Inkbird + Heater Temp. Set

TEX · Apr 22, 2020

Can someone help me setup my Inkbird the most effectively? I currently have it set for 78F with 1F degree heating differential. My heater is set to 78 as well, but I've also seen people set their heater at 80 while the Inkbird is set at 78. Any thoughts on this?

Also, before I actually plugged the heater into the Inkbird, I had the probe in there and my heater was keeping a rock solid 78 with 0.1 degree variance. Now with the Inkbird controlling it, it pretty much swings back and forth from 77 to 78. Is that fine, and is that just the tradeoff for the added security?

Thanks!

lpsouth1978 · Apr 23, 2020

I would set the heaters slightly higher than the controller. The danger in setting them the same is that they could end up fighting each other and negating the purpose of the controller.

What heaters are you using? I don't know of any that hold at a 0.1 degree variance.

PHXReefguy · Apr 23, 2020

When you switch the inkbird to Celsius you can get a .1 degree Celsius variance which is roughly about .2 degrees Fahrenheit. I just use google to convert. 25.5c is 78f Not sure why it’s set up that way but try it. It gives much more consistent tank temps than what they programmed for Fahrenheit.
Hope this helps,
-Phil

PHXReefguy · Apr 23, 2020

Also the reason for setting a heater at 80 while the inkbird is set at 78 is a backup failsafe in case your inkbird fails. In the event your inkbird stays on your backup setting for the heater at 80 turns it off at 80 and when you check your tank temps you will know you have a failure of the inkbird.
-Phil

PHXReefguy · Apr 23, 2020

If you need help pm me and I’ll send you my settings.

TEX · Apr 23, 2020

lpsouth1978 said:
I would set the heaters slightly higher than the controller. The danger in setting them the same is that they could end up fighting each other and negating the purpose of the controller.

What heaters are you using? I don't know of any that hold at a 0.1 degree variance.

it's a Cobalt NeoTherm, and I'm sure there are more variables keeping it in that 0.1 degree range, mostly the luck of whenever I've checked it, lighting, etc. keeping it more consistent. That's just my guess, I know the heater itself isn't that perfect.

TEX · Apr 23, 2020

PHXReefguy said:
When you switch the inkbird to Celsius you can get a .1 degree Celsius variance which is roughly about .2 degrees Fahrenheit. I just use google to convert. 25.5c is 78f Not sure why it’s set up that way but try it. It gives much more consistent tank temps than what they programmed for Fahrenheit.
Hope this helps,
-Phil

Wow, I had no idea. That's a great call. Would you mind PMing me the details when you have the time?

TEX · Apr 23, 2020

PHXReefguy said:
If you need help pm me and I’ll send you my settings.

Actually, I just switched it over to see what I could do. Mine is the ITC-308, and it allowed me to do a differential of 0.3C. But that still is better than a full degree Fahrenheit. set to 25.5C=77.9F, can drop down to 25.2C=77.36F, so still only a variance of roughly 0.5 degrees F.

Thank you for the tip!