Heater

[P0tluck]

I had to upgrade my heater as it was old and I didn't want no mishap, I also got an inkbird 308 as well, the issue I have is the heater I ordered is digital so when the inkbird reaches the desired temp it cuts everything on the heater off including saved presets on the heater which is a hyggar brand, to stop this I have to use the heater for heat instead of the inkbird but the heating light stays on so I don't think that's a good idea, in my other tank that's an analog heater I have the heater set at 78° and the inkbird at 77° and it works great, for the digital one I have to set the heater at 77° and inkbird at 78° which is the opposite so I don't lose power to the heater but again the heating light on the inkbird stays on, it's there a work around it should I just get an analog heater and send the digital one back? If that route which analog heater do you recommend (not digital) I looked at eheim but they are not advised to mount horizontal, ty in advance

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

 

[P0tluck]

In other tanks I have noticed the algae and brown algae from blue lights.

My fam left most my tanks lights on all day for about 10 days earlier this year. And it was messy. I had a trip away and left little pill boxes of food each day for feeding so not a half container of food fed, which would have been really terrible!!! Of course I had planned the trip in advance, so had that making it less worse.

Used to have the Fluval Sea for my little nano tank. Now have Ecoxotic LED lights.

Ahh okay, I posted a thread for a heater, just gonna ask you as I need to order it before tomorrow is going to get cold here tomorrow night , do you have any recommendation for a non digital heater that I can mount horizontally like a basic heater say probably 200-250 watts , I would get eheim but they say horizontal mounting with their heaters isn't recommended I just bought a hyggar digital one but it won't work with my inkbird the inkbird shuts it off after it reaches the temp lol it can be any heater just not digital has to be manual I believe unless I'm missing something.

 

[Autumnsky]

Ahh okay, I posted a thread for a heater, just gonna ask you as I need to order it before tomorrow is going to get cold here tomorrow night , do you have any recommendation for a non digital heater that I can mount horizontally like a basic heater say probably 200-250 watts , I would get eheim but they say horizontal mounting with their heaters isn't recommended I just bought a hyggar digital one but it won't work with my inkbird the inkbird shuts it off after it reaches the temp lol it can be any heater just not digital has to be manual I believe unless I'm missing something.

The heater doesn't go back on again when the water cools down????

Well I have a few different types of heater presently and no clue if they work with the Inkbird, but no digital ones (had a Finnex one a long time ago, had it out of the tank and thought I had unplugged it but must have unplugged something else and it over heated and wasn't ever the same again and died, which was my fault)

I have several Fluval ones for nano tanks. And 2 Eheim and a larger M Fluval.

2 large Top Fin submersible, I think 150 or 200W basic heaters with the grey rubber top, which have been going strong for several years now. Never had had these before. They were on a really good sale and I snapped them up. Checked them and they were okay. I know they are the cheap brand, normally I wouldn't buy. Right now just saw they are around $38 for a 200W and $42 for a 300W at one of the big box stores.

https://www.petsmart.com/fish/heati...rsible-aquarium-heater-37660.html?cgid=300119

I always test them in a bucket to make sure they are running alright. And I like to use 2 heaters because I have had a heater go full blast and kill my tank inhabitants before. But since you have a controller that shouldn't be an issue.

The ones I had bought before had a fuse system, but can't recall what they were right now. Also you wouldn't really need that I guess with a controller.

I like my Fluval pretty well. And Eheim lasted a pretty long time too. I think the one that died, was a second hand one came with some supplies.

 

[P0tluck]

The heater doesn't go back on again when the water cools down????



Well I have a few different types of heater presently and no clue if they work with the Inkbird, but no digital ones (had a Finnex one a long time ago, had it out of the tank and thought I had unplugged it but must have unplugged something else and it over heated and wasn't ever the same again and died, which was my fault)



I have several Fluval ones for nano tanks. And 2 Eheim and a larger M Fluval.



2 large Top Fin submersible, I think 150 or 200W basic heaters with the grey rubber top, which have been going strong for several years now. Never had had these before. They were on a really good sale and I snapped them up. Checked them and they were okay. I know they are the cheap brand, normally I wouldn't buy. Right now just saw they are around $38 for a 200W and $42 for a 300W at one of the big box stores.



https://www.petsmart.com/fish/heati...rsible-aquarium-heater-37660.html?cgid=300119



I always test them in a bucket to make sure they are running alright. And I like to use 2 heaters because I have had a heater go full blast and kill my tank inhabitants before. But since you have a controller that shouldn't be an issue.



The ones I had bought before had a fuse system, but can't recall what they were right now. Also you wouldn't really need that I guess with a controller.



I like my Fluval pretty well. And Eheim lasted a pretty long time too. I think the one that died, was a second hand one came with some supplies.

