Reef Angel Forum

I was pretty confident that the pH in my newly cycling tank could not possibly be 10.3.

I burned through several packets of the PinPoint calibration fluids double checking the function of my probe, and determined that a sample of water removed from the tank and placed in a plastic cup had a far more reasonable pH of 8.0.

Unplugging equipment, I found that the culprits were both of my Catalina 500W titanium heaters. Leaving either one plugged in caused the pH probe to spike ridiculously. Pulling both allowed it to settle over time to where it belonged.

I returned the Catalina heaters to Amazon (love that return policy) and purchased to Won 400W titanium heaters. Just tried plugging in each one in turn -- both cause the pH to plunge from 7.9 into the low 6's (and probably lower, if I left them plugged in).

Right now, I have a spare 100W Jager heater running 24/7 trying to keep 400 gallons of water warm, and only managing to keep it a few degrees over ambient (no surprise there). Not a ton of room in my sump arrangement for the big Jager 300W heaters -- does anyone have any experience with higher-power (hopefully compact) heaters that don't pump voltage into the tank?

I'm using a Finnex (I believe) with no problems.

--Colin

I love my finnex heaters. The first one the thermostat died and I replaced it with a via aqua. That thing was nice, but the thermometer on it read one degree lower on my tank, and every time the power reset it went back to the default temp. I tried using the default temp (79 - which was really 78) and I just couldn't keep a stable temp like I was used to. Replaced it with another finnex and couldn't be happier.