Near Disaster - Hydros Power Strip

[mescobar]

Ranco, Inkbird or IM Helio, as I would never trust a wifi based power strip for anything critical like a heater, ato or return pump. You're just waiting for disaster to happen at that point. It's all about redundancy in this hobby and being prepared. Heater controllers are not that expensive and are worth ever penny if set up properly. I use IM Helio's (which are connected/controlled by an apex on one and hydros on another) on two of my tanks and a Ranco on my son's tank. A $50 heater will destroy your tank if left unchecked/controlled. I've seen it happen multiple times and I've seen the destruction it causes, so it's not worth it to skimp on a heater controller, especially if you're spending triple that for a tiny frag of some crazy named piece. Not to mention all of the money spent on your fish (and the food you feed them all the time). If spending $90 on a heater controller is out of your budget, then you better be able to check your temp on a daily basis.
Most of the animals we keep can survive cooler temps, but not the other way around.

Well said, would rather not learn the way. There is a responsibility to the health of all tank inhabitants.

 

[Reeferkcp]

I have my heater controlled by two inkbirds. If one stuck on the other will turn it off.

 

[mescobar]

I have my heater controlled by two inkbirds. If one stuck on the other will turn it off.

are you sure that's enough inkbirds?

 

[Discotu]

Which inkbird models are you guys using?

 

[Reeferkcp]

are you sure that's enough inkbirds?

Need to add another during Black Friday =D

 

[DanK.Reefer]

Which inkbird models are you guys using?

https://a.co/d/hRkWYX6 this is the one I am currently using. It is nice because it is Wifi capable which makes setup a breeze and it can send a alert to your phone if things aren't right. If the Wifi cuts out it doesn't matter it just functions as planned until the Wifi connection is restored.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[laverda]

I like the idea of calibrating the heater knob as you described in theory, but in practice it seems trivial to play with knob and error prone to get the temperature exactly 1-2 degrees warmer than controller. The temperature sensor in the heater is likely to degrade over time and be completely off if the heater goes into a failure mode.

Would much rather put that trust in a completely redundant system like an Inkbird that uses PID to regulate the temperature accurately.

It is not hard to set the heater is 1-2 degrees over your controller. It that's too hard get it 1-4 degrees higher. The heater built in controller should not degrade at all over time, as it is only going to be used if the other controller fails.
If you want something totally reliable get a Rancho controller. Rainbird do not have that good a reputation either.