My Equipment is Failing Me......

[Scott07]

My 65 has been up and running for about 6 months... and I thought I was doing a good job keeping all my parameters spot on. Well.... now I have two potential problems I'm dealing with despite my best efforts:

1) My inkbird heater controller seems to be on its way out after about 3 months of use. WTH.... this is very upsetting. I've never used a heater controller before, but because I'm stocking this tank w/ 90% SPS, I'm really trying to be as careful and redundant as possible. My first indication of the problem was yesterday when I did my water change. I use DT water each week to change out water in my QT. I noticed this week that after doing so, it took my heaters in the QT a few hours to bring the tank back up to temperature. Weird... but I chalked it up to an open window near the QT. Well this morning I placed two different mercury thermometers in the DT, and both are reading 76 degrees. The inkbird is set to 80. I know it was previously keeping the DT at 80, because I keep the one thermometer in my sump regularly just for verification... and it has always read spot on 80. Sooooo.... how the heck am I supposed to trust a heater controller over just the cheap built in controllers in my heaters if this is happening after 3 months? I've used just heaters with no controller for years and never had a problem.

2) The second thermometer I put in my DT to verify the temperature change was real is in a floating hydrometer. Well... noticed when I put the hydrometer in my DT that at least according to it... my salinity is 1.031. Again... WTH! I use a refractometer, and calibrate every week w/ pinpoint standard when mixing up water change water. I checked again immediately w/ the calibration fluid and the refractometer shows it's calibrated correctly. Reading 35ppt or 1.026 w/ the fluid. No adjustment required. Thought it was strange that my hydrometer could be SOOOOO far off... so I dug up an old bottle of Aqua Craft calibration fluid to double check. Place it on the refractometer and it reads.... you guessed it.... 1.031. So I'm leaning towards somehow... someway... my pinpoint fluid is off. No idea how it's this far off.... the lid is always kept tightly on the bottle, and the pinpoint is much newer than the Aqua Craft.

Please Help! I'm about to start making some drastic changes here... but I don't want to make things worse by incorrectly diagnosing problems. How would you begin tackling these two issues? I guess my temp. really is off if two different thermometers are confirming it... so what would you do about the controller? Buy another one and try again? IDK if I trust a controller after this. And the salinity... do I wait and get a third bottle of calibration fluid? Do I need a new refractometer? Do I start taking water out and letting my top off lower salinity now? Ugh... beyond frustrated. I guess when it rains it pours.

 

[WatDatThing]

Calibrate the inkbird. The instruction is in the manual. You can find the manual online also.

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[Scott07]

Calibrate the inkbird. The instruction is in the manual. You can find the manual online also.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Already done.... but my concern is still there. How do I know it won't continue to drift? Just keep an eye on it for a while (like months) I suppose?

 

[WatDatThing]

It has a 1 year warranty. Call them. Maybe you have a defective one.

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[rtparty]

First off, when it comes to heaters, thermometers, and controllers...NEVER trust them completely. IMO you should have a trusted thermometer that you can check the tank weekly. Then you should learn if the tank feels too cold or warm by sticking your finger in the tank. Is that scientific? Nope but I can easily tell if my tank is 4-5° off in either direction by doing this.

That brings up my next point, nothing wrong with 76° water. That's actually where I keep all my tanks. That gives me plenty of wiggle room in case something does happen. At 80° you aren't far off from disaster. I also allow my tanks to drift around from 74-80° on any given day. Rock solid temps have never benefitted my tanks. Corals aren't nearly as hardy when they don't have to adapt now and then.

So set your controller to 82 and know the real temp is 78. Then double check it every few days. This is where the finger test comes in handy. Again, you're only looking for extremes here. You should be able to distinguish a 72° tank from an 82° tank IMO

 

[ycnibrc]

Do your self a big favor and buy a ranco controller. I just bought 1 on eBay brand new for $50. By far it's the most reliable heater/chiller controller U can buy and it's cheap. This made for industrial frig n heater


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[Scott07]

First off, when it comes to heaters, thermometers, and controllers...NEVER trust them completely. IMO you should have a trusted thermometer that you can check the tank weekly. Then you should learn if the tank feels too cold or warm by sticking your finger in the tank. Is that scientific? Nope but I can easily tell if my tank is 4-5° off in either direction by doing this.