The inkbird prevents a shorted out heater from frying your fish, it has its own thermostat you put in the tank , it had presets.. one for target temp one for high temp one for low temp, so Basically you set it so if your tank ever goes above what you set the high alarm for it kills the power to the heater so it no longer continues to heat and warns you with an alarm that things are bad, the issue with the heater I just bought is it's digital and has its own settings, how the inkbird works is once it reaches the target temp you set for the tank.. in my case 77° it turns off the heater until your water dips 1° then it kicks back on, it's turning off the digital part of the heater which has the heater setting.. As you need that setting so it'll heat properly, so say your heaters set to 74° the ink bird is set to 77° it'll never reach 77° because the heaters at 74°, simply put I need a decent brand heater I can mount horizontally that isn't digital but manual that you set by turning a dial. Eheim states they don't recommend you mounting their heaters horizontal.


Yes it comes back on when it dips a degree but when the power cuts off it loses the presets and doesn't heat past the factory default of 75, I don't trust it as I saw my tank got to 77.6 and I had it set to 77 so I feel it's safer to sent this back as it's actually too much for my tank (300 Watts and my ambient temp is 75) and this thing heats up super fast which I do not like either

 

[P0tluck]

With your eheim do you have it mounted vertical or horizontal?

 

[Autumnsky]

It was vertical but i used to have a blacj plastic one which was horizontal. Though not for sure of the brand. I stopped doing horizontal because one if the fish would lounge on it and got burned. I think it was my Spotted Raphael who might not move for days.

 

[P0tluck]

Ahh that makes sense never thought about that, I just like to hide them horizontally beyond the plants Ill just order a eheim Tru temp and figure out of when it gets here and send this hyggar back

 

[Autumnsky]

I built a plastic needle point canvas guard around it and had it at an angle and then straight on a different tank. Some heaters come with guards now.

Hope that one works well for you.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Could i jump in because i want to try and understand something.

So your inkbird is a controller seperate to your heater. And you set the controller at a higher temperature than the heater as a safety net should the heater preset fail and overheat your tank. If the controller kicks in it turns off the power and returns the power once the temperature drops sufficiently.

That all seems pretty standard except i thought it was normal to have the temperatures the other way round, heater higher than the controller and rely on the controller to maintain the temperature in the tank rather than the heater preset. Anyway, thats not my question.

What i dont understand is why it makes a difference if a heater is digital or manual. Are you saying once the power goes off on the digital heater it wipes the preset temperature when it comes back on? Thats a rubbish situation. What happens with that heater if there is a power cut?

 

[P0tluck]

@Aiken Drum
No about how the inkbird works, you set the heater to +2 degrees above what you set the inkbird so you're using the inkbird thermostat to heat the tank not the heaters thermostat

So example I want my tank 77° I'll set the inkbird to 77° and the heater to 78-79°... on the inkbird I'll set the high alarm (overheating option) to 83-84° so if the tank every reaches that temp it cuts all power sets it in safe mode and has an alarm to tell you somethings wrong, it also has a low temp alarm as well which I have set to 72°


Yes the inkbird kept turning the digital display on and off on and off, however I was incorrect about it changing Temps it will change from Fahrenheit too Celsius you have to change that back, I was thinking that it was doing that today because I had to keep on changing it back to 76 because it kept on heating my tank up to 77.7-78 when it restarted, so in short I guess it would work but I feel safer by just getting a manually set one (just ordered a eheim Yager) and do it the proper way instead of having 2 controllers fighting each other. Technically it is a power cut because the inkbird cuts the power when it reaches the temp I've set in the inkbird.

 

[P0tluck]

Could i jump in because i want to try and understand something.

So your inkbird is a controller seperate to your heater. And you set the controller at a higher temperature than the heater as a safety net should the heater preset fail and overheat your tank. If the controller kicks in it turns off the power and returns the power once the temperature drops sufficiently.

That all seems pretty standard except i thought it was normal to have the temperatures the other way round, heater higher than the controller and rely on the controller to maintain the temperature in the tank rather than the heater preset. Anyway, thats not my question.

What i dont understand is why it makes a difference if a heater is digital or manual. Are you saying once the power goes off on the digital heater it wipes the preset temperature when it comes back on? Thats a rubbish situation. What happens with that heater if there is a power cut?

I replied but I don't know why it didn't post your quote. And EDIT on my response, yes you set the heater higher than the controller you're correct, you do that so the controller controls the heat not the heater, 100% correct but I had to do it backwards to keep the heater from going off as i thought it was resetting the temp

 

[P0tluck]

I built a plastic needle point canvas guard around it and had it at an angle and then straight on a different tank. Some heaters come with guards now.

Hope that one works well for you.

That's pretty nifty im not creative like that lol, usually when I look for heaters, I look for ones that have a guard but not many do, I ordered an eheim Yager as I read further and people use them horizontally all the time because they are long, the one I ordered is 17"