Heater Control Choices

LouH · 01/07/2012, 05:42 PM

If I run a heater off of an Apex controller or a Pinpoint controller, am I better off buying a heater with no onboard control or does redundancy of controls (both onboard and controller) gain me anything? In my experience, onboard temperature regulators/controls tend to be what fails on a heater.

Thoughts?

James77 · 01/07/2012, 06:15 PM

They are almost always the fail point. I personally use just the heating tube itself. The backup of the heater thermostat is a nice fail safe to have though. I would be more inclined to do it if you were using multiple heaters s, so if one does fail off, your tank wont go cold since a single 150 watter could not sway the temp as much as a 300 watter (example). On the other end, if the good controller were to fail and keep them on, most likely both would shut off.

LouH · 01/07/2012, 06:30 PM

I actually run both an Apex controller and an Aqua Logic controller. The Apex regulates temp between 79.7-80.3, and the Aqua Logic regulates between 79 and 81. I have four heaters split between controllers, so I feel pretty confident that I'll never have a huge chill event if I lose one controller or the other. I did recently lose a heater, and I'm trying to determine if I want an onboard controller on that heater or not. Right now I'm leaning towards no onboard temp control.

01/07/2012, 05:42 PM	#1
LouH LouH Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Reno, NV Posts: 681	Heater Control Choices If I run a heater off of an Apex controller or a Pinpoint controller, am I better off buying a heater with no onboard control or does redundancy of controls (both onboard and controller) gain me anything? In my experience, onboard temperature regulators/controls tend to be what fails on a heater. Thoughts?

01/07/2012, 06:15 PM	#2
James77 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 8,158	They are almost always the fail point. I personally use just the heating tube itself. The backup of the heater thermostat is a nice fail safe to have though. I would be more inclined to do it if you were using multiple heaters s, so if one does fail off, your tank wont go cold since a single 150 watter could not sway the temp as much as a 300 watter (example). On the other end, if the good controller were to fail and keep them on, most likely both would shut off. __________________ Jim Current Tank Info: 120g Mixed Reef and 75g Freshwater

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01/07/2012, 06:30 PM	#3
LouH LouH Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Reno, NV Posts: 681	I actually run both an Apex controller and an Aqua Logic controller. The Apex regulates temp between 79.7-80.3, and the Aqua Logic regulates between 79 and 81. I have four heaters split between controllers, so I feel pretty confident that I'll never have a huge chill event if I lose one controller or the other. I did recently lose a heater, and I'm trying to determine if I want an onboard controller on that heater or not. Right now I'm leaning towards no onboard temp control.