How HOT is too HOT?

Tamberav · May 21, 2022

Well stores are open now... you can just go to petco and buy their glass thermometer. I use those cheap little glass ones in QT tanks and they work fine. You won't be able to tell to a half a degree but you will know if your tank is 77 or 82.

damsels are not mean · May 21, 2022

Biokabe said:
I'd also agree that the Apex probe is more likely to be the culprit than an actual high temp. When you see the temperature spike that badly that quickly, it's almost always down to one of two things: broken equipment, or broken temperature probe. You did your diligence with ruling out broken equipment, which means it's down to the probe. A replacement temperature probe is about $30-$40. It's not a bad idea to have a spare one on hand at all times - they're one of the most common points of failure on the Apex. I've had the exact same situation happen to me, except in my case it took me a while to figure out that the probe had gone bad, because it happened in the middle of a heat wave and we don't have central air, so the elevated temperature made sense if I didn't think about it too much.

I would recommend getting a cheap meat thermometer on Amazon. They tend to be fairly accurate (or at least consistent and reliable) and are useful for double checking stuff. I use it during quarantine to test temps because it's easy to sterilize a bare metal pen between uses.

Dburr1014 · May 21, 2022

Sean Clark said:
Yes I have central AC. I also considered turning it down. It's 74 at the moment. I have the tank lights off and the fans are on. Temp is still elevated. I thought this was a canopy traping heat issue. Now I am leaning to hot pumps. IDK.

LOL, my wife keeps my house at 68 degrees. It's freaking cold. My basement sump helps the tank keep cooler also.

Sean Clark · May 21, 2022

damsels are not mean said:
Wouldn't it be better to calibrate to freezing with some ice water? That is closer in temp to what we are doing than boiling water. I mean it's not perfect but we don't need perfect here. We need "pretty close"

Yep, @Jedi1199 mentioned doing this earlier. I realized that I did not have any ice in the house somehow the machine was off so I was literally waiting while I watched water freeze to do this test.
33 and 32.3

JGT · May 21, 2022

Sean Clark said:
Yep, @Jedi1199 mentioned doing this earlier. I realized that I did not have any ice in the house somehow the machine was off so I was literally waiting while I watched water freeze to do this test.
33 and 32.3

Grey is the winner.

damsels are not mean · May 21, 2022

JGT said:
Grey is the winner.

That's the exact one I use actually! Love it.

Wasabiroot · May 21, 2022

There are studies showing that coral resistance to bleaching from high temperature is greater in specimens exposed to these temps before, so the maximum greatly depends on the corals you keep (scoly vs acropora for example). Reefs in the wild on average hover anywhere from 74-83 degrees for extended periods. I would say anything above 83 would be my personal limit. I had good success with a fan.

Sean Clark · May 25, 2022

Update time.

So I determined that the Apex temp probe was reading high by 4.1 degrees. Yes, that much. I could have adjusted it through the calibration function, but I felt better replacing it. New probe installed and an adjustment to my heater control programing and it looks like I am back in business.

I have my inkbird set to 77 degrees and I am maintaining very close to that now. Here is the graph since the new probe install.

I now have plans to implement an secondary temp probe and set up alerts if there is a deviation of let's say 0.2 degrees +or- between the two probes which should alert me to any drift over time.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · May 25, 2022

Sean Clark said:
Update time.

So I determined that the Apex temp probe was reading high by 4.1 degrees. Yes, that much. I could have adjusted it through the calibration function, but I felt better replacing it. New probe installed and an adjustment to my heater control programing and it looks like I am back in business.

I have my inkbird set to 77 degrees and I am maintaining very close to that now. Here is the graph since the new probe install.

I now have plans to implement an secondary temp probe and set up alerts if there is a deviation of let's say 0.2 degrees +or- between the two probes which should alert me to any drift over time.

Why not use the inkbird as your secondary probe?

Jeffcb · May 25, 2022

I pop 81 every day. Home ac at 77.

They all seem happy.

Sean Clark · May 25, 2022

Erin1971Texas said:
Why not use the inkbird as your secondary probe?

Well basically lack of trust. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. The inkbird is still indicating the correct temp and has not drifted over time. I am not sure when or what caused the Apex to drift, but it did. Either way I now have alarms set up so if either get out of range I will know much sooner. When I add a redundant Apex probe this should be even better.

Sean Clark · May 25, 2022

Jeffcb said:
I pop 81 every day. Home ac at 77.

They all seem happy.

I was getting nervous because I didn't want to cross 83. I am glad that I looked into this now before the real summer heat hit.

Jeffcb · May 25, 2022

Sean Clark said:
I was getting nervous because I didn't want to cross 83. I am glad that I looked into this now before the real summer heat hit.

83 is pushing it from what I have read. A fan in the sump drawing air out and a fan across the top of the tank can help.

Sean Clark · May 26, 2022

Jeffcb said:
83 is pushing it from what I have read. A fan in the sump drawing air out and a fan across the top of the tank can help.

Exactly, which was my concern. My post today was an update on all being well and running 77ish as well as some changes I made to prevent this in the future.

davidcalgary29 · May 26, 2022

My in-house RSM250 suffers from overheating, like all these units, and ran at 28-29C last summer before I finally acquired some water-cooling fans. I only keep softies in that tank, and didn't really notice any adverse effects at all. The xenia and leathers actually seem to prefer higher temperatures.

Karen00 · May 26, 2022

Sean Clark said:
I long for the day when you can just put a sticker on your tank and know the temperature.

Like the one I have on my freshwater tank? LOL

Sean Clark · May 26, 2022

davidcalgary29 said:
My in-house RSM250 suffers from overheating, like all these units, and ran at 28-29C last summer before I finally acquired some water-cooling fans. I only keep softies in that tank, and didn't really notice any adverse effects at all. The xenia and leathers actually seem to prefer higher temperatures.

I have heard that as well. The theory being that higher temps promote a higher metabolism and thus higher growth. But I do not want to find the limit.