Heater Failed

[MarkoD]

So somehow both of my 300 watt heaters seem to have failed.

My tank temp dropped to 73. nothing seems to be effected. fish and corals look fine.

bought a new heater and just wondering how slow should i raise the temp. i've raised it to 75 over the last few hours.

how long should i take to bring it up to 78

[gregzz4]

IMHO, 1 degree/hr is safe

How did both heaters fail together I wonder ?
Possibly something worth looking into

[MarkoD]

im not even sure if they failed or they just cant keep the water warm.

they're both fluval E300 with the digital screen..... and the digital screen is on, showing 73 degrees and lit up blue to indicate that its too cold

[Aquattro]

My tank dropped to 71 from 79 a while back, I raised it back up during the day, so maybe 12 hours?

[MarkoD]

ok cool... ill leave it at 75 for a couple hours and then go up a little every hour

[jorjef]

I would set them for 78 and let them do their thing. Not sure why slowly raising is a concern. When we temp aclimate fish or corals by floating the bag I'm sure it's a lot faster than 1 degree an hour..

[flipzed]

I have found with the fluval heater I turn mine off during waterchange drain sump (which is where the heater is) turn it back on and it stays blue then unplug it and plug it in again it shows accurate temp again.. give this a shot

[gregzz4]

You've had this tank running for awhile now
I'd think you would have noticed before now if the heaters can't keep up, so I'd have to agree with a failure

How many gallons is your total system ?

I like to run between 3 and 5 watts/gallon, but some think that's overkill

[Aquattro]

I would set them for 78 and let them do their thing. Not sure why slowly raising is a concern. When we temp aclimate fish or corals by floating the bag I'm sure it's a lot faster than 1 degree an hour..

Ya, I wouldn't worry about it. Unless you had a couple 1000w heaters, they won't raise it too fast. Just let them go to 78.

[MarkoD]

You've had this tank running for awhile now
I'd think you would have noticed before now if the heaters can't keep up, so I'd have to agree with a failure

How many gallons is your total system ?

I like to run between 3 and 5 watts/gallon, but some think that's overkill

no this is a new tank. everything moved. 70 gallon display but about 160 gallons total volume.

I just think it couldnt keep up because my basement is so cold. (basement sump)

At my old house we had in floor heating i dont think these heaters ever ran which is probably why i never noticed it

[gregzz4]

about 160 gallons total volume
So if it were me, I'd be running between 500 and 800 watts
But that's just me

Try what flipzed suggested

And I agree with jorjef
We do acclimate much faster than 1 degree per hour, so set them and let 'em go

[MarkoD]

Think I figured it out. Seems that there wasn't enough flow passing past the heater.

[paddyob]

I went three to six months without a heater. I actually unplugged my heater at some point before... Probably thought it was a powerhead.

I never even noticed. And because my house is always warm cause of the baby, there was zero losses and nothing bad happened. Tank was at 72.

I plugged it back in and let it heat to 78 over the day.

[gregzz4]

Think I figured it out. Seems that there wasn't enough flow passing past the heater.
Sounds like good news