Coral QT stability help.

RBarth · Nov 2, 2021

Set up my 10g coral qt yesterday. In trying to save some cash on it I put an acrylic lid over it so I wouldn't need an ato. 100w heater...no inkbird. Set temp to 78 and this morning it's 82. I'm sure I can figure out the right temp setting on the cheap thermometer to get it to 78 but my concern is that once I start using my t5 lighting and during summer etc that the acrylic lid is gonna keep too much heat in. It's going to be where my old sump used to be before I got an aio setup. Ditch the lid? Ato? Inkbird? This qt was supposed to be cheap and easy

blaxsun · Nov 2, 2021

100 watts is probably a tad on the high side. With an enclosed lid and lighting, I might be inclined to look at something in the 50-75 watt range so it doesn't heat up as quickly. An Inkbird won't really help as it just provides another failsafe.

I'd try something like a Fluval M-Series 50-watt heater first and see if that doesn't solve your problem.