Heating a 125 gal

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opie77

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Hi all, Id like some info on heating a 125g 6 footer with hopefully a 55g sump. The room I have is in my lower level and is usually in the lower 60s in the winter, upper 60s/lower 70s in the summer. Not sure yet if I'm going with a canopy, but I'll have LEDs from the group buy here. The room is heated/ac and will eventually be a bar.

Thanks!
 
I use a single 250W jager for the same water volume. I had similar basement temps until I installed the tank and now it stays in the upper 60's in the winter. I do have a backup heater but it never operates. The single heater keeps water witihin the 2 deg range I set. All led setup with all pumps external.
 
Thanks joe!

Thanks jrpark! My wife liked hearing it may help heat the room too. Shes always freezing downstairs. Lol
 
Its safer to use 2 lower powered heaters. That way if one gets stuck to on position, which is the cause of alot of tank crash, its lower power and cant really overheat your tank to the point of boiling it
 
Or just get one Eheim Jager 250w they heat the most gallons per watt of any brand for $25 and a Finnex deluxe heater controller for $50 that cuts the power to the heater if the tank ever goes over a set temp. $75 and you have the best most efficient heater and the peace of mind of the heater controller.

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opie77 said:
Thanks joe!

Thanks jrpark! My wife liked hearing it may help heat the room too. Shes always freezing downstairs. Lol
Click to expand...

NP. I use to use the basement as a cool retreat in the summer... not anymore. The basement gets into the 80s and I have a room AC to keep the tank cool.
 
UPDATE:
So I finally have my tank up and running. Sand, rock, water, pump (noisey), and 2 Ehiem/Jager 200w heaters. Room temp is around 65 right now and either both or one heater is always on. Did I buy two, to small heaters?
 
I've got a 1000 watt titanium heater on my 180 but its controlled by an apex. Have you monitored the temperature with a separate probe or thermometer?


Martini and Rossi Asti Spumante
 
Sorry to hear. Here are graphs of my air/water temps and when my single 250W is on, 4' 110gal. I don't have data going back to when it was colder in the basement. Below when I was at 67-68 mine is on less than 50% of the time. All my pumps and power heads are external adding minimal heat.

Are you sure your air temp isn't below 65? Also if you have dry basement air you might be getting a lot of evaporatin, how much ATO do you need to add daily?

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I have a 400 and 250 controled threw apex heating my 300g twv in my basement that's about 60s. The tanks actually heats the room.
 
Room temp right now is 64. During the winter, it'll get down to 60-62 degrees, so I'd like to factor in for that also. I don't have my ATO in, I'm waiting for a new return pump and don't want to flood the tank with ro. I've been adding roughly 1 gallon per day to keep the water at a level I drew in my return chamber in the sump.
 
If you are only evaporating a gallon daily, it is not causing excess cooling.

Given it sounds like you need a constant 200W+ to maintain tank temp when your room is aprox 13 deg different(assuming 77deg tank.) If you drop air temp an additional 4 deg to 60 (additional 30%) that would be in excess of 260W needed. Thermal dynamics is not linear so this estimate is just that. Also your new pump will affect this number if you are changing size. If you are using submersible pump, you can arguably use the pump wattage as equivalent heater wattage (ex; a 65w pump = 65w heat addition.) Albeit on the low side, your current 400W of heat may cover your needs. Replacing one of your 200w heaters with a 300w would give some more wiggle room.

If you give some time for the tank and room to adjust to each other your room should warm a couple degrees. Once you add the radiant heat from the LED sinks, energy from the animals, any temp increase from your extra time in the room, you heating needs will also lesson.
 
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