Help with temperature

miralami

New member
Hello Fellow Reefers,

I've been out of town recently and have no idea why my temperature bump up and stayed constant in the past few days.

My first guess was the Temp probe gone crazy but I manually turned on Heater and as you see in the attached photo, probe responded correctly.

Any help or guess?

Thanks

2016-11-15%2021_27_07-Clipboard_zps8qamhpy0.jpg
 
Are you sure your heating program didn't get altered? If not purely a guess but if your return pump is dirty it may be running hot enough to stabilize the temperature.
 
Thanks for quick reply, I have checked my heating program and it looks unchanged.
My heater is 300W and if it turns ON will have a spike all the time.

Return Pump might be the cause highly likely. I find out in couple of days when I am back.
Hopefully don't see a dead tank on return :(
 
My temperature wasn't that consistent even in hottest days of summer. Always was falling down over night.
 
I have a second temp probe for the room temperature. Not very accurate but that gives me an idea for how hot the outside environment :)
 
Here is what I would do:

1. Get a cold glass of water and stick the probe inside (see if the temp drops below 78.5)
2. If it does, at least we know the probe can detect changes up and down (demonstrated by the heater and the cold glass of water).
3. Probe is probably good.

I suspect the probe. I don't think the temp will drop in the cold glass of water and you're simply experiencing a bad probe. Temp that stable is highly unlikely, even with central air set with thermostat at a specific temperature. I usually still see a small fluctuation throughout the day.
 
+1 to possibly faulty probe, statistically it's next to impossible to hold a constant temperature like that over the course of a few days with reef equipment so chances are there's an error somewhere.
 
Thank you so much all, just got back. Tank looks Ok just couple of Monti cap are gone.
Very good suggestion on probe test, I will and report back.
 
Well, figured out the problem.
It was one of the EB 8 outlets (No 3) which my heater (300 W) was connected to, still passing some voltage even in Off position.
I think it is a faulty TRIAC but I am not going to mess with it for now.
Unplugged the heater and plugged it back and is working for now.
Will switch to a smaller heater to be safe.
 
I had the same issue with a dosing pump. Use outlets 4 or 8, it should solve the problem.

Those outlets use a mechanical relay, you can hear them click when they turn off or on.
 
Here we go, here's a link to the explanation...although not sure why this was the case for high energy device check it out:

https://forum.neptunesystems.com/showthread.php?20-Read-this-first-Energy-Bars-and-outlets

"EB8 outlets 4 and 8 are activated with mechanical relays. These have a distinct "click" whenever they switch on/off. Mechanical relays (think light switch in your house) have been around for a long time, are inexpensive and very reliable. They handle both high and low current devices equally well."
 
If you continue to use it that EB8 I suggest connecting a device that is always on to that outlet.

I had the same thing happen to me several years ago with a 300w heater connected. If I did not have my alarms set properly and was not home at the time it would have crashed my tank within a couple of hours.

Don't bother trying to get Neptune to fix it. I sent mine in and they said it would not be cost effective to fix and that I would be better off buying a new one. I asked that they return the EB8 and they did but rendered it useless by disconnecting several parts and removing the power cord.

I could have used the other 7 outlets without issue.
 
soo... heaters should go in the those 2 slots only?

cause I'd need to make some adjustments

Yes, things that turn on/off frequently are ONLY supposed to be plugged into the second half of the bar (EB8 = outlets 5, 6, 7, 8 ||| EB4 = Outlets 3, 4)
 
thanks! going to make adjustments now.

With what you're setting up, I would still suggest getting a Ranco temperature controller. They're only like $60 and they blow the socks off of an Apex for reliability & stability, they also have their own (apparently WAY more accurate) temperature probe.

Also -- If you order from them directly and tell them it's for an aquarium they will (or used to) make their probe waterproof for you.
 
With what you're setting up, I would still suggest getting a Ranco temperature controller. They're only like $60 and they blow the socks off of an Apex for reliability & stability, they also have their own (apparently WAY more accurate) temperature probe.

Yup thanks! I have the Ranco sitting here. Just waiting for everything to finish before setting it up. Im debating if I want the Ranco on the APEX for double security? to be able to turn off if my tank temp raises too much. but it would suck if APEX turns off and take the Ranco down..

I didn't know about their probes. I will call and find out!
 
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