Often PetSmart will have online prices that are much lower than in the store. They will honor the internet price if you print out the online page containing the item & price and take it with you. We used to get 5g IO salt that way for a great price before the prices went up across the board. I don't know if Petco will do this (Kelsey might know).
Heater
- Thread starter kr561
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Often PetSmart will have online prices that are much lower than in the store. They will honor the internet price if you print out the online page containing the item & price and take it with you. We used to get 5g IO salt that way for a great price before the prices went up across the board. I don't know if Petco will do this (Kelsey might know).
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FishScales is only 6 miles from Buford
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Your fuge also must a dark period for photosynthesis to take place.
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And also you CANNOT go by what the box says about what size aquarium that the heater is for. You have to look at the watts if it says that it's for a 70 gal tank and it is a 300-watt heater that heater is to big for a 70 gallon. That heater would be more suited for a 150ish-gallon tank. The reason that it is to big is that if and when it does go haywire it will cook your tank faster than if you had went with a smaller heater. Thus you will have more time to realize what is happing to your heater. Thats why on my tanks I use under rated heaters. And I use a good quality heater like a Jaguar. I have a 100-watt heater on my 55-gal. Which is just enough to keep it in the temperature range of 75-83f. It just annoys me that SOME people that work at petstores don't know any thing about what they are doing, we have a customer who was told to buy a 300-watt heater for his 30 gal...
Chris c
Chris c
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Kinda makes me wish I had a Pesmart. The Petco here specifically said they will not match their online prices when I asked them.
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It's there policy to match there own price, riase the roof they will have no chioce but to hook you up.
It's a good idea to by two heaters that equal the number of watts necessary for your gallonage. Less chance of cooking your tank occupants if a heater goes awry. If one heater fails, you have a backup that will keep the temperature fairly stable until you can replace the bad heater.
We have the good ol' http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752255">glass thermometers</a> (the kind that attach to the aquarium glass with a suction cup) to verify the digital temp of the Coralife thermometer. Either leave it in the tank or put it in when you need to get a second reading for another thermometer. I know Coralife digitals are hit-n-miss, but so far the temps have been the same with both thermometers, so the Coralife is okay. Someday we'll get a controller, but that's not yet on the horizon.
[IMG]http://pet.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pPETS-3762487t400.jpg alt="" />
My chiller has a heater controller and temp display, so I plug in a single 500 watt titanium heating element and that sits in my sump.
I also have an infrared temperature gun, which is used a lot in the Radio Control Gas truck/car hobby. It is an easy to use checkpoint to determine the accuracy of any thermometer. Just hold it a couple inches from the water surface and press a button. Just don't take the temp of the tank glass. There are many very affordable ones out now, like this at $25:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXEMG5&P=FR">http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXEMG5&P=FR</a>
Some more info about he above unit:
[IMG]http://www.duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxp3100.html">http://www.duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxp3100.html</a>
I own this Raytek IR temp gun, which I actually saw as a prop on the Star Trek TV Series "Enterprise":
[IMG]http://www.instrumart.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=143">http://www.instrumart.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=143</a>
Dave
I also have an infrared temperature gun, which is used a lot in the Radio Control Gas truck/car hobby. It is an easy to use checkpoint to determine the accuracy of any thermometer. Just hold it a couple inches from the water surface and press a button. Just don't take the temp of the tank glass. There are many very affordable ones out now, like this at $25:
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXEMG5&P=FR">http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXEMG5&P=FR</a>
Some more info about he above unit:
[IMG]http://www.duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxp3100.html">http://www.duratrax.com/caraccys/dtxp3100.html</a>
I own this Raytek IR temp gun, which I actually saw as a prop on the Star Trek TV Series "Enterprise":
[IMG]http://www.instrumart.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=143">http://www.instrumart.com/Product.aspx?ProductID=143</a>
Dave
skriz
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HAHAHA! Get a glass one until you can spring for a controller of some sort (Rk2, ACIII, Ranco, etc.).
Then your tank is not the temperature you think it is. These units are probably the worst ones on the market. The cheap glass units are much better. Make sure you get one large enough to tell what temperature it's reading though.
A quick way to test your thermometer is to test the following liquids:
ice water. Stir the ice into the water and make sure the probe is only touching the water, not the ice. It should read about 32 degrees.
Boiling water. This should be about 100 degrees.
To be safe, I would only check the ice water. Boiling the probe could damage it.
Water boils at 212 F, and 100 C. Water freezes at 32 F and 0 C. Don't get'em confused.
I do spot check mine periodically with a lab thermometer (from my wife's bag of work stuff). It isn't exactly on, but it isn't more than a degree-and-a-half off. I watch the Coralife too see change; I use her lab probe to see what the number is.
Are the Coralifes prone to fail, or to change the amount of their innacuracy? I've got a glass one, but I, in my ignorace, thought the digital would be better... after all, it cost more!
I put the glass one in as a cheap way to see how much variation there was between the side w/the heater and the side w/o (this was pre-sump).
