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| I'm adding a 55 gallon drum(food grade plastic) to a system which already has a 75gal display and a 38gal sump. I have heaters large enough for each tank but none large enough for the entire system. Do you think this will work or do you think that the heater that is set the highest will bear the most strain and eventually fail? Flow through will be 100-300 gph. Thanks for your thoughts...
xltom
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| Hey Tom, If they are on a central system I would suggest putting a couple of heaters in the "sump" area. IMO they should be the same wattage especially if they aren't on a single controller. If you are using a controller to turn the heaters on/off I think you could mix the wattages with less concern. HTH,
________________________________________________ Keith "Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer
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| Hmmm, I looked through your selection of heaters and controllers and I'm still not sure which way to go. Can I use a controller for multiple heaters with built-in thermostats or would I need heating elements only? Which controller(for heaters with thermostats)? Seems like if I was going to use two heaters of the same wattage with no controller, it would be best to have them as far apart as possible to prevent competition...
xltom
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| OK, I think I understand a little now. I can use heaters with thermostats if I simply turn them up high, so they are controlled by the controller. I couldn't find a controller here that had spots to hook up multiple heaters. Could you recomend some reasonably priced ones?...
xltom
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| I use an AquaController Jr. (it controls my lights, monitors ph as well) for my heaters. I have three 100 watt Hydor Theo heaters. Most of the controllers will have a single plug, but you can put a heavy duty plug with more outlets into the single plug to control multiple heaters. The AquaLogic controllers and American Marine controllers are both great as well. I use the heaters with the built in thermostat so in case the controller fails, the thermostats on the heater will turn them off. I set the thermostat a few degrees higher than the controller. You can use the ones that are just the heating elements as well, but if the controller fails for some reason it could overheat the system (assuming it fails in the heating position). Keeping them apart should be fine...as long as there is water movement where the heaters are there shouldn't by any issue having them near each other either.
________________________________________________ Keith "Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer
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xltom (7/28/2009)
I couldn't find a controller here that had spots to hook up multiple heaters. Could you recomend some reasonably priced ones?...I use a heavy duty extension cord with multiple plugs (3 I think) that I got from Home Depot to plug into the single plug of the controller or you could use a good quality power strip.
________________________________________________ Keith "Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer
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Just a note. Make sure the wire gauge is #12 AWG on your extension cord. Some are marked heavy duty but are only # 14 gauge. The smaller the AWG the greater the ampacity of the wire.
Tom
"Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it".
Soren Kierkegaard
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| Kieth, How long does a ph probe last when you run it constantly. My main reasoning for looking at temp only controllers is the cost of frequently replacing probes. How much does each probe cost for the controller you are using? Thanks....
xltom
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| pH probes last around 9-12 months (or until you can't calibrate them properly any longer, I usually go around 2-3 years before replacing them myself). Now temperature probes are totally different. I personally have never replaced a temperature probe for the controllers I have used. I do use a second thermometer (usually a glass style one) to verify the readings are correct.
________________________________________________ Keith "Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy." Wayne Dyer
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