That brings up my next point, nothing wrong with 76° water. That's actually where I keep all my tanks. That gives me plenty of wiggle room in case something does happen. At 80° you aren't far off from disaster. I also allow my tanks to drift around from 74-80° on any given day. Rock solid temps have never benefitted my tanks. Corals aren't nearly as hardy when they don't have to adapt now and then.

So set your controller to 82 and know the real temp is 78. Then double check it every few days. This is where the finger test comes in handy. Again, you're only looking for extremes here. You should be able to distinguish a 72° tank from an 82° tank IMO

I hear ya here. Ive done a lot of reading on how salinity and temperature are actually two of the lesser important variables in a successful reef... both in our tanks and in the ocean. So the 76 degrees in and of itself isn't really my cause for concern. More so I'm concerned that ill wake up one morning and check the tank.... and the controller will be reading 65 degree water as 80. I don't trust any piece of equipment completely (except for the glass tank of course lol... but i don't really have a choice there!)... but i also hate agonizing about problems like this.

 

[Scott07]

Do your self a big favor and buy a ranco controller. I just bought 1 on eBay brand new for $50. By far it's the most reliable heater/chiller controller U can buy and it's cheap. This made for industrial frig n heater


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This will be my next step if necessary i think. Was going to buy the ranco originally, but was pointed to the inkbird instead. Seemed like a great product initially, but this unexplained change is really putting some doubt I my mind. Is it at all possible that the humidity in my stand is affecting the inkbird? The stand has an open back and I haven't thought of it as particularly humid in there before.

 

[rtparty]

Do you run a controller like Apex or ReefKeeper of any kind?

$125 ReefKeeper Lite is an awesome temp and light controller IMO. I ran one for years with no issues

 

[Scott07]

Do you run a controller like Apex or ReefKeeper of any kind?

$125 ReefKeeper Lite is an awesome temp and light controller IMO. I ran one for years with no issues

No I don't currently.... I thought about it when i bought the temp controller, but my lighting is already on its own built in timer, so it didn't quite make sense to me at the time.

 

[jda]

Inkbird is a good piece of equipment - not great. Controller with a hobby probe is also a good piece of equipment - not great. Both of these have failures and also many with years of reliable service.

A Ranco Temp Controller is on another level for precision and reliability. Folks use them in all kinds of industry where they would never consider something like an Inkbird or hobby-grade probe in an aquarium controller. The best part is that they are not even expensive.

 

[JWClark]

On your salinity, I would trust the refractometer and the pinpoint. The old calibration fluid is likely to read high due to evaporation over time--even with a tight lid.

I've tested with hydrometers in the past and they have always been off compared due to the refractometer.

 

[Scott07]

Inkbird is a good piece of equipment - not great. Controller with a hobby probe is also a good piece of equipment - not great. Both of these have failures and also many with years of reliable service.

A Ranco Temp Controller is on another level for precision and reliability. Folks use them in all kinds of industry where they would never consider something like an Inkbird or hobby-grade probe in an aquarium controller. The best part is that they are not even expensive.

Wish I had known this when I bought the inkbird. My intention was to buy the best piece of equipment I could w/o doing a whole system controller. I adjusted the inkbird's calibration by -2 degrees... and will observe carefully. But regardless..... I think a Ranco is in my future.

 

[jda]

Get a dual stage if you can. That way if you ever get some heat, you can turn some fans on with it.

 

[Scott07]

On your salinity, I would trust the refractometer and the pinpoint. The old calibration fluid is likely to read high due to evaporation over time--even with a tight lid.

I've tested with hydrometers in the past and they have always been off compared due to the refractometer.

I think I agree. After re-calibrating w/ the pinpoint... and bouncing the hydrometer up and down in the water a few times... I've got them to mostly agree. Within what I would call an acceptable margin of error for different measuring devices. Certainly better than 1.025 vs. 1.031. Needless to say... a new bottle of standard is on the way, and then I'll know as close to 'for sure' as I'm going to get. I think I may just start buying a new bottle every 6 months or so. Probably totally unnecessary.... but for the money, better safe than sorry.

 

[Scott07]

Get a dual stage if you can. That way if you ever get some heat, you can turn some fans on with it.

That's a good thought... I think I'll do that.

 

[jda]

There is not much that has been out less than 5 years that is the best possible quality. Most of the super-reliable stuff has been around for years and years.

Mercury thermometer is the only thing to trust.