Reef nutrition

crap- stupid heaters

[quote author=pixelpixi link=topic=5695.msg71355#msg71355 date=1230141645]
[quote author=phishphood link=topic=5695.msg71350#msg71350 date=1230134257]
I'd either set the built in controller to the max temp (it's pretty hot, not sure why that setting is there...) or disconnect the heater and wire it directly to the ranco.
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Careful there! If the ranco probe were to come out of the water, the heater would stay on and cook the tank. The internal controller is a great backup. I usually set mine to like 82. (ranco is set to 78)

I'm thinking I might add a second low wattage heater set for like 74 as a backup on the low end. Hopefully if it's low enough wattage it won't cook the tank even if it gets stuck on.
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I blows me away anyone would use a .13 cent on board thermostat for their multithousand dollar reef tank. FWIW no on board heater controller is worth a darn. They all use the same POS .13 cent unit :( Any controller will go up if your probed is removed from water, ACjr, Ranco, Medusa, etc. Just mount it right and you'll be fine. I use acrylic j-tube to mount mine and they'll never come out :) I stopped all reliance on on board thermostats years ago after multiple failures. They can go the opposite way and not come on ;) That is what happened to me.
 
Depends upon the controller, for something like a temperature controller basically what it does it has a thermocouple (fancy name for electronic thermometer), and when the temperature goes above a certain level it turns off power.
 
[quote author=jellygeee link=topic=5695.msg71382#msg71382 date=1230149540]
Sorry for a n00b question, but how does a controller works?
[/quote][quote author=sfsuphysics link=topic=5695.msg71386#msg71386 date=1230150396]
Depends upon the controller, for something like a temperature controller basically what it does it has a thermocouple (fancy name for electronic thermometer), and when the temperature goes above a certain level it turns off power.

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Lots of ideas and input. The thing about my heater is that the probe did NOT come out of the water. So it's more or less the circuitry then? Gresham- so you do have faith in ACjrs, Ranco, Medusa etc?
 
I own a dozen Ranco's (gotta love EBAY). I've only had one failure and the was a unit I bought used from a factory. I never had any problems with the Medusa and the ACJr is SOLID. You can get an ACjr for the same cost as a dual stage Ranco and you'll be supporting a local manufacturer. By local IMO :) You may even be able to pick it up at their office :)
 
I second Gresham on the Ranco's. I have used them for years and have never had a failure. Just to be sure though, I now run both my tanks with two "redundant" ranco controllers each on a separate GFCI protected circuit. The "redundant" controller is just a pair of ranco's wired in series so they both have to be on for the heater to operate. If one fails the heaters will not turn on. That's why I have a backup of another "redundant" controller. I know its a lot of Ranco's (4 per tank) but with the investment I have in both my tanks its really cheap overall. Check out ebay. You can get them for really cheap every so often.

I cannot find a good picture of one of my controller boxes right now but here is an older shot of my filter shed and you can see one of them hanging on the wall to the right.
IMG_1629.jpg
 
Yah its my fuge. A friend of mine tore down his tank a few years back and I tossed all the LR in my fuge. Now I just need to move some to my sump so I can actually grow some macro in the fuge :)
 
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