Djplus1 February 23 February 23 I'm curious if I'm not doing something correctly as I'm having issues keeping temps up to 77/78 (currently 76.8) and wondering if it's more of a heater not being big enough issue vs an incorrect on/off program. It's an Eheim 125w which is supposedly good for 40-53 gallons (set for about 83 on dial) and I'm using it on a Waterbox 45.2 Marine. The tank is in my basement which is climate controlled though due to energy costs the thermostat on main level is set to 66 so not sure exactly what the temp is near the tank. The program I have set is Fallback ON Set ON and no number values, but I always get notifications when the tank goes below 75, so I can go hours of seeing notifications like "If temp < 75 Then ON (74.1)" until the tank goes above 75 where I get a notfication "Set OFF" I have looked at the tank heater after this notificaiton and the heater is indeed on, so not sure what that even means. So the question is, if I were to have a larger 150w heater, would it be naturally more capable so I never see this dip below 75? And since I keep my current heater to a higher value that never gets reached, would the bigger heater be better to set to the target temp range of 77-79 or so? And where does this 75 degree threshold come from in the first place as my program makes no mention of 75 degrees for any ON/OFF actions? Or am I missing something program wise where I should have an "ON < 77 and OFF > 80" (or something like that)?
wildcrazyjoker81 February 23 February 23 So off topic a bit, but I have been lowering my temps for a bit now and working down to 74 degrees little by little. Currently at 76 and started at 78 (normal temp?). There is a lot of evidence out there that colder temps help stop some of the reefing problems people see in the hobby, specifically bacterial and pest ones that seem to thrive in warmer waters. Could always let it stay cooler is what I'm getting at.
gastone February 23 February 23 As far as the size of your heater I would say that it's undersized. I prefer to run two heaters in my bigger systems for redundancy, and just in case one goes out. I'd probably shoot for 300w total in that size tank. A 200 and a 100 or two 150s. Something like that. I might even jump up to a 250 and a 100, with the larger acting as the primary. 2
WheresTheReef February 24 February 24 It's possible you need a bigger heater. I prefer to use 2 heaters in case one goes out. Maybe add a second heater instead of a bigger one? Make sure your probe isn't in the same compartment as your heater and you have good flow through those areas. I just program the outlet as a heater and use the probe for notifications (too cold/hot). Here's the outlet and probe settings I use and where they get programmed. Probe Outlet set as Heater 1
Djplus1 February 24 Author February 24 52 minutes ago, wildcrazyjoker81 said: So off topic a bit, but I have been lowering my temps for a bit now and working down to 74 degrees little by little. Currently at 76 and started at 78 (normal temp?). There is a lot of evidence out there that colder temps help stop some of the reefing problems people see in the hobby, specifically bacterial and pest ones that seem to thrive in warmer waters. Could always let it stay cooler is what I'm getting at. Interesting. I do know that certain critters (seahorses, etc) do better in cooler water as I'm sure some pests do not so that might be something. I'm not getting much growth however and between my ICP returning low trace elements and no No3 and Po4 and realizing my salinity is low, I'm tackling a few things at once so I'd like to establish more of a standard baseline before messing around with permanent lower temps.
Djplus1 February 24 Author February 24 18 minutes ago, WheresTheReef said: It's possible you need a bigger heater. I prefer to use 2 heaters in case one goes out. Maybe add a second heater instead of a bigger one? Make sure your probe isn't in the same compartment as your heater and you have good flow through those areas. I just program the outlet as a heater and use the probe for notifications (too cold/hot). Here's the outlet and probe settings I use and where they get programmed. Probe Outlet set as Heater I can't seem to locate the probe screen you're at. I'm on Android if it's different. Also, any reason why your heater is fallback off vs on? If I had a heater without built in thermostat, I can see why, but if for some reason my Apex goes offline, I don't want the heater shutting off, or am I missing something?
WheresTheReef February 24 February 24 42 minutes ago, Djplus1 said: I can't seem to locate the probe screen you're at. I'm on Android if it's different. Also, any reason why your heater is fallback off vs on? If I had a heater without built in thermostat, I can see why, but if for some reason my Apex goes offline, I don't want the heater shutting off, or am I missing something? I'm on Android too. Click on the gear icon of the probe (see fig 1). Then click the Advanced tab (figure 2). I don't trust heaters at all. I would rather the tank cool to ambient temperature than cook.
Djplus1 February 24 Author February 24 13 hours ago, WheresTheReef said: I'm on Android too. Click on the gear icon of the probe (see fig 1). Then click the Advanced tab (figure 2). I don't trust heaters at all. I would rather the tank cool to ambient temperature than cook. Ah, that's the problem. I have no gear next to either TMP or PH on my screen. I wonder why...
Djplus1 February 24 Author February 24 6 minutes ago, WheresTheReef said: What about through the modules UI? LOL, no. What is going on that I don't have these gears? I also tried BOTH online PC and web based Fusion options and can't seem to find anyway to get to a screen like that.
WheresTheReef February 24 February 24 Weird. Which Apex model do you have? I'm running a full Apex and an Apex-EL and they both have it for the probe. Maybe something changed? Maybe there's something in the manual. https://apexfusion.com/pdf/acrm.pdf
ParrotFish February 24 February 24 I'm also on Android. Not sure why you don't have gear icons. But here is how to get to the temp probe settings https://photos.app.goo.gl/HdRwo1oCNqxGohwDA
Djplus1 February 24 Author February 24 6 hours ago, WheresTheReef said: Weird. Which Apex model do you have? I'm running a full Apex and an Apex-EL and they both have it for the probe. Maybe something changed? Maybe there's something in the manual. https://apexfusion.com/pdf/acrm.pdf I'm using an Apex Lite which I know is discontinued, but I'll dig through the manual and see if I can see anything that mentions this specific problem, though I feel I'm not going to see this exact scenario, lol
Djplus1 February 24 Author February 24 1 hour ago, ParrotFish said: I'm also on Android. Not sure why you don't have gear icons. But here is how to get to the temp probe settings https://photos.app.goo.gl/HdRwo1oCNqxGohwDA What's funny is I don't have all of those icons showing at the top that you do either. I hit the gear and and I only have 5 more icons that show up and the last is the two people one for user authorization and the temperature probe icon is two past that one lol. I guess I'll dig into that manual, but I may just be SOL on this one.
ParrotFish February 24 February 24 27 minutes ago, Djplus1 said: What's funny is I don't have all of those icons showing at the top that you do either. I hit the gear and and I only have 5 more icons that show up and the last is the two people one for user authorization and the temperature probe icon is two past that one lol. I guess I'll dig into that manual, but I may just be SOL on this one. I saw you have an apex lite. I wonder if that is the problem. I would send Neptune a message.
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