The last couple days The continuous heating alarm has been going off on my inkbird in the middle of the night. Last night, my temperature dropped to about 75.5°. I couldn't figure out what was causing it so I hooked up a secondary heater I had and assumed that the heater was failing. I have the new one hooked up for about 45 minutes before I left the house this morning and yet my temperature still hasn't risen above 75.9° according to the inkbird. Am I wrong in assuming that my inkbird itself is failing?
Inkbird failing?
- Thread starter Dmac
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Have you taken the temp of the water with another thermometer? That'd be the 1st step.
My research on the Inkbird is they are prone to failure. BRS suggests replacing once a year. I'm sure they would like us to replace everything once a year 
In this hobby it's a good idea to have a couple thermometers on hand.
I ordered a six pack of digital thermometers on amazon for $20. They all lasted about 1 month and started doing all kinds of weird stuff
went to grocery store and bought 2 meat thermometers just for backup. Moral of the post, dont waste your money on cheap thermometers. Just gonna have to replace it anyway.
One NIST certified and one old school glass. Your good to go.I ordered a six pack of digital thermometers on amazon for $20. They all lasted about 1 month and started doing all kinds of weird stuff
Fwiw,
I have never had a Ranco temperature controller fail.
You usually get what you pay for in this hobby.
I would look at a lot of other ways to save money, before I tried to save on heaters or their controls. May be the #1 cause of lethal equipment failure. Eheim-Jager heaters & Ranco controllers have earned my trust.
I have never had a Ranco temperature controller fail.
You usually get what you pay for in this hobby.
I would look at a lot of other ways to save money, before I tried to save on heaters or their controls. May be the #1 cause of lethal equipment failure. Eheim-Jager heaters & Ranco controllers have earned my trust.
This conversation has had me thinking about a secondary temp alert outside of my Apex. Nothing to control heaters, just an alert. @ActiveAngel has repeatedly said that the two most common issues that plague us is temp & salinity. I had also been looking for a hydrometer to put in the humidor I've been working on that would alert. I could justify the expense but now I think I can kill two birds with one stone for under $100. Still Inkbird products though.
Wi-Fi Hydroponics Kit | Atlas Scientific
The Wi-Fi Hydroponics Kit reads pH, conductivity, and temperature. All readings are automatically temperature compensated and uploaded to ThingSpeak.
atlas-scientific.com
I'm running one of those in a hydroponics setup - and monitoring pretty much the exact things I care about in an aquarium.
This is NOT plug and play - you need to be able to do things like work with MQTT (in Home Assistant for instance) - over the past 6 months I've been impressed - stable and working well. PH & EC stay calibrated quite well and EC is not all over the place like I've experienced previously with automated salinity monitoring.
If my Apex dies - this will be my route for replacement.
If I ever have the time and motivation at the same time - I'm wanting to play around more with the EC probe/circuitry from Atlas Scientific and automated mixing - again, not plug and play with tons of forum support, but I like the hardware and libraries available.
So, when do you want to have a lunch?Wi-Fi Hydroponics Kit | Atlas Scientific
The Wi-Fi Hydroponics Kit reads pH, conductivity, and temperature. All readings are automatically temperature compensated and uploaded to ThingSpeak.
I'm running one of those in a hydroponics setup - and monitoring pretty much the exact things I care about in an aquarium.
This is NOT plug and play - you need to be able to do things like work with MQTT (in Home Assistant for instance) - over the past 6 months I've been impressed - stable and working well. PH & EC stay calibrated quite well and EC is not all over the place like I've experienced previously with automated salinity monitoring.
If my Apex dies - this will be my route for replacement.
If I ever have the time and motivation at the same time - I'm wanting to play around more with the EC probe/circuitry from Atlas Scientific and automated mixing - again, not plug and play with tons of forum support, but I like the hardware and libraries available.
Hoping things will slow down just a pinch over winter so I have a little more time for things like this!So, when do you want to have a lunch?
I haven't made it home yet but I just had a thought. The heater I was using was originally purchased for my 75 gallon. I don't remember what wattage it is off the top of my head, but it occurred to me that it's just started when the temperature started dropping overnight. I wonder if the issue was at my thermometer can't keep up? 
I've had my 120 set up for a few months now, but it was over the summer when it was easy to keep the tank at 77°
I've had my 120 set up for a few months now, but it was over the summer when it was easy to keep the tank at 77°Buy 2 heaters - run them both off the same controller outlet (doesn't matter what controller) - set the thermostat on 1 heater to a degree or so above your target temp. Set the other one to 3-4 degrees below your temp target.
Now with that running you can easily trend and detect an issue and know where the issue is. Then, if you see your temp drop to what the lower set heater is at - you know your first heater is dead. If temps drop below what you have the lower one set too - you know your controller OR both heaters are dead.
Make sure both of your heaters are sized appropriately to handle your tank on their own - and of course that your controller outlet can handle the heaters.
Controller setting: 77
Heater 1 setting: 79
Heater 2 setting: 75
plan on replacing heater 1 once a year if you want to be proactive in replacements.
Now with that running you can easily trend and detect an issue and know where the issue is. Then, if you see your temp drop to what the lower set heater is at - you know your first heater is dead. If temps drop below what you have the lower one set too - you know your controller OR both heaters are dead.
Make sure both of your heaters are sized appropriately to handle your tank on their own - and of course that your controller outlet can handle the heaters.
Controller setting: 77
Heater 1 setting: 79
Heater 2 setting: 75
plan on replacing heater 1 once a year if you want to be proactive in replacements.
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+1 on Ranco and Eheim combo
I have a spare if you want to test that theory.
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