Not crying wolf but help.

[Joshifer]

I have two submersible marine land heaters (thanks Tom) I have one on each side of the 65 gal set to 75 each. And my thermometers are reading 82. I have one floating glass one and one of those stickers.

 

What should I set them to I think 82 is way too hot. And that's without the lights. With the lights it climbs to 84-86, i turned the heaters down to 72. And pulled a koralia up half way in the water to infuse air. I don't wanna drop the temp real fast. It's 80 now. Heater lights are off. And lights are all off. I actually removed the whole thing to get some open space for air.

 

Should I take one heater out? Their 150W each. Or set one low and one high. I set them to 75 because tanks in a basement with marble floors and its cold down here.

 

Fish seem ok. Not breathing heavy. Fed them to see if their stressed. But they ate. Or am I worried for nothin?

[Gadgets]

Just get the temp down to 78-80 and keep it there.

[Joshifer]

Just get the temp down to 78-80 and keep it there.

Ok but what do I set the heaters to. Because 75 each took it to 82?

[TheyCallMeMr.703]

Use only 1... and Set it to 78... and See what happens....

[Joshifer]

Use only 1... and Set it to 78... and See what happens....

Ok unplugging one now and dialing. Thanks.

[Big Country]

Don't trust the setting on the heater, they are usually bad.  If your thermometers both read the same temperature trust the thermometers and keep lowering the setting on the heater until the thermometers gets down around 78 or so.

[Coral Hind]

I agree, ignore the heater temp and go by the thermometers. Some heaters also have a large swing or differential of a few degrees between on and off which can be an issue. I prefer to use some kind of digital temp controller to lower the differential to just one degree. 

[Arkonen]

Internal sensors on heaters are notoriously known for going bad and raising your temp past what it thinks it is reading.  I'd stick with 1 slightly underpowered heater, so in case it decides to play havoc, you won't boil your tank.

[smallreef]

Yeah I'm with everyone...just use one and set it wherever it keeps your tank at 78ish wether that's 72 or 70... Heaters aren't perfect...and I'm going to assume you aren't using any kind of cover on the tank right? That cuts oxygen levels and makes temps rise a little...

[Origami]

Normally, I'd say ignore the temperature setting on the heater. But I've seen the cards in the floating thermometers shift so that they give a bad temperature reading, too. (For example, when the card shifts downward, the thermometer reads high.) Plus, the heater reading seems to be a long way off. Can you check the thermometer against another reference or another thermometer? If the thermometer's range goes down to 32 degrees, put some ice and water in a cup and let it stabilize. Put your thermometer in and it should read 32.

[sachabballi reef]

just out of curiosity what was the temperature in the tank without the heaters? It seems to me that you really don't need one right now if the tank is getting that hot 

I dont use heaters in my tanks in the summer....and the tanks are in the basement as well....

[Joshifer]

Yeah I'm with everyone...just use one and set it wherever it keeps your tank at 78ish wether that's 72 or 70... Heaters aren't perfect...and I'm going to assume you aren't using any kind of cover on the tank right? That cuts oxygen levels and makes temps rise a little...

  

Normally, I'd say ignore the temperature setting on the heater. But I've seen the cards in the floating thermometers shift so that they give a bad temperature reading, too. (For example, when the card shifts downward, the thermometer reads high.) Plus, the heater reading seems to be a long way off. Can you check the thermometer against another reference or another thermometer? If the thermometer's range goes down to 32 degrees, put some ice and water in a cup and let it stabilize. Put your thermometer in and it should read 32.

  

just out of curiosity what was the temperature in the tank without the heaters? It seems to me that you really don't need one right now if the tank is getting that hot 

I dont use heaters in my tanks in the summer....and the tanks are in the basement as well....

No cover Kim just the light itself. Alot is exposed to open air.

Tom I'm using the floating kind and the sticker kind they both read the same.

Jen. When I filled it and it sat over night half full. Without anything in it. It was In the 50s. Theirs no carpet down here it's all marble. And like I said its really hot upstairs so the ac is always on. I closed the vents still gets cold down here.

