Problem with heating new tank

[DustinDec]

I just filled up my new Red Sea S 550 G2 last night, and briefly went through an equipment test to ensure they're all hooked up with power. Over night, monitoring showed no change in temperature, 75f and it's still there. I have a Fluval 200w and a Finnex Titanium Aquarium Heater, 300 Watt HMA Series heater in the sump, but it seems like they're doing nothing. The blue light is on the Fluval, indicating it's heating, and the little controller for the Finnex has the green light for power, and red light indicating it's heating. Are they just too small overall? I'm even thinking about putting them into small bowl of saltwater to see if it actually heats up. Any thoughts?

 

[Uncle99]

If you unplug, does the temp fall?
If you add some unheated water near the probe, does it fall from 75?
Could it just have reached temp?
Maybe the 75 is not calibrated?

 

[RedReefer]

What was the temp of the new water you filled up with? Was it colder than your current temp?

 

[Peair]

This time of year is kind of funny on tanks, especially with the low PH and things, your wattage should be ok, the heaters might need more time, try putting both in a 5 gallon pail of cool saltwater and check carefully slightly touching both heaters to see if both are heating, and then in a half hour see if the pail is heated, if not one or both of the heaters might be defected,

 

[DustinDec]

Temp of the water going in was room temp since I'm in CA, and I mixed all the water in the garage over a few days. Initially I was heating it, but I didn't have enough heaters and it was hitting 80+ outside, so I stopped. That said, I have an apex and inkbird, they're both reading ~75. It's been a bit since I've calibrated the Inkbird, but the Apex was in active use before putting it into this new tank.

I'm thinking I'll need to pull them out and test them. Should these be enough to heat this much water (147g total approximately)?

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

I bought a fluval heater once and it just stayed on .... I just use it to heat my change water. I don't buy fluval products anymore.

You can still use it with an inkbird or some other controller, but I wouldn't trust it otherwise

 

[DustinDec]

This time of year is kind of funny on tanks, especially with the low PH and things, your wattage should be ok, the heaters might need more time, try putting both in a 5 gallon pail of cool saltwater and check carefully slightly touching both heaters to see if both are heating, and then in a half hour see if the pail is heated, if not one or both of the heaters might be defected,

This is what I'm thinking will have to happen. When I touch them now, I'm not feeling any heat.

 

[DustinDec]

I bought a fluval heater once and it just stayed on .... I just use it to heat my change water. I don't buy fluval products anymore.

You can still use it with an inkbird or some other controller, but I wouldn't trust it otherwise

I have it on an Inkbird which is tied to an apex. Though to be fair, I still need to reconfigure all my alarms and automations. That said, I was using it to heat change water, but I have 3 heaters right now. A fluval 150w in my old tank that will become a Qt, a fluval 200w I used to heat change water and the new Finnex. I was thinking the 300w finnex alone might be enough, and added the 200w just to be safe. I'm thinking something may have gone wrong with the 200w and the 300w may never have worked.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

With your total water volume and 500 watts, it should only take a couple of hours to go from 75-78. So if your not hitting 78F then something is wrong with the heaters. Only way to verify is testing individually.

I usually put it on a wattage meter and throw it in a gallon of water. See if the wattage is pulling the correct amount. Sometimes the temp control is fine but the heater isn't going full power thus lack of heating.

 

[RedReefer]

I would probably run at least two 300 W heaters on 150 gallons water volume. I think I run like 400 to 500 W per hundred gallons of water normally

Temp of the water going in was room temp since I'm in CA, and I mixed all the water in the garage over a few days. Initially I was heating it, but I didn't have enough heaters and it was hitting 80+ outside, so I stopped. That said, I have an apex and inkbird, they're both reading ~75. It's been a bit since I've calibrated the Inkbird, but the Apex was in active use before putting it into this new tank.

I would probably at least have two 300 watt heaters on that size tank.

I'm thinking I'll need to pull them out and test them. Should these be enough to heat this much water (147g total approximately)?

 

[DustinDec]

I would probably run at least two 300 W heaters on 150 gallons water volume. I think I run like 400 to 500 W per hundred gallons of water normally

I'm running a 200w + 300w right now, though they're different brand/heaters.


That said, I just put the 300w into a 5g bucket with RODI water along with the inkbird sensor. It's at ~69 right now, no movement as of yet, but it's only been 10 minutes.

 

[Dragen Fiend]

I'm running a 200w + 300w right now, though they're different brand/heaters.


That said, I just put the 300w into a 5g bucket with RODI water along with the inkbird sensor. It's at ~69 right now, no movement as of yet, but it's only been 10 minutes.

300 watts with 5 gallons and no movement in 10 minutes? It should be going up a degree every 2 minutes or so.

 

[DustinDec]

300 watts with 5 gallons and no movement in 10 minutes? It should be going up a degree every 2 minutes or so.

It took a bit, but it is now going up. Currently 73.3

 

[Dragen Fiend]

It took a bit, but it is now going up. Currently 73.3

I have a suspicion its not pulling the rated wattage.