Heaters

[michaelwgroves]

As I have a 900 Litre tank I thought I would need a few heaters and one spare/for my reservoir tank.
I purchased 3 * Hydor 400W Heaters.
Initially I put two in my tank, but spent weeks trying to get the temperature to stay at 25, but found the controls had not correlation to the actual heat of the water. After many weeks I took one heater out as I thought it might be because they are fighting each other, this allowed me to achieve my correct temperature, but still with no relation to the setting on the control. I put this down to the size of my tank.

I have now setup an 80 litre quarantine tank, only half full so 40 litres, and still a single heater can not get the temperature correct. I have it at a 45 angle set to minimum setting 22, but thermometer reads 27!

I trust my thermometer as it reads exactly the same as my stick on thermometer.

Has anyone else had this problem with heaters, in particular Hydor, also are Hydor regarded as a good heater, if not I'm thinking about taking them back and swapping them for something else.

Can anyone recommend a good heater?

Thanks
Michael

 

[Underwurlde]

Heaters are notoriously inaccurate beasts, so don't be put off by the fact that you're setting one thing & getting another.

I mean at the end of the day, so what if they don't!

What you DO want the heater to do is to achieve a target temperture of the water and then to remain stable at that temperture, regardless of temperture swings of the environment (swings within reason BELOW the target temperature - obviously it cannot chill the water).

If it does that, then it is doing its job, what more can you ask? If it really does bug you, attach a dial of your own!

For two heaters, heating the same environment each with their own thermostat, things do get a bit more complicated. If it were me, I'd put heater a ) in the tank, set the correct temperture (using a thermometer to calibrate against). I'd then take it out and target the SAME temperature using heater b ). Then I'd put heater a ) back in.

Andyt

 

[Kevstir]

iv got a hydor 300watt external heater in my juwel vision 180ltr and if i set it to 25c the tank sits at 27c. iv got it down to about 22/23c on the dial and its holding steady at 25c , as has been said don't trust the dials lol

 

[michaelwgroves]

So would it be fair to say Hydor are not bad Heaters, and as all heaters have poor calibration, I might as well stick with my Hydor and just put in thermometers?

Thanks
Michael

 

[Underwurlde]

In a nutshell (edit: sp), yes....

Like I said, ignoring the calibration of the dials, is it doing its basic job correctly?

 

[michaelwgroves]

Yeah, I think apart from temperature calibration, they do hold a constant temp, so I'll stick with what I've got.

Thanks for the advice.

Michael