Redundancy

[NanCrab]

What does everyone use for their double, triple and quadruple checks for essential life support systems?
I have the Apex set up and it shut off my heater. Probe was reading 77+ but water felt cold to me and glass thermometer reading about 74.5. Recalibrated temp probe but now I’m thinking I need more back up plans.
Right this minute I’m running: (tank is still cycling so no livestock)
Jebao DCP 18000 at 5400 gph return pump (not attached to Apex)
Tunze Osmolator 3155 ATO (not attached to Apex)
Jebao CP90 gyre type sine wave pumps x 2
Titanium 500w heater x 1 in skimmer section of sump set at 78, attaches to Apex with default to OFF of temp rises above 81
Have but not currently set up:
Reef Octopus Classic 150
Coraline Turbo Twist UV with dedicated adjustable pump
T5 light fixture 2 bulbs
Noopsyche K7 Pro II x 3

 

[FutureInterest]

Great question! I don't have any numbers to back up this claim but I feel that temperature issues are the most common and overall most harmful for our tanks.

Primarily because heaters simply fail... Even the best heaters on the market will eventually fail. This is an issue that is unique to heaters as I can't think of any other particular piece of equipment we use in our home aquaria that has an unknown term of life but certainly will meet it's demise..

As such go redundant on the heater controllers. I always use a ranco controller on every tank. They are bulletproof imo. I use those with the Apex controller and the heaters on board controller. I use eheim heaters simply because they have fairly reliable for me but they do fail as well. I'm really just setting up the redundancy for overheating. A tank getting too cold is not great but it can recover without much if any permanent harm... In the wild, deep sea currents will sometime well up to the surface and drop the temperatures rapidly for a short time. So corals and fish can handle it... A tank that gets too hot though is just done for...

 

[NanCrab]

Is this it? I don’t know how to share links on here.

 

[Steve Burton]

Many of us use Inkbird temperature controllers, they are a little less expensive.

 

[jcook54]

I've been happy with the Inkbird controllers and now BRS has their own private branded and while mine had worked well, the reviews are pretty bad so I'd stay away from that one. However, the Inkbird's are a great option and I run them on all of my tanks.

 

[Ira January]

Temperature is definitely something to check often. I lost 4 fish in my first tank because it. Fish got ich, and had to run out and buy 20 gallon setup to dose to try and save them. I didn’t know how to pinpoint diseases that fish could get. I was and still am a rookie. I just wanted a tank and have learned a lot through growing pains. Taught me that I needed backup items at home because something might fail while stores are closed.

 

[Ira January]

Temperature is definitely something to check often. I lost 4 fish in my first tank because it. Fish got ich, and had to run out and buy 20 gallon setup to dose to try and save them. I didn’t know how to pinpoint diseases that fish could get. I was and still am a rookie. I just wanted a tank and have learned a lot through growing pains. Taught me that I needed backup items at home because something might fail while stores are closed.

 

[Adam]

What does everyone use for their double, triple and quadruple checks for essential life support systems?
I have the Apex set up and it shut off my heater. Probe was reading 77+ but water felt cold to me and glass thermometer reading about 74.5. Recalibrated temp probe but now I’m thinking I need more back up plans.

Unless you have a NIST Certified thermometer don't trust the reading from just one to calibrate the Apex probe. Use three digital thermometers and average the results.
Many cheap thermometers have a variance of up to two degrees celsius.

This one has a +/- 1° margin of error.

 

[ichthyoid]

I’ve been using Eheim-Jager heaters since the ‘80’s without a failure (knock on wood). I also use 2 heaters at 1/2 the wattage each, whenever possible. The chance of them both failing is incredibly small.

I buy new and get new one’s anytime I change to a new system. I would change them every 5 years otherwise, & buy on sale.

Same opinion as Jin on the Ranco temp controllers.

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

I run dual heaters , 2x100 watt ehiem , tends to extend the life if your only making them work half as hard , if one fails it will won't be detrimental while you get another.

 

[NanCrab]

So if I’m understanding correctly I should buy 2 150w heaters and run them both rather than rely on one 300w? Do I set them both at the desired temp or one slightly lower?

 

[NanCrab]

Unless you have a NIST Certified thermometer don't trust the reading from just one to calibrate the Apex probe. Use three digital thermometers and average the results.
Many cheap thermometers have a variance of up to two degrees celsius.

This one has a +/- 1° margin of error.

Thank you for the link...I have no idea how to do that but anyway I clicked on it and they are in my Amazon cart and will add the other item Jin advises as well

 

[Steve Burton]

So if I’m understanding correctly I should buy 2 150w heaters and run them both rather than rely on one 300w? Do I set them both at the desired temp or one slightly lower?

For a 125 gallon aquarium I would probably go with two heaters 200-300 watts each. Unless you keep your house very warm 300 watts would be hard to keep up in that size tank.

 

[ActiveAngel]

I can confirm; the majority of tank issues in decreasing quantity are related to:
1) Temp (everybody)
2) Salinity (primarily affecting new reefers)
3) Alk (primarily affecting moderately experienced reefers)

This does not include issues of impatience; e.g. stocking too quickly, not cycling, not feeding correctly... lol

As for doubling and tripling up on equipment; I recommend doing this for all life support systems. This includes heaters, circulation pumps, return pumps (if on a bigger tank). Lights aren’t necessarily on this list, but are easy to implement more than one.

Heaters, also have a special circumstance. Because they can fail in the on or off position, both of which can be devastating, it is wise to underpower them, so that a singular failure will have a lesser impact on the tank. This thought process can also apply to ATOs; however, nobody seems to do this currently.

 

[ActiveAngel]

So if I’m understanding correctly I should buy 2 150w heaters and run them both rather than rely on one 300w? Do I set them both at the desired temp or one slightly lower?

If you were aiming for 300w of heater power, I would aim for 2x 200w heaters instead of 150’s.

 

[sharis100]

I concur, two heaters instead of one will save you in the long run- 300w x2 is way more than sufficient for your system if you keep your house cool. You can get inkbird or finnex or BRS or any controller to plug into and then plug into the APEX if you want to triple check to prevent overheating.

 

[ichthyoid]

I have access to NIST traceable thermometers.

So if I’m understanding correctly I should buy 2 150w heaters and run them both rather than rely on one 300w? Do I set them both at the desired temp or one slightly lower?

Ideally, the heaters set points would be the same. In practice, it may not matter much, IMO, if you set them exactly the same or not. Aquarium heaters just aren’t that accurate, as most use bimetallic sensors. One is always bound to come on and go off first. The other will start and stop last. I’m not going to sweat 2 deg C in a fish tank. My guess is that the daily swing between in-sump heaters & tank water exceeds that regularly. Especially if the room temp varies significantly from tank temp.

I have access to NIST traceable Fluke temp meters/probes. So, I’ll check my Hanna handheld temp/salinity meter out to see & calibrate it, if needed.

 

[snowmansnow]

the way I do heat is pretty simple. One heater, titanium, with a built in thermostat. I also set that apex channel to cut it off if temp goes over a certain degree. That way the thermometer thermostat is double checked by the apex.

Use an accurate thermometer to measure your water temp and make sure your thermometer / apex is reasonably close.

 

[FutureInterest]

Is this it? I don’t know how to share links on here. View attachment 19865

Yep. Those are the ones I use. I still have and use one I bought 16 years ago for my first reef tank. It has outlived every other piece of equipment I have purchased. There are plenty of different ones on the market now, and I'm sure most are fine.

 

[ichthyoid]

Fwiw, the Hanna Salinity/Temp checker has a temp accuracy of +/- 0.5C/1F at 25 deg C.

It will be interesting to see what it really is, against a NIST traceable standard?