Let’s not start an argument please! Best temp control?

[Entz]

Inkbird guy here as well, namely the ITC-308S with the Apex as backup. Been flawless so far. I have a fan on the cooling side so I can't attest to how it would work with a chiller.

 

[YankeeTankee]

Accuracy and reliability is a recurring theme, hopefully some manufacturers are reading this, sure cheap products and heavy marketing might bring you some short term business but a well built reliable product will score you more customers down the line. I want an apex with twice the reliability, happy to pay more, maybe even twice as much

 

[92Miata]

Accuracy and reliability is a recurring theme, hopefully some manufacturers are reading this, sure cheap products and heavy marketing might bring you some short term business but a well built reliable product will score you more customers down the line. I want an apex with twice the reliability, happy to pay more, maybe even twice as much

Accuracy and reliability are at odds. The higher accuracy/precision you have, the more often you're switching, and the quicker components fail.

 

[YankeeTankee]

Also +1 on the aqualogic, they definitely are charging you a lot more for the titanium and I've heard of people wrapping the older versions tube in plastic for a lot less but either way, nice suggestion @robbyg.

 

[Cell]

Inkbird.

 

[elysics]

Something to keep in mind, if you run a heater and a cooler on the same temperature controller, having your apex turn the controller off when the tank gets too hot isnt the best idea. That has the potential to turn off a running cooler making your tank even hotter.

 

[TheDuude]

As far as heaters go I've used several brands over the years and settled on the Cobalt Neotherm. As TheHarold said no glass. I have been watching my Neotherm on my Seneye Reef Monitor and I'm very impressed at how consistent it keeps the temperature. You definitely get temperature swings but within a half of a degree. BRS did a study/test on heaters and they really liked the Neotherm and Ehiem but Eheim is glass I believe.

Not trying to Highjack OPs thread but why is everyone so against glass heaters? I have been running Eheim Jagers for 15+ years and have never had one break or "shatter". I do replace my heaters every other year. I Like the look of the cobalts but have heard many accounts of them bursting.

 

[Cell]

Cheap ones can burst or break easy. Jagers are built like tanks.

 

[Biglew11]

Something to keep in mind, if you run a heater and a cooler on the same temperature controller, having your apex turn the controller off when the tank gets too hot isnt the best idea. That has the potential to turn off a running cooler making your tank even hotter.

this makes sense, but can also be a double edge sword if the heating circuit of the controller was stuck on. a lot of better heaters no longer have built in thermostats. maybe some creative power monitoring?

 

[elysics]

this makes sense, but can also be a double edge sword if the heating circuit of the controller was stuck on. a lot of better heaters no longer have built in thermostats. maybe some creative power monitoring?

Id go more into the direction of putting relays controlled by apex/other computer between the outlets of the temperature controller and the heaters and coolers

That way you only turn off the heating side when it gets to hot and only the cooling side when it gets too cold

Or not having heater and cooller on the same temp controller

 

[Reef.]

I have the inkbird, has worked great up to now, can send alerts to my phone if the temp goes too high or low and can also link to Amazon Alexa, it has 2 probes incase one fails, a bargain for the price.

 

[shred5]

Ranco controller and if you cant wire them yourself usually you can find them pre-wired or even re-badged.

I have used allot of temp controllers and it is the best if not using a aquarium controller.

Not cheap though.

 

[robbyg]

Id go more into the direction of putting relays controlled by apex/other computer between the outlets of the temperature controller and the heaters and coolers

That way you only turn off the heating side when it gets to hot and only the cooling side when it gets too cold

Or not having heater and cooller on the same temp controller

That was how I first setup my Tank. I used 120V 10A Relays and used them to take the load off the controllers Powerbar. The problem is that I had no redundancy. If controller locked up or a bus cable got plugged out the Powerbar may be stuck on or off. You must have redundancy with heating and cooling OR your going to eventually cook or freeze your fish.

It does not always have to be a serial redundancy system, it can be a Ranco or Inkbird plugged in directly and alone but you still need a separate device to monitor the waters temperature and at least alert you if the Temperature has gone out of range. This works fine if you can get remote alerts from your controller and if someone is at home most of the day or at the very least someone can get there in a few minutes. If not then go with a dual inline system it's the safest method.

 

[Luckyduck]

Not trying to Highjack OPs thread but why is everyone so against glass heaters? I have been running Eheim Jagers for 15+ years and have never had one break or "shatter". I do replace my heaters every other year. I Like the look of the cobalts but have heard many accounts of them bursting.

Honestly I have been in the hobby for almost 12 years and always ran Hydors (glass heaters). Never had one break either! I mean unless you're rockwork collapses and hits the heater I don't really see why they would ever just bursts for no reason. I've never had a problem with them except for them just not running at the temperature there are set at which is usually the case for most heaters. I switched to the Cobalt for exactly that, the look lol I like there thin design and it was an added benefit that they are solid plastic. They are also extremely accurate and I'm sure being brand new has something to do with it but I set it for 78° and my aquarium is at 78°. I just bought a Seneye Reef monitor and I've had it running for two days. The temperature does fluctuate but no more than 0.8 degrees throughout a 24-hour period. That was the result Randy and Ryan found as well in their video they did on heater performance. But I agree with you I don't really think there's a major problem with glass heaters breaking, it's probably just more the paranoid thought. Unless like someone else mentioned; you get a cheap one.

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

So I’ll start this with saying I GENERALLY don’t have issues with glass heaters. BUT, even the tank of an ehiem is susceptible to a large trigger bite as my husband found out the hard way many years ago. Now that everything is in the sump that is not the case and therefore not likely to happen again. On to the redundancy thing, the fact that if I have a controller wired to both the heater and the chiller and the heater locks on the chiller won’t be able to keep up with the heater and will inevitably trip the programming on fusion and fusion will kill power to both. Not allowing the heater to do any more damage but also not giving the chiller a chance to cool the tank back down. All that SHOULD give me enough time to either get home or should I be completely out of town, have my neighbors check on the system. That said, running separate heater and chiller controller would mitigate this while also cost a chunk more. To me, safety dictates the money spent. Regarding the temp swing of 2 degrees daily using something like the ranco’s programming is something I’ll have to talk to my husband about. I understand what you are saying about the chiller, but our chiller in the heat of the day takes a while to cool the tank down so even at smaller differentials it doesn’t kick the compressor on and off too much.

 

[Biglew11]

Id go more into the direction of putting relays controlled by apex/other computer between the outlets of the temperature controller and the heaters and coolers

That way you only turn off the heating side when it gets to hot and only the cooling side when it gets too cold

Or not having heater and cooller on the same temp controller

+1 I like this idea for the redundancy aspect
Here's a link that shows how to do the relays
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/o...let-digital-aquatics-expansion-socket.704207/ I'd hook power to the NC contacts and use the 24v ports to energize the relay opening the contacts. Then set alarms when one of those 24 v ports is on

 

[CK00020]

You can also use it for two heaters for two scenarios

1. if you want run two lower wattage heaters
2. to have a second heater as a backup should the primary one fail.

That’s what I am talking about thanks guys for clearing this up. I live in an area where a chiller won’t ever be used

 

[Kingston]

Just started having issues with my BRS controller a few weeks ago after 6 months of use. Set to 78 with a 0.3F variance and found it at 79.5F.

 

[WendyLady]

Inkbird!

 

[I’ma tempermental coral]

Lots more votes for the inkbirds! Dare I ask for anyone that runs an inkbird through their apex to post their temp graphs?!?