We keep our 35G Brute RO/DI reservoir on our back porch. As we all have noticed, it gets a little cold outside at times. We were looking into one of those stealth heaters, so glass explosion was less of an option for us. Then we looked into those ridiculously expensive but ultra-cool Fluval heaters. I just now thought of a bird bath heater, most likely one that floats on the surface of the water. Would this screw with the brute container at all? I don’t think they get that hot.
Anyone have any experience with this?
Often heaters are only slightly more then an electrical cord the plugs into an outlet and goes into the water. They are not supposed to leach electricity, but introduce extreme temperatures and saltwater…
I would NEVER EVERY use anything that isn’t designed for the marine aquarium. Obviously if you have googled around a bit about stealth heaters you’ll read about marinelands massive SAFETY(not voluntary) recall of explosive heaters, so even those which are supposed to be safe in the marine environment are not necessarily safe and should be used with caution.
Your question is a tricky one and I do not have a good answer for you. One thing you could try would be a very small titanium probe on an outdoor timer. Try it with out the timer at first and see if it can keep up, if it gets way too hot then put it on a timer for 5 minutes on and 5 minutes off to see if it stays the right them. This would be the safest easiest way I could think of doing it.
Take a look around the vendors that sponsor the forum and the LFS and see if any of them have a 50watt titanium heating element.(WITH OUT a thermostat as any with likely wouldn’t be built to be used outdoors) If you can’t find any anywhere else shoot me an e-mail or give me a call as I have a few. (I don’t want to jump into a thread and sell you something so please try to buy from someone else first. Mods please delete this if there is any concern.)
You could always look into livestock trouf heaters. Like for cattle or horses. Maybe like central tractor supply has.
I have an old 50 watt Titanium tank heater i found at a TFP tent sale a few years back. it has a regular house plug on the cord to be plugged into a controller for temp control. i didnt find the controller with it. so when the weather gets real cold outside, i just plug it into my power post by my 110 gallong koi tub and drop it in. it runs 24/7 . at only 50 watts it still gets ice on the top of the water when the temp is well below freezing, but it dont go solid. the koi are happy to huddle around it, and the air stone.
then when it warms up a bit, i unplug it. you’re not trying to keep the barrel at room temp.? are you? that would be a waste of energy. just warm itup when you pump some inside for water change.
You can also use a Thermo Cube which is an outlet that comes on at 35º and off at 45º that way it’s not running all the time and still protects you from freezing and they are cheep around $12.00 bucks
Nice find Hudzon. That and a small titanium element and your set.