Could this cause a problem?

[Jarrett]

Since winter is going to be upon us pretty soon i wanted to take some extra steps of caution to avoid any issues down the road. i have a RKL and one free spot on my PC4 i already have my main heater on one channel but i wanted to put a back up heater on the free channel. is this doable? is it a bad idea? just curious. thanks guys

 

[thirty5]

IMO. you should always have 2 heaters, never ONE. So if you need 350w for your tank get 2 400's. And then let the controller do the work. This is a good thing in case the inner switch breaks and it turns on and stays on.

When you have a controller it is a little different since the controller will turn off the power and the internal switch on the heater will not matter.

But for a short answer, no it is not a bad idea. But I would not run 2 of them at the same wattage. Just have 2 of them at half the amount and configure them exactly the same on the controller then they will go on and off at the same time. But it is a little security if one craps out, at least you have something!

 

[rbtwo4]

imo. You should always have 2 heaters, never one. So if you need 350w for your tank get 2 400's. And then let the controller do the work. This is a good thing in case the inner switch breaks and it turns on and stays on.

When you have a controller it is a little different since the controller will turn off the power and the internal switch on the heater will not matter.

But for a short answer, no it is not a bad idea. But i would not run 2 of them at the same wattage. Just have 2 of them at half the amount and configure them exactly the same on the controller then they will go on and off at the same time. But it is a little security if one craps out, at least you have something!

+1

 

[Jarrett]

well ones a 200 watt and the back up one i wanted to use is a 150 watt. my main heater is set to go on at 78.5 and i figured id set the second one to go on at 78.

 

[Jarrett]

you think i should just have them set both for 78.5? my thinking was that if the main one failed the second one would turn on and pick up the slack till i realize it.

 

[thirty5]

The size of the heater depends on the size of your tank.

I would not use a "back up". Use them both at the same time. having 2 is for security purposes in case one craps out. You can do what you want but if for some reason one of them stays on (should not happen since the controller is controlling the power) then it will heat the water way too much. The point of having the 2nd is that since they are only running at half the total amount, that one staying on will not be able to get the tank as hot as the single one.

Hope this makes sense. IMO if you plan to have 2, use them both. I am not educated about the RKL, but with the APEX i have it set to send me a text and email with an alarm if the temp gets too high or low...

 

[Jarrett]

ok i get that. should i have both heaters on there dials set to the 78 point? or makes no differance. and i have an alarm but its only set to beep. so if i am not home it doesn't really do me any good.

 

[Cris007]

I would set the heaters at 78? and the rkl at 79-80?. If u use the rkl to operate the heater u r going to put alot of use on the pc4 and the module might fail sooner than later. It's less expensive to replace the heater than the pc4. Let the rkl act as your fail safe. Test all scenarios. JMO

 

[Jarrett]

thats why i wanted to set the back up one to only turn on at 78. that way if the main heater does fail the back up will save the tank before it gets to cold. i think i am going to do that instead. thanks for the help guys.

 

[h2o]

I used a 500w heater on my tank controlled by my apex and in winter months it didn't keep up so I got a second heater 300w to help the first one
Then it turned out that the 500w was a junk and the 300w handles my tank with no problem at all
What company is the heater u use ?

 

[h2o]

The heater I run now its the Ehim jagger 300w my tank is 127g plus 60g sump
No problem and my place get very cold in the winter
So u by using 2 heaters on a 75 in the summer your electric bill will be huge in the winter months
Look into it most likely your heater is a piece of junk

 

[MatthewScars]

I have two 300watt heaters on a splitter both going to one plug on the RKL.

600watts for a 40g cube

No issues dude, you dont have to use two slots. But if you want to, its the same thing.

 

[Jarrett]

there both eheim jager heaters so deff not junk. like i said i am not going to run 2 heaters at the same time i don't see a reason for that i am just going to have it as a back up set to .5 degrees lower then my regular set point. that way if anything happens it will turn on and save the tank from getting to cold. that seems the smartest and best way to do it.

 

[Jarrett]

the 200 watt keeps my tank at 78.5 no problem so if it was ever to fall below that set point then obv something went wrong with the heater which then my back heater will turn on when it reaches 78.