Extra heaters

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opie77

New member
I have a 125g 6' mixed reef tank. For the sump, I have a 50g DIY. I've added in a 40b thats a fuge in the room behind my main tank. I have an 800w titanium heater controlled by a Reef Keeper. The tanks are located in the lower level of my bilevel home. Temps during the winter stay in the mid 60s down stairs. The 800w heater keeps the tank at 77-78 just fine.

Im wondering if I should add a small 75-100w heater to the 40 just to take some of the load off the 800w. Its plumbed through the wall in pvc and the pvc is wrapped in pipe insulation.

Is it worth the extra electricity?
 
Regarding cost – I don’t think you’ll even notice a change. You are simply sharing the load between two heaters versus one. The larger of the two won’t have to be on as long or as often.
Is it worth it… it will add to redundancy in case your 800W fails. If both are controlled by your RK, you shouldn’t have them stick “on” unless the switch or sensor fails. Adding a high temp alarm on a separate sensor will cover that scenario.
 
I always run a 2nd heater during the winter time. It's not connected to a controller (in case my controller goes bad) but it's also not big enough to boil my tank if it goes nuts. (75G with a 29G sump in the basement. 300watt main heater; 150w back up) I figure the backup will give me some time if the main goes off unexpectedly.
 
I tried 2 250w heaters and they almost never shut off. Went with a single 800w on a controller and it does cycle.
 
It's definitely worth having a second heater. If one of them fails during the winter months you may not even notice it with the heat being on but on some day when you've got the heat turned down or if your home heat gets turned off for a while your one and only heater has already failed and you don't know it You'll have a major crash. You could easily have a tank run without a working heater for months and not even know it if you heat your home well or if your tank is close to The heating vent.
 
I have a 65 gallon display, a 65 gallon tub and 30 gallon sump. After a week long vacation where I went out of the country and left it all to a novice, I put a heater in each one since she let the sump run nearly dry and the 65's weren't getting heat.
 
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