Lower temp

[steelwrap]

My glass thermometer cracked but always read 79. I purchased a digital one and it read 83.3. When I top off my ATO I notice one of my 2 heaters is always on so purchased one of the new BRS heater controllers, plugged it in to see what it read 84.9 !!!!!!!!!!!! So whats best way to lower temp? Just unplug heaters and watch it drop? How
slow should I try to go? Still need to get another thermometer to try to get a better idea of where im actually at.

 

[ndrwater]

Chillers are the real way to go to cool a tank, but.. heaters are sometimes necessary too.
The biggest issue is heaters are the least reliable piece of equipment in the hobby.
Having a separate way to take the temp of the tank is your best option. Be it a thermometer, probe from a controller, or as simple as a digital thermometer used for food is the best way to go.
Using something like an Inkbird controller is relatively cheap and quasi reliable.
The new BRS heater with a built-in controller is a great option.
A chiller is an expensive but sometimes necessary evil, works well too, but is best utilized with some type of controller to make sure you temp doesn't swing to much in either direction

 

[vetteguy53081]

Fill 2-3 ziplock bags with water and freeze them. Once frozen, place one in sump which will safely lower your temp. If you need to keep going, removed thawed one and place back in freezer and put another frozen one in sump until you’ve reached desired temp

 

[jda]

Frozen RO is good in hot places of the world.

In Indiana in Winter, just unplugging and waiting will work.

Best way is go use MULTIPLE heaters with thermostats and a contoller. Ehiem heaters and Ranco controllers have been the best bet for me. Ehiems do break, but if one out of five breaks every few years, then no big deal. Set the thermostats on the heaters to go off about 1 degree above your controller. Redundancy is good.

 

[steelwrap]

Got a NST certfied thermometer from amazon today it read 84.7 my cheap digital said 83.3 my BRS controller was reading 86. It was easy to calibrate. Unplugged heaters til temp gets down to 78