- Today on the 5 minute Saltwater Aquarium Guide
we show you how to heat a new reef tank confidently
and avoid some pretty common mistakes.
That's coming up.
(energetic music)
Hey, I'm Ryan your host at BRStv in the 5 Minute
Saltwater Aquarium Guide.
This is a clear, simplified, and direct path
to setting up a first successful reef tank.
Today we're getting our heaters
and temperatures set up right in these two tanks.
The most common goal,
and what we recommend is 78 degrees.
Heaters have one of those unique positions
in our hobby as one of the most inexpensive and easy
to install components to the tank's life support,
as well as the number one cause
of equipment-related tank failures.
That conundrum is why it's important that we get this right.
And today, you're gonna learn exactly what you need to know
to avoid all of that and do this right.
There are a dozen different heaters you could use
on a new tank in its first year.
There really isn't gonna be a huge performance difference
between most of them,
so feel free to go with whichever one you want.
That said, we're using 100 watt BRS Heater System here
for a few distinct reasons.
The 100 watts is the right size for tanks up to 40 gallons.
However right at the edge, so if your room is cooler
than the standard of around 70 degrees, you might want
to consider the next size up.
Second, we prefer titanium heating elements
over plastic and glass just because titanium tends
to be more robust, and compact, and last longer.
In this case, the BRS heating element is manufactured
by a German company SCHEGO,
and I believe, the best heating element in our industry.
Third, this option has a remote controller,
which is calibratable, has adjustable on/off cycles,
digital readout, a remote temp. probe
for increased accuracy, and not hardwired to the heater
so the controller and heater can be replaced independently.
Fourth, this is one
of the only options (machine beeps)
which has an audible alarm
for most instances of failure.
If a heater fails and gets stuck on or off,
which'll happen eventually.
It's not the kind of thing you notice just by looking
at the tank until it's too late.
An audible alarm changes the game.
In a majority of cases, you'll be there
to hear it when it happens, or be there within hours.
When you install the heater, make sure to put it somewhere
where it'll always stay submerged
even when the pumps are off, they will burn out super
fast outside the water, and in some instances can
be a fire hazard when operated outside of water.
In the 40 gallon breeder, we put it down as low as we could,
so it stays submerged during a standard 10% water change.
With the E170 you put it in this compartment
because the baffles create an area that stays
submerged in virtually all instances.
This is super critical, and then we plugged it into
the E170's power center.
To configure the controller, we turned it
to fahrenheit, set it to 78 degrees.
The on/off cycle's a 0.3 degrees, optionally you can
calibrate it for optimal performance with a high-accuracy
thermometer like the one we have from HANNA,
but you can also take a reading
from a couple lower-accuracy thermometers
like something for food, and average them to get close.
Calibration isn't required, but it is beneficial
for almost any heater.
Now that the heater is installed properly,
throughout this series, there are a few information gems
that dramatically change the success rates.
I'm about to share one of them.
Every electrical component on the tank is going
to wear out or break at some point, and we need a plan.
In many cases, heaters may turn on every minute or so,
for short periods to maintain temp., which means nearly
a half a million power ups,
and a half a million powers down a year.
That's a tough duty cycle on anything.
The disappointing piece is when they do break,
they are just as likely to fail in the on position as off.
On and overheating is just a way bigger concern.
In the first couple of years, I believe the best
and cheapest strategy to avoid all that
is just replace the inexpensive gear before it breaks.
I mean, if you're using a $30 heater,
throw it out as part of annual maintenance,
and just replace it.
Pick a date like January 1st, and just do it!
If you're using something like we did today,
which uses a higher-quality long-lasting heating element
coupled with an external controller, you can just keep
the quality heating element but replace the lower cost
controller component because that's the part that wears
out the fastest, and the part that gets stuck on.
Outside of that, there are 100 different ways
that cat-and-mouse approach to heater failures,
and as you dive deeper into reefing and your tank,
you'll find new ways to use technology to catch and fix it
the moment it happens.
That said, this is a statement that nearly 100% of reefers
will agree on, replacing something before it breaks
has a dramatically higher percentage path than most attempts
at catching it the moment it breaks.
Any time it's affordable, pick the high percentage path.
These tanks are now heated,
and the next step is answering how do we light them?
Light is not just something for our eyes.
It's a primary source of energy and nutrition
for most corals, and it's also one of the hardest things
to get clear, direct guidance on.
But we're gonna give it to you straight.
The entire saltwater aquarium guide
is always available here, but if you want to leap frog
the lighting learning curve,
it's all right here in episode 15.