[Djplus1]

No cover Kim just the light itself. Alot is exposed to open air.

Tom I'm using the floating kind and the sticker kind they both read the same.

Jen. When I filled it and it sat over night half full. Without anything in it. It was In the 50s. Theirs no carpet down here it's all marble. And like I said its really hot upstairs so the ac is always on. I closed the vents still gets cold down here.

I doubt your house temp is in the 50's unless you live in an ice cream parlor cold box. The temps of water out of the faucet are pretty cold and if it was just over night, the water temp could not have had time to get to true room temp yet, thus your 50's.

[swimmatte]

I'm kind of surprised so many people are suggesting you use only one heater.  It sounds like you have two of the exact same heaters.  If that's the case, I would recommend using both of them, but turning them further and further down until your tank gets under 80 degrees.  You said it reached 80 by just turning it down to 72, and the heaters haven't cut back on yet, so I'd have to imagine you're headed under 80 shortly.  The reason it's good to use two heaters is because if you use one, and that heater fails completely, you'll wake up to a tank that's way too cold.  If you use two undersized heaters, and one goes down, the other one will keep us as much as possible, and buy you more time before the tank hits possibly fatal temps for your livestock.  In my opinion, heaters are more likely to fail and not heat at all than they are likely to boil your tank.......  just my opinion.

[lnevo]

Not true..most heaters fail when the thermostat goes and they cam easily go and be stuck on. In fact that could already be part of your problem...off by 8 degrees is a lot. Most heaters ive seen the bottom end is in low 70 so how much lower can these go? I have a feeling one may already have a busted thermostat.

 

I agree though on two heaters if you can but they should be undersized. I run a 200w on my 65g (70g total water) and it works very well. I think the two 150s is a good amount.

 

What I'm surprised that no one has mentioned a temp controller. For like $50 you can get a digital temp controller that would control the power to your heaters and shut them off if it went past the set temperature.

[Joshifer]

I doubt your house temp is in the 50's unless you live in an ice cream parlor cold box. The temps of water out of the faucet are pretty cold and if it was just over night, the water temp could not have had time to get to true room temp yet, thus your 50's.

Not the house temp. The water just sitting in a tank without equip dropped to 50 over night. When i setup no fish nothing running. It was that really cold night we had a few days ago. But I got the temp stable at 78 without lights and 80 with lights. Is this acceptable?

Edited October 9, 2013 by Joshifer

[Djplus1]

Not the house temp. The water just sitting in a tank without equip dropped to 50 over night. When i setup no fish nothing running. It was that really cold night we had a few days ago. But I got the temp stable at 78 without lights and 80 with lights. Is this acceptable?

What I'm saying is it's not physically possible for your water to get that cold unless your house temp is like 60 degrees. Water is only a few degrees colder than ambient air, so unless your tank is next to an open window on a 50 night, it's doubtful your tank hit 50 because of "sitting there" with no heater. I think my tank hit 67 once when my stuff was being set up.

78-80 is perfect.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Djplus1

[monkiboy]

a 2° variance and 78-80 is great.

 

What I'm saying is it's not physically possible for your water to get that cold unless your house temp is like 60 degrees.

 
his post earlier in another thread: 

That's still too hot for me and the mrs. Mine. Even right now is at 60. and in the winter i close the heat vents. Idk we just like it cold...

Edited October 9, 2013 by monkiboy

[TheyCallMeMr.703]

a 2° variance and 78-80 is great.

 

 

 

his post earlier in another thread: 

+1   LOL, all the info is true... lol

[Joshifer]

What I'm saying is it's not physically possible for your water to get that cold unless your house temp is like 60 degrees. Water is only a few degrees colder than ambient air, so unless your tank is next to an open window on a 50 night, it's doubtful your tank hit 50 because of "sitting there" with no heater. I think my tank hit 67 once when my stuff was being set up.

78-80 is perfect.

Lol that actually was the case I had the window open right next to the tank of water. And that night we hit 52° and ac was STILL on. (I think we're Eskimos)