Disaster Barely Avoided

[Sawdonkey]

My tank always runs at 78.3 degrees according to my reefkeeper. This morning I went to look at my tank and noticed that it was at 77.6 degrees. I didn't think much of it and went to work. When I got home tonight, my tank was 75.1 degrees. I felt my heater tube and it was cold. I unplugged it and plugged it directly into the wall. Nothing. Basically my heater broke and I was lucky enough to catch it before disaster hit.

The thing is that I know I should run redundant heaters and I even bought a spare for this reason, but never put it in. What a dumb move. Needless to say, I bought another heater tonight, and as soon as it arrives, my tank will be running two heaters. I have read numerous times that you should run redundant heaters and I took the advice, but never executed it fully. RUN TWO HEATERS PEOPLE! I almost learned the hard way, but instead, I got lucky and still learned.

 

[Cub21rak]

Good catch! So when runnin two heaters I assume have it set like one is 78.5 then other is 77.5 so one breaks other wont let it drop too far?

 

[Sawdonkey]

Good catch! So when runnin two heaters I assume have it set like one is 78.5 then other is 77.5 so one breaks other wont let it drop too far?

No, I plan to run two 800 watt Finnex heater tubes off of my Reefkeeper. The reefkeeper is set to 78.3 degrees and if temp drops below 78.3 degrees, the reefkeeper will turn both heaters on. If one heater were to fail, the other is capable of maintaining 78.3 degrees by itself. I've not done this before, but this is how I imagine it will work.

Or, I guess the other option is to do like you said, and one heater will be the workhorse, while the other only kicks on if one fails? I guess this way would be less wear and tear on one of the heaters?

What does everyone here do?

 

[rako1]

Iv had mine running at the same temp for over 2 years, they don't work as hard as 1 and odds are that they will not go out at the same time when they do. and if one does go out you will notice the other working harder and one light not comming on. So far so good knock knock

 

[TangPolice]

Iv had mine running at the same temp for over 2 years, they don't work as hard as 1 and odds are that they will not go out at the same time when they do. and if one does go out you will notice the other working harder and one light not comming on. So far so good knock knock

+1000
Bob

 

[Rich130981]

Good catch gunner. I had a heater malfunction before and my tank was in the high 90's. No bueno.

Side note I keep forgetting to buy stamps. I haven't forgot to send you led's

 

[icedearth15324]

I recently went redundant on heaters. I have 2x 300 watt heaters on my reefkeeper. One of them is set to 77F, the other is set to 75F. That way only one heater turns on when it needs to heat, and if it dies, the other will keep the tank from dropping below 75F. Since it is a 75g tank with a 30g sump, it should take awhile for it to drop to 75F, and it isn't that bad of a drop.

Pretty sure the heater in my QT tank just died on me last night though, noticed my fish were swimming a little slower, checked the temp on thermometers and it said 72F! I immediately replaced it with a new heater. And that is why it is always important to have spare heaters.

 

[Sawdonkey]

+1000
Bob

Bob, I'm confused. Doesn't "+1" mean "me too" or "I agree" or "one more person agrees?" So when you say "+1000," are you saying they you and 999 of your friends agree? Do you have alternate personalities that all agree? I'm just playing with you. Carry on

I'm going to go with both heaters at the same temp. There is no need for the temp to drop if one heater dies. Has anyone ever had a reefkeeper temp probe go bad? This scares me too.

 

[icedearth15324]

Bob, I'm confused. Doesn't "+1" mean "me too" or "I agree" or "one more person agrees?" So when you say "+1000," are you saying they you and 999 of your friends agree? Do you have alternate personalities that all agree? I'm just playing with you. Carry on

I'm going to go with both heaters at the same temp. There is no need for the temp to drop if one heater dies. Has anyone ever had a reefkeeper temp probe go bad? This scares me too.

I generally agree with the idea that the temp shouldn't drop, but I'd rather personally just keep my backup as a failsafe. I don't want two heaters turning on and off every 5 minutes for a minute to keep the temperature up. I think of them like light bulbs. Most of the time bulbs burn out when you first turn them on, and not when they've already been running. So I feel the more you turn heaters on and off, the higher chance of it burning out. But that's just my opinion.

 

[Joe5688]

Im running 2 heaters on my system also. I was running them separately on my apex outlets but now I run both heaters on the same outlet. Seems to be working well and it frees up one of my outlets lol.

 

[Sawdonkey]

Im running 2 heaters on my system also. I was running them separately on my apex outlets but now I run both heaters on the same outlet. Seems to be working well and it frees up one of my outlets lol.

I never thought of this. So simple. I only have four outlets on my reefkeeper, so saving one is a big score for me. I just need to find a splitter. Thanks for the tip.

 

[zportell]

I am running 3 heaters in my 250 Gallon Reef.. I have a 300w heater in each of my overflows. Just in case the return pump fails, the DT is still being heated. I also run the 3rd heater (300w) in the sump. The two heaters in the DT are connected to a temp controller rated for 800w. The heater in the sump is set on high and it is not on a temp controller just to offset an outage by one of my heaters on in the DT.

I had the experience of having a return pump fail and my heaters were in the sump causing the DT to drop about 15 degrees while I was at work. So for about 9 hours, the tank was cooling. Never again will I go through that as I have created a disaster recovery plan. Back up after back up, after backup!

PS - for those of you who have corner or center, top-to-bottom, overflows and can afford to use the real estate, I would highly recommend utilizing those spaces for heaters. my two-cents.

 

[skyon888]

I keep meaning to pick up a controller, and dropping another redundant heater in the sump. I need to get on this after reading this thread.

