Reliable thermometer?

[Slakker]

Hey all,

My frogspawn has been bleaching out for the past couple of weeks and I think temperature swings are to blame. My thermometer is telling me that it's at 79.5 right now, and I've seen it get as high as 84 with the lights on.

I want to double check the temp reading, so I was thinking about picking up another thermometer today.

I'm currently using one of the digital Coralife models. Anyone got any better ideas short of spending $100 on a Ranco controller?

Thanks much!

[Kellie in CA]

I like the Pinpoint Wireless Thermometer by American Marine. They run about $35. I love that I can put the receiver on my desk and keep an eye on the temps at all times.

[Slakker]

That is a great feature...I'll have to see if any of the local places carry them, maybe throw it on a christmas list...

Thanks for the idea

[trippkid]

I use the Pinpoint one, after my Coralife digital crap-o-meter said my tank was nice and good at 78 and then I checked with a glass one(old style), because it just didn't seem right, water felt warm and more humid in the canopy when I would open it, also lost a few corals in the process of me being an idiot not to check the temp. Anyway, the temp was off about 11 degrees, there have been many people that have had bad experiences with these cheapo temp sensors(I fell for it too, 8.99 is hard to pass up, now it is not). Good luck, I hope yours isn't as off as mine was.
Matt

[Santoki]

I had a Coralife digital that was 10 degrees f off.
I think we should start a class action lawsuit against them.
I don't know of any other hobby/field in which this kind of accuracy is acceptable. I might as well have my dog lick the tank and tell me what the temperature is.
+1 for Pinpoint

[Paul_PSU]

Get a temp controller, like a Ranco.

[matthewscars]

Ranco Dual controller. I got two 300w heaters hooked up to the heat plug and 4 - 120mm fans hooked up to the cooler plug.

My tank stays 78-79 constantly. Never have to even think about it. Buy one

[Santoki]

I think the original question was for a thermometer.
Controllers run in a different ballpark price and serve a different purpose.

[spleify]

IMO, all electronic style thermometers are off and inaccurate.

The BEST money you will EVER spend on you're tank is by purchasing a glass floating thermometer. They are by far the most accurate, and will not fail on you. Best part about them is you can usually get them at Wal-Mart for around $1.

Again, JMO/E, but I don't think you can go wrong for accuracy, for $1.

HTH

Spleify

[defekt]

Originally posted by matthewscars
Ranco Dual controller. I got two 300w heaters hooked up to the heat plug and 4 - 120mm fans hooked up to the cooler plug.

My tank stays 78-79 constantly. Never have to even think about it. Buy one

Im interested in this.. where did you purchase yours?

[Slakker]

Think i'll end up looking for one of the floating glass ones...the coralife i have says it's 82, and it looks like the JBJ version I picked up is saying 80...so they're both probably wrong.

[dickhordishay]

Coralife stuff is JUNK!

There Powercenters are junk, and many people have complained about them. I tried to return mine, but the company blew me off.

I also bought their digital thermometer, supposedly accurate to +/- 1 degree. Yeah, wrong!!!! It seems to be getting less and less accurate as time goes by.

[Phyxius]

I have controllers for my tanks and even they differ on what they say on temps but are within a degree or so of each other and usually close to actual tank temp. The cheaper digital ones like Coralife are real bad for temp readings. I put all of the ones I had in my tank after I took all my small tanks down and had up to 8 degrees of reading difference between them. Thats not good when you are trying to control your tank...

I also bought a cheap floating one since at the store they ALL were reading the same on the shelf and have that in my sump and it matched my my controllers temperature measurements. I also have a lab grade glass temperature thermometer i use if I ever need to calibrate my controllers.

[Slakker]

I think what I'll end up doing is getting a glass one and "calibrating" my coralife every couple of weeks or so.

Take a note of the difference in the two readings and just subtract out the change when I glance at it. The thought of a glass tube filled with mercury floating around my sump all the time makes me really nervous, would probably be best if i were to just use it when I was checking.

Edit: I appreciate what you're saying about the controllers, and I'd love to get one, but unfortunately I'm currently an unemployed college student (two things that don't help provide financial support for the hobby...) so i've gotta keep the belt tight, if you will.

[psteeleb]

Originally posted by spleify
IMO, all electronic style thermometers are off and inaccurate.

The BEST money you will EVER spend on you're tank is by purchasing a glass floating thermometer. They are by far the most accurate, and will not fail on you. Best part about them is you can usually get them at Wal-Mart for around $1.

Again, JMO/E, but I don't think you can go wrong for accuracy, for $1.

HTH

Spleify

agreed

the battery operated ones will change as the battery goes bad

the digital ones on a controller are better but can still drift over time and should be checked / recallibrated

a cheap floater is hard to beat . I have a floating liquid type in my sump, battery powered on my overflow and a probe on my controller that gets calibrated to the liquid one.

[Slakker]

I never even thought of a dying battery as the culprit...in any case, it'll be good to pick up something more reliable. A decent glass floater will come in handy down the road when I make the jump to the digital controllers and whatnot, as well.

[Slakker]

Well...I picked up a glass floater and it's reading about the same as the JBJ I got today, about 84 degrees. The Coralife is reading 82.

Is 84 really high enough to cause frogspawn to bleach? I set a small fan blowing at my sump, but this particular fan won't be a permanent solution (it's stainless...would prefer plastic down there.)

[ricpan]

You can get real nice glass thermometers at a brewery supply stores.

[silverwolf72]

My tank sits at 84 most days and my frogspawn looks great so I doubt that's the problem unless your tank normally runs mid 70's.

[Slakker]

Drops down to 79 at night according to the Coralife thermometer, so it's probably more realistically 77 or 76.

I suppose a swing from 76 to 85 could be enough to freak it out?

[reeferstace]

Most of the "mercury" thermometers no longer actually use mercury. They use alcohol instead. It is much safer in case of breakage.

[BigJay]

This here is the best advice in the thread.

Sometimes "old school" is the best way of doing something. A $1.00 Petsmart analog thermometer with a suction cup stuck to the inside front of the tank glass never lies.

It reports within one degree of the aquacontroller and has never been off so far. When it does start to drift, I'll know that it's time to get a new temp probe.

Originally posted by spleify
IMO, all electronic style thermometers are off and inaccurate.

The BEST money you will EVER spend on you're tank is by purchasing a glass floating thermometer. They are by far the most accurate, and will not fail on you. Best part about them is you can usually get them at Wal-Mart for around $1.

Again, JMO/E, but I don't think you can go wrong for accuracy, for $1.

HTH

Spleify

[BigJay]

Originally posted by Slakker

Is 84 really high enough to cause frogspawn to bleach? I set a small fan blowing at my sump, but this particular fan won't be a permanent solution (it's stainless...would prefer plastic down there.)

Slakker, is there any way to get a small fan under the canopy in between the lights and the tank water?

[Santoki]

this reminds me of one of the Rocky films where the Russian boxer trains with all these high tech equipment while Rocky trains by running around with a log on his back.
I guess with all the technology we have today, sometimes the old way is still better...
ricpan, are there online brewery stores you know of or are you talking about local ones in your area?

[ludnix]

I use the marine pinpoint thermometer for casual reading and an infrared laser pen to determine more exact readings. You can just shoot it at the water's surface to get an accurate reading.

http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/infrared-thermometer/