Yippee...130 gall. set-up

[Mbuna Ron]

Well I've gone and done it! I got my dream tank-a 130 gallon. Managed to get it home safely and with the help of two buddies into the fish room. Now the set-up.

Based on input from Kyle (African Fever) and RD, I settled on uniblast #19 frac sand - quartz -a bit larger grain than PFS. Will use egg crate below for granite rocks.

What do you think..one 250watt Ebo-jager heater enough?

What about a powerhead to move water?

Black background-done

This will be a Mipimbwe Front tank

Using one biological wet/dry : eheim filter and an Rena XP3

[African_Fever]

I personally use two heaters in my larger tanks as it gives me some assurance that if one were to conk I'd have the other for back up. There's actually a guy on another forum who had his heater go on him and fry a colony of WC moori, so there were a number of suggestions brought up. The best idea I saw was to use two heaters both somewhat 'underpowered' to do the tank on their own, but enough in combination. This way if you have one stuck on, it alone won't fry your tank, and will only raise the temp a few degrees (versus say a 500w heater that could cook just about any tank).

[RD.]

The best idea is to run your heaters through a controller, but they aren't exactly cheap. I spoke with a guy a month or so ago who lost his entire tank (125 gallon) full of Africans when his 200w heater stuck on overnight. He said it was fine when he went to bed, and in the AM his tank was pushing 100F, and all of his fish were boiled. Ranco, Medusa, both brands are used by the reefers as temp control units.

[Mbuna Ron]

Do any heaters have a shut-off feature if they stick so as to prevent this? Has anyone had an ebo heater malfunction?

[RD.]

Do any heaters have a shut-off feature if they stick so as to prevent this?

No

Every make of heater on the market has malfunctioned, including ebo-jagers.

[Mbuna Ron]

Anyone on the board using a controller?

[Mbuna Ron]

Kyle's idea has merit-two underpowered heaters-so if one malfunctions it would take longer to overheat the tank and cook the fish. So for a 130 what would you consider to be two slightly underpowered heaters? 2 150's ?

[RD.]

I will be as soon as Rob has my stand completed, and Kim has my tank in.

If you surf around the reef boards, including Canreef, you'll find that a lot of people use temp control units to prevent disasters from heater failure. Here's a past thread on this subject on Canreef.

http://www.canreef.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=16578

Ron - two 150's would be a good idea on a 130, but the bottom line is this, even a single 150w heater, stuck in the ON position, can cook a tank if one doesn't happen to be around, and notice the temp increase, when/if the heater fails.

A controller such as the ones made by Medusa or Ranco offer a back up if/when a heater malfunctions.

Edited December 4, 2005 by RD.

[Mbuna Ron]

Thanks for the information Neil. I'm going to do some digging on temp. control units. What can I expect as a price?

How about your tank? What are you planning to stock it with?

[RD.]

Prices vary, depends on the make, etc-etc, but the controllers for temp can run from $100+ - 200+. I plan on stocking my 125 with L. caeruleus, C. moori, and S. petricola. Down the road I'll probably add a single male S. fryeri as well.

[Majestic_Aquariums]

I donno about this-I have owned alot of heaters-but none (or very few) got used-trying to get rid of the heat from the lighting is a bigger prob for me...

I would think that w/ a good glass lid, and a Titanium (Ebos are good too) it is pretty safe.

I regulated an incubator temp. with a titanium Won Bros. aquarium heater to a range of +-4 deg. f.-pretty accurate IMO. (this was the air temp range, not the water it was in..) But watch the external control-they can get adjusted a little too easy with a bump or Kids, etc. :grr:

Edited December 4, 2005 by Majestic_Aquariums

[Mbuna Ron]

Is a Titanium heater more reliable than Ebo?

Neil I have 3 Malawi dolphins and 9 electric yellows that I have grown out from fry I recieved from Dwayne. They have been raised on NLS and have excellent colour.

[RD.]

For the most part aquarium heaters are made from fairly cheap components, including Won titanium heaters. It's not about how consistent they can maintain a set temp, it's about what happens if/when they fail in the ON position.

As an example, here's a single thread, from a single forum, with regards to the failure rate of these hobbyists Won titanium heaters.

http://www.simplydiscus.com/forum/showthread.php?t=44548

Here's another comment that I recently read on another forum:

Reading this thread actually 'hurts'. I lost so many wild caught fish to one of the Pro-Heat II heaters going nuclear on me it isn't even funny.

WC Bulu point Leleupi, WC Cyp's, WC Black Calvus, Juli. Regani Kachese pair + 75+Fry, man the list just makes me sick as can be.

I will never own another Pro-Heat heater. I had rather go without.

And I'm not singling out any one brand of heaters, ANY heater can fail in the on position. Most of the glass units such as E-J, Tronic, Visi-Therm, etc, are controlled by a bi-metallic strip that probably costs less than $1 in Hong Kong, Italy, Germany, wherever, and the thought of risking an entire tank of adult fish, due to a faulty (or worn) $1 bi-metallic strip doesn't sit too well with me.

Bi-metallic strips work by a rather simple process - they expand as the tank water gets warm and contract as the tank water cools, which opens and closes an electrical contact, which in turn controls the heater coils. When the contacts close, the coils heat up. When the contacts are open, the coils shut off. The problem is these metal strips can only open and close so many times until they eventually wear out. Sometimes they are faulty from the get go. (rare, but it happens often enough not to rule it out)

I'm simply not going to take that risk with my 125. IMO a temp control unit is cheap insurance when one considers how much $$$ some of these fish cost, and/or how long it takes to grow some of them out to maturity.

Here's some reviews posted on CF for Won heaters.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/reviews/view_...view.php?id=424

and here's some posted for Ebo-Jager heaters.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/reviews/view_...view.php?id=289

Edited December 4, 2005 by RD.

[Jods2518]

Just reading this post and thought I'd share my Experience. I have 2-250 watt heaters on my 180gal tank, both Jagers. One of them after about 3 months decided to stick on, thank god I noticed it, but it never got warmer that 85 degrees. It was covered by a warranty and I'm still waiting for them to send me a new one, been 3 weeks running on one 250 watt heater, and the tank is holding its own. But I don't want to know what would have happened if I hadn't been a little paranoid and constantly staring at the heaters and wondering "why isn't that light going out??"!!

Jodaye

[RD.]

It seems that when Eheim took over Jager, there was a sudden increase in failures, at least from what I've been reading on various forums. Some people are convinced they are the same heater, made in the same factory, which could be true, but I suspect that they no longer are using the same internal thermostats as E-J was using a few years ago. The heaters thermostat is the weak link, and if it fails in the on position, it doesn't take that long for a tank to go from 78F, to 98F. Glad you caught yours in time Jodaye!

Another part of the problem is that ALL heater manufacturers recommend going BIG when selecting their heaters. As an example, Marineland suggests using a 200W heater for 25-65 gallon tanks.

http://www.marineland.com/products/consumer/con_vtherm.asp

200w for a 25 gallon tank? Or 300w for a 75 gallon?

Unless you're keeping your tanks in a room that sits at 50F year round, that's just plain pizz poor advice, and a quick recipe for disaster if your heater fails in the on position.

I find this online calculator to be far more reliable when selecting the size of a heater. http://www.kernsanalysis.com/HeaterCalculator.cgi