15gal AIO dropping temp overnight

[melbournedan]

Cycling a waterbox 15gal all in one, no lid as of yet. Over night the temp drops from 28°c to 23°c even running a 100w ehiem jager (overpowered but using an inkbird for protection). as i don’t have live stock yet it’s to not of much concern…. butttttt, as i am wanting to add live stock at some point. i need to work out what’s going on. Is there something i’m doing wrong here ? thanks

 

[HankstankXXL750 Verified Sponsor]

Is your heater maybe set lower than your Inkbird? Therefore it shuts off without any intervention. I assume the temp is dropping when the lights go out. If so, without any life in the tank yet, you could turn your lights off and see if they are creating your extra heat.

 

[melbournedan]

Is your heater maybe set lower than your Inkbird? Therefore it shuts off without any intervention. I assume the temp is dropping when the lights go out. If so, without any life in the tank yet, you could turn your lights off and see if they are creating your extra heat.

inkbird set to 28°C and heater is set at 28°C the tank keeps temp and is stable all day, +/-0.5°. currently not running the lights at all, so no impact from there. seems like the heater can’t keep up with the cold nights.

 

[potatocouch]

@melbournedan things can get very chill here down under; have you got 2nd heater just in case your primary fails?

 

[melbournedan]

@melbournedan things can get very chill here down under; have you got 2nd heater just in case your primary fails?

unfortunately not. i barely have room for this one by itself at the moment. is it too risky to try the 150w or 200w if it fits ?

 

[AydenLincoln]

So a few degrees think like 1-3 degrees overnight is not detrimental and often happens in the wild. However, that is a large fluctuation and ideally you want it to fluctuate the least. However, you ideally want a heater up to 50 W and not over 100 W because the size of the tank.

 

[ScionFRSguy]

That's a major problem. It sounds like your heater is not working for some reason. Did you set it at 28C? If so, that's high. It should be set somewhere around 25c. That Eheim Jager is a really good heater, it's the only heater I can trust but yours is way to powerful. It's going to heat the tank to quickly. It's not safe. The 25watt Jager might be a good choice. If you can find a quality heater with less than 25watts then seriously consider trying it out because I use a 25 watts heater for my 40g AIO and I think it's just enough. This is why I think even at 25watts, it may be overkill for your tank. Also, those Inkbird temp controllers are known to go bad. I recommend a brand called Ranco. Their controllers are higher in quality. If possible, try to set up an Apex aquarium controller to control the temp more preciously and use the Ranco as a secondary back up to turn off the heater.

 

[melbournedan]

So a few degrees think like 1-3 degrees overnight is not detrimental and often happens in the wild. However, that is a large fluctuation and ideally you want it to fluctuate the least. However, you ideally want a heater up to 50 W and not over 100 W because the size of the tank.

ill watch what happens tonight, i was running a 50w before i upgraded and it was not even close to keeping temp.

 

[AydenLincoln]

ill watch what happens tonight, i was running a 50w before i upgraded and it was not even close to keeping temp.

It could also be that the room temperature is too cold/fluctuates too much or you need a better brand of beater. Try a 100 W then I have one in my 20 gallon.

 

[melbournedan]

That's a major problem. It sounds like your heater is not working for some reason. Did you set it at 28C? If so, that's high. It should be set somewhere around 25c. That Eheim Jager is a really good heater, it's the only heater I can trust but yours is way to powerful. It's going to heat the tank to quickly. It's not safe. The 25watt Jager might be a good choice. If you can find a quality heater with less than 25watts then seriously consider trying it out because I use a 25 watts heater for my 40g AIO and I think it's just enough. This is why I think even at 25watts, it may be overkill for your tank. Also, those Inkbird temp controllers are known to go bad. I recommend a brand called Ranco. Their controllers are higher in quality. If possible, try to set up an Apex aquarium controller to control the temp more preciously and use the Ranco as a secondary back up to turn off the heater.

hey thanks for your input. i will try the ranco controller asap. over night the outside temp dropped to -1°C and internal sat at around 10°c. Tank temperature is set to 28 because i’m in a cycle at the moment and bacteria populates faster at a higher temp (dr tim podcast) . i’ll also try dropping back to 25 and see if it keeps more stable over night.

 

[potatocouch]

If I understand this correctly @melbournedan you have your InkBird to control your heater ON/OFF? Have you tried experimenting with only your Eheim Jager heater on its own? I mean still have your InkBird turned ON to display the temperature but not have the heater plugged into the InkBird.

 

[melbournedan]

It could also be that the room temperature is too cold/fluctuates too much or you need a better brand of beater. Try a 100 W then I have one in my 20 gallon.

bit stuck. the 50w was useless, this is happening with the 100w.

 

[AydenLincoln]

bit stuck. the 50w was useless, this is happening with the 100w.

Sometimes you get a faulty heater try a titanium heater or Fluval heater instead.

 

[BaliReefBox]

I would check the temp setting with an independent temp probe. then you can accurately set the desired temp. sounds like the two are fighting each other

 

[melbournedan]

If I understand this correctly @melbournedan you have your InkBird to control your heater ON/OFF? Have you tried experimenting with only your Eheim Jager heater on its own? I mean still have your InkBird turned ON to display the temperature but not have the heater plugged into the InkBird.

It could also be that the room temperature is too cold/fluctuates too much or you need a better brand of beater. Try a 100 W then I have one in my 20 gallon.

hey thanks for your input. i will try the ranco controller asap. over night the outside temp dropped to -1°C and internal sat at around 10°c. Tank temperature is set to 28 because i’m in a cycle at the moment and bacteria populates faster at a higher temp (dr tim podcast) . i’ll also try dropping back to 25 and see if it keeps more stable over night.

going to try drop the inkbird to 25 and the heater to 27. might even put a lid on to see what happens. hopefully the problem is that 28 is just too high of a temp to maintain in this chilly Melbourne weather.

 

[AydenLincoln]

going to try drop the inkbird to 25 and the heater to 27. might even put a lid on to see what happens. hopefully the problem is that 28 is just too high of a temp to maintain in this chilly Melbourne weather.

Oh right it’s winter for you. Here in America and most other parts of the world we are battling insanely hot heat waves.

 

[melbournedan]

Oh right it’s winter for you. Here in America and most other parts of the world we are battling insanely hot heat waves.

ah bugger. probably should’ve have mentioned this in the thread starter. my bad, sorry.

 

[ScionFRSguy]

hey thanks for your input. i will try the ranco controller asap. over night the outside temp dropped to -1°C and internal sat at around 10°c. Tank temperature is set to 28 because i’m in a cycle at the moment and bacteria populates faster at a higher temp (dr tim podcast) . i’ll also try dropping back to 25 and see if it keeps more stable over night.

Okay, it takes a long time to get the tank cycled so I can see why you're doing that but at 28c it's not good for your fishes. It's not like they're going to die or anything but you want to make sure they're in absolute good health. This way your tank is running well.

It takes about a year to cycle the tank correctly, some will say that you're ready at 6 months but the truth is that it needs more time. With all due respect to Dr. Tim's advice, you don't want to try to find ways to cycle quicker. These things are hard to measure so the best thing to do is be patient. The only thing you can do is to make sure you have good quality live rocks and a good amount of flow ripping through the rocks. Good luck to you!