Ranco ETC Calibration?

schandler88

New member
Things have been looking off in my tank for a few days with no real explanation... fish seem slow moving lps closed up and leathers less "full" looking.

My Ranco ETC is set at 79 and I have trusted it without question for almost 3 years now. But for the heck of it I stuck my new digital steak thermometer in the sump tonight and about fell over! Ranco reads 78 and heating, digital thermometer reads 68.7! I ran right out and bought a cheap glass aquarium thermometer to check them all against and it is showing just a pinch under 70 as well!

I am floored. I don't really know what to do as I use a heating probe (no thermostat) on the ranco so for now I'll have to just turn the etc up but I am not comfortable with this.

I have unplugged and plugged it back in, cleaned the probe, which wasn't dirty, and am still seeing 10 degrees out from actual temps.

Any ideas?

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I ordered the ink bird as I can get by Friday, I'll run that for now whilst I try and contact Ranco. I'm very disappointed.

I ran every spare heater I could find to try and get Temps back up to acceptable levels last night but still woke up this AM to a much to cold tank... 70.6. My clown (10 years old this year) is not looking well. Lost a lot of color and labored breathing, I'll be crushed if he doesn't make it.

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I wonder how long the inkbird will last. The second answer to the first question on Amazon says that the probe is water proof but not suitable for salt water. It looks to me that the probe should be sealed just like the Ranco.
 
I replaced the temp probe on my Ranco when it failed. I found a sealed water proof one on ebay. It wasn't an exact match with the one that comes on the Ranco so I had to experiment with adding a resistor to the probe to get it in range. I believe I used a 2k resistor and confirmed that it was within range when it matched the temp reading on a thermometer in the tank. I think there is no way to calibrate a Ranco.
 
I wonder how long the inkbird will last. The second answer to the first question on Amazon says that the probe is water proof but not suitable for salt water. It looks to me that the probe should be sealed just like the Ranco.

Here is the page for the Inkbird. Has a one year warranty. Neither the instructions nor the warranty says anything about saltwater. $15 less than Ranco and comes fully assembled ready to use. Another feature that I like is that it has high and low temperature alarms. http://www.ink-bird.com/products-temperature-controller-itc308.html
 
I have the tank up to 74.5. I am missing my beautiful large melanarus wrasse as of tonight when I got home from work... clown looks much better but is still breathing more rapidly than I'd like. Eating like a pig though, so not terribly worried.

Should I be raising the temp slowly or get it up to 78 as fast as possible.

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I have the tank up to 74.5. I am missing my beautiful large melanarus wrasse as of tonight when I got home from work... clown looks much better but is still breathing more rapidly than I'd like. Eating like a pig though, so not terribly worried.

Should I be raising the temp slowly or get it up to 78 as fast as possible.

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74.5 is not bad at all. I keep my tanks at 76. And what ever you do.
go slowly.
 
The inkbird came today.

The temp seems to match my cheapo glass thermometer as well as the digital, so thats a plus.

Ill keep an eye on it over the next few days and see how good of a job it does of keeping temps in line without swinging to much.
 
Same thing happened to my Ranco after 6 months of use, it was reading all over over the place (my water was about 75 and it was reading anywhere from 84 to 102). I was lucky to catch it before the temperature had time to drop too low. I ordered the Inkbird as a replacement, although I got the blue model (heater option only). It's been about 3 weeks now and things have been going well.
 
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