I'm more afraid of the heater failing in the on position. Most of us run heaters that are overkill, and can cook a tank much quicker than the time it would take water to reach a cold enough temp. to wipe out everything. So, when running a redundant heater I would personally run them with staggered temperatures on separate outlets.

My reasoning is because the controller can then turn off the heaters independently. This way when your main heater fails, you have the backup to continue keeping the tank at proper temperature until you can replace it (which might be a few days if this happens while you're out of town).

 

[skyon888]

I am running 3 heaters in my 250 Gallon Reef.. I have a 300w heater in each of my overflows. Just in case the return pump fails, the DT is still being heated. I also run the 3rd heater (300w) in the sump. The two heaters in the DT are connected to a temp controller rated for 800w. The heater in the sump is set on high and it is not on a temp controller just to offset an outage by one of my heaters on in the DT.

I had the experience of having a return pump fail and my heaters were in the sump causing the DT to drop about 15 degrees while I was at work. So for about 9 hours, the tank was cooling. Never again will I go through that as I have created a disaster recovery plan. Back up after back up, after backup!

PS - for those of you who have corner or center, top-to-bottom, overflows and can afford to use the real estate, I would highly recommend utilizing those spaces for heaters. my two-cents.

Great Idea of placing the redundant heater behind the overflow,

 

[Joe5688]

I am running 3 heaters in my 250 Gallon Reef.. I have a 300w heater in each of my overflows. Just in case the return pump fails, the DT is still being heated. I also run the 3rd heater (300w) in the sump. The two heaters in the DT are connected to a temp controller rated for 800w. The heater in the sump is set on high and it is not on a temp controller just to offset an outage by one of my heaters on in the DT.

I had the experience of having a return pump fail and my heaters were in the sump causing the DT to drop about 15 degrees while I was at work. So for about 9 hours, the tank was cooling. Never again will I go through that as I have created a disaster recovery plan. Back up after back up, after backup!

PS - for those of you who have corner or center, top-to-bottom, overflows and can afford to use the real estate, I would highly recommend utilizing those spaces for heaters. my two-cents.

While that idea is awesome, Every overflow drains lower then your tank water. Which means either your heater is going to be on with no water in your overflow, or your heater will be on heating the water in your overflow and not heating the water in your tank lol.

Only way I can see that working is if u keep a heater In your tank on a battery backup.

 

[Joe5688]

I am running 3 heaters in my 250 Gallon Reef.. I have a 300w heater in each of my overflows. Just in case the return pump fails, the DT is still being heated. I also run the 3rd heater (300w) in the sump. The two heaters in the DT are connected to a temp controller rated for 800w. The heater in the sump is set on high and it is not on a temp controller just to offset an outage by one of my heaters on in the DT.

I had the experience of having a return pump fail and my heaters were in the sump causing the DT to drop about 15 degrees while I was at work. So for about 9 hours, the tank was cooling. Never again will I go through that as I have created a disaster recovery plan. Back up after back up, after backup!

PS - for those of you who have corner or center, top-to-bottom, overflows and can afford to use the real estate, I would highly recommend utilizing those spaces for heaters. my two-cents.

While that idea is awesome, Every overflow drains lower then your tank water. Which means either your heater is going to be on with no water in your overflow, or your heater will be on heating the water in your overflow and not heating the water in your tank lol.

Only way I can see that working is if u keep a heater In your tank on a battery backup.

 

[Joe5688]

I keep meaning to pick up a controller, and dropping another redundant heater in the sump. I need to get on this after reading this thread.

I'm more afraid of the heater failing in the on position. Most of us run heaters that are overkill, and can cook a tank much quicker than the time it would take water to reach a cold enough temp. to wipe out everything. So, when running a redundant heater I would personally run them with staggered temperatures on separate outlets.

My reasoning is because the controller can then turn off the heaters independently. This way when your main heater fails, you have the backup to continue keeping the tank at proper temperature until you can replace it (which might be a few days if this happens while you're out of town).

But if your main heater fails on (which I don't think mine do, I run Eheims) then your controller will automatically turn it off anyyways once tank has reached temperature. Then once u get below temp both heaters will turn on again. Regardless of it sticking on it's going to turn off when ur controller kills the outlet.

 

[Joe5688]

Any further questions!?

 

[skyon888]

But if your main heater fails on (which I don't think mine do, I run Eheims) then your controller will automatically turn it off anyyways once tank has reached temperature. Then once u get below temp both heaters will turn on again. Regardless of it sticking on it's going to turn off when ur controller kills the outlet.

Ah yes.... I always seem to forget that the controller becomes in complete control of the heater...

I need to stop hitting the pipe! haha



So when you use a heater on a controller, to you just turn the temperature on the heater itself all the way up?

 

[Sawdonkey]

So when you use a heater on a controller, to you just turn the temperature on the heater itself all the way up?

I run heat tubes (Finnex Titanium) that are only meant to run on a controller. They are either on or off. No temp setting.

So after all of this discussion, here is what I am going to do.

I am going to put one heater tube in the sump. I am going to put one heater tube in an overflow. I will put my temp probe in the other overflow. This will give me redundancy if a heater fails. It will also give me backup in case my return pump fails, which I think is probably as likely as a heater failing.

So with this setup, here is my question.......If my return pump were to fail, would heat be able to transfer through the wall of my overflow? If it did would it also transfer through the other overflow for my temp probe to register the temp properly. I guess the best thing to do would be to put the temp probe directly into the DT but I'm not really into the idea of junking up my DT with a heat probe.

Thanks for the discourse on this guys. I think this is a very useful topic.