Just thought I'd share a homemade external heater I made after my pleco and catfish burned themselves on my heater.
I started out with a few basic 40mm plumbing fittings cut to an appropriate length for my heater, solvent welded together...
I then took a crew on sealed end cap, and centrally drilled a hole to pass the heater cable through, using a IP68 grommet...
The central cable hole and near zero length of internal cable keeps the cable end of the heater away from the walls of the plastic tube to prevent and burning.
To keep the other end away from the plastic tube, I used two tie wraps with opposing tails which hold it perfectly central within the tube....
The water enters the unit from the 90 degree elbow through another screw on end cap, to which I had to make some barbed fittings from ABS material on the lathe - these slovent welded to the inside of the caps...
Here you can see it in situ - with it being vertical, any bubbles from the filter find their way to the top and exit easily without risking any trapped air...
And up into the tank return elbow....
Two things to consider.
1) This methos only works if you either fit and forget your heater at a temp you are happy with, as adjusting it whilst assembled is impossible, hence I use a Titanium unit with remote thermostat controller, or...
2) Instead of using a cable grommet, you use a large diameter bulkhead fitting that a conventional heater fits through, but personally, I wouldn't trust the seal long term against the heater glass heating up and cooling constantly.
It works a charm and I'm very pleased with it. Hopefully this might be of use to others.
My homemade external heater
- Last Triumph
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- Martinspuddle
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Nice one, the only thing I will comment is how much has it restricted the flow of water and how warm is the plastic to touch when the heater is on?
Silly thought, looking at the shape of your pipe ...does your missus know you've borrowed that and what have you done with the batteries?!
Silly thought, looking at the shape of your pipe ...does your missus know you've borrowed that and what have you done with the batteries?!
WARNING - DO NOT BREED, FEED OR PET THE PUDDLE!
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Martinspuddle wrote: ↑Sun Apr 04, 2021 14:59 pm does your missus know you've borrowed that and what have you done with the batteries?!
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 12 x Cory sterbai 51 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)
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4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 12 x Cory sterbai 51 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)
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Zero restriction - At all points, even around the zip tie ends, the flow area is more than twice that of the internal flow area of the 16/22 hose for the rest of the system.Martinspuddle wrote: ↑Sun Apr 04, 2021 14:59 pm Nice one, the only thing I will comment is how much has it restricted the flow of water and how warm is the plastic to touch when the heater is on?
No touch temp difference whatsoever that I can feel as the water flow around it is so fast. I'm sure scientifically there would have to be some difference, but certainly not enough to be able to tell when its switched on or off by touch.
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