add and extra heater to maintain the tank temp.

 

[TheEngineer]

we do not run the heat very often and last week when we hand a nice cold front roll through here I had to add and extra heater to maintain the tank temp.

Says the guy in Florida lol

 

[ihavecrabs]

@Brew12 and @jsker have the right idea. I don't have any more to add other than if you would like to post your proposed program for the heater outlets, I (we) would be happy to give feedback on it.

I personally use the seasonal temperature table that apex provides with some minor tweaks. This is definitely more advanced and not necessary by any means

 

[Brew12]

I'm concerned his heaters are not coming on. One thought was the 800W was too much for a particular channel.

You could be correct. 800W should pull about 6.2 amps and only outlets 4 and 8 are rated for that much. The other 6 outlets are only rated for 5 amps.

For a 150 I would suggest a minimum of 800w for heating.

Agreed in most situations. My 187g is in a fairly small bedroom/office and I can maintain 77.5-77.8 using a 150W heater. I have 2, 300W heaters as a backup. If I have my window and door open at the same time the air flow through the room kicks the backup heaters on quickly. If my system were in a more open area I would probably use a 300W primary and an 800W backup.
I've found I get much better temperature stability using a smaller heater for primary control and a large heater for a backup. In my situation, a 300W heater warmed the tank more quickly than I wanted.

 

[jsker]

Says the guy in Florida lol

Oh yeah, some were busting out the down coats when the low was 43

 

[MSB123]

I have my tank in what was a den, its sunken into the ground, and keeps a relatively stable temperature. I think I just need a little bit more accurate programing, and it will hopefully work!

 

[MSB123]

What is better, the built-in software for heaters, or an advanced program?

 

[TheEngineer]

You could be correct. 800W should pull about 6.2 amps and only outlets 4 and 8 are rated for that much. The other 6 outlets are only rated for 5 amps.

Is there a way to check the power draw on a graph in fusion?

 

[MSB123]

I dont think so- does anyone have an idea?

 

[MSB123]

Does anyone know something about apex programming? I can invite you to edit my apex and I think it would be easier to do it directly rather than relying on my errors with programming

 

[JoshKReef]

This may be a dumb question, but does your finnex have a controller as well? Do you have that set above or right on what you want your temp to be? I would set it a few degrees over so the Apex has full control, but if apex fails the finnex won't overheat by much. It could be your finnex is not coming on because the controller reads right next to your heater.

 

[Brew12]

What is better, the built-in software for heaters, or an advanced program?

I used to use a simple heater program. It worked well enough.

Is there a way to check the power draw on a graph in fusion?

I dont think so- does anyone have an idea?

Yup. You can graph the amp draw on the EB8

 

[MSB123]

This may be a dumb question, but does your finnex have a controller as well? Do you have that set above or right on what you want your temp to be? I would set it a few degrees over so the Apex has full control, but if apex fails the finnex won't overheat by much. It could be your finnex is not coming on because the controller reads right next to your heater.

I do have it set at 82