Inkbird Heater Controller

Robert Binz · Mar 29, 2020

I just ordered this for my aquarium because I’m hired of heaters failing.

Anyone have good experiences with this?

will25u · Mar 29, 2020

I had a horrible experience and their customer service wasn’t helpful. Totally regret buying it.

Copingwithpods · Mar 29, 2020

Can I ask how your heaters were failing?

Robert Binz · Mar 29, 2020

Copingwithpods said:
Can I ask how your heaters were failing?

Yeah I have two Hydor heaters for my nano and they’ve both gotten stuck on in under a year

ActualProof · Mar 29, 2020

I use an inkbird controller with an apex and two heaters with built-in thermostats. The apex is set to 76 (+/- 2 degrees, per season table). The inkbird is set to turn off if the temp goes above 79. The individual heater thermostats are set to shut the heaters off at 80. One heater is in the overflow, the other is in first chamber of the sump, along with Alex probes. Inkbird probe is in the fuge section.

jordan10 · Mar 29, 2020

I been using my ink bird for almost 3 years no problems.

Robert Binz · Mar 29, 2020

jordan10 said:
I been using my ink bird for almost 3 years no problems.

Great to hear! Did you calibrate it at all or has it been great out of the box?

jordan10 · Mar 29, 2020

Robert Binz said:
Great to hear! Did you calibrate it at all or has it been great out of the box?

Great out box. But my Hanna checker with temp prob says 77 and ink bird says 78. So it could be off lil but kicks on and off when suppose to.

Phildago · Mar 29, 2020

Mines great. I would only use it with heater with internal thermostats or double up on ink birds because I always insist on a failsafe, but not due to lack of quality... Just because an extra 30 bucks isn't worth losing my reef over

NS Mike D · Mar 29, 2020

easy peasy to check if it's calibrated. Fill a cup of ice and top it off with cold water. Wait 5 minutes and then insert probe. Should read 32°

Boil water and it should read 212°

used inkbrid for my homebrew kegerator. never an issue

used an willhi for my reef tank for 4 years (now use an apex) and it's now on my beta tank, no issues.

Prior to using temperature controllers I had heater fail. Now I don't think about it.

Copingwithpods · Mar 29, 2020

When I started my search for a heater controller I didn't even know inkbird existed. I went with a brand I recognized (digiten) and it's been great so far. I think if you have a solid set up and backups like @ActualProof youll have great success.

The digiten I run below

And the inkbird are basically the same thing as far as I can tell so I think you should be good.

jmcdona6 · Mar 29, 2020

I use the inkbird, no issues. Does what it's supposed to. Overkill probably, but I did calibrate it down by 0.3 F after getting an average temperature from several different methods.

My only nick pick would be that the wireless feature only works on a 2.4ghz channel. Most modern routers have both 2.4 and 5, but they switch between them automatically for wifi optimization. To get it to work I had to go into my router and dedicate a 2.4 channel for it...kinda annoying.

pdxmonkeyboy · Mar 30, 2020

I currently have 4 of them and never had a problem with any of them.

After having two heaters explode..1 glass, 1 cheap titanium. I went finnex heating elements and ink birds.

minus9 · Apr 14, 2020

Is it me or does the Ink Bird calibration absolutely suck? I have a brand new 306A and I'm using celsius set to 25.3 to 25.5 and the initial calibration was - 0.3, a few hours later and this has drifted to more than - 1.1 off. I started off with fahrenheit, but that swing was even greater and you can only set the temp to a 0.5 range. Both probes are near my apex temp probe, so there shouldn't be any fluctuation between them?

Robert Binz · Apr 14, 2020

minus9 said:
Is it me or does the Ink Bird calibration absolutely suck? I have a brand new 306A and I'm using celsius set to 25.3 to 25.5 and the initial calibration was - 0.3, a few hours later and this has drifted to more than - 1.1 off. I started off with fahrenheit, but that swing was even greater and you can only set the temp to a 0.5 range. Both probes are near my apex temp probe, so there shouldn't be any fluctuation between them?

I haven’t experienced that at all but I’ve only had mine for two weeks and I don’t have an apex

Mical · Oct 28, 2020

minus9 said:
Is it me or does the Ink Bird calibration absolutely suck? I have a brand new 306A and I'm using celsius set to 25.3 to 25.5 and the initial calibration was - 0.3, a few hours later and this has drifted to more than - 1.1 off. I started off with fahrenheit, but that swing was even greater and you can only set the temp to a 0.5 range. Both probes are near my apex temp probe, so there shouldn't be any fluctuation between them?

+1 I have a pair of 306As I recently purchased and the calibration in Fahrenheit suck s to the Nth degree - contacted Inkbird and it's been nothing but a run-around

minus9 · Oct 29, 2020

Mical said:
+1 I have a pair of 306As I recently purchased and the calibration in Fahrenheit suck s to the Nth degree - contacted Inkbird and it's been nothing but a run-around

I returned mine and bought a ranco, problem solved. For my QT/observation tank, I bought an elitech controller for $15, which has two stages, heating/cooling and works great. Only caveat, it's Celsius only, but it's easy enough to set and has been rock solid. I bought a project box to mount it in, but haven't gotten around to doing it just yet. The other cool thing about the elitech is the probe is completely safe for saltwater.

Mical · Oct 29, 2020

minus9 said:
I returned mine and bought a ranco, problem solved. For my QT/observation tank, I bought an elitech controller for $15, which has two stages, heating/cooling and works great. Only caveat, it's Celsius only, but it's easy enough to set and has been rock solid. I bought a project box to mount it in, but haven't gotten around to doing it just yet. The other cool thing about the elitech is the probe is completely safe for saltwater.

Which Ranco did you go with?