Temperature controller

[Knyx]

Do you need a separate controller for controlling your heaters. Like ink bird?. Or can you use apex. GHL etc to do the same thing? Or am I missing something here. Thanks

 

[lapin]

Yes you can use heaters with apex as the on off controller.
A lot of people use both for safety reasons

 

[KyleC]

I thought most standard aquarium heaters just turned off when they reached the set temperature? What's the need for a temperature controller?

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

Most heaters have built-in thermostats but these fail often so many opt to back them up with an inkbird or full aquarium controller.

IMO You don't need more than 1 back up so if you have a heater with a thermostat I would not buy a stand-alone aquarium controller and a full aquarium controller. If you have a dumb heater with no thermostat built in then you may want an inkbird and a full aquarium controller.

 

[PotatoPig]

I thought most standard aquarium heaters just turned off when they reached the set temperature? What's the need for a temperature controller?

The built in controller often isn’t great for accuracy, tends to allow larger swings in temperature between the on/off, the mechanism used to turn on/off has more potential to fail and there’s no mechanism to tell you if it has failed or if there is some other “alert” condition.

Controllers also allow you hook up multiple heaters to the same thermostat so one isn’t switching on and off while the other thinks it’s still heating, and you can control the temperature in the tank down to 0.1F increments using your phone rather than messing around with the heater.

 

[srobertb]

Do you need a separate controller for controlling your heaters. Like ink bird?. Or can you use apex. GHL etc to do the same thing? Or am I missing something here. Thanks

I have used Apex for 5-6 years now. I am running 3 sensors (display, sump, and fish room ambient). So long as you have push notifications on and alarms set correctly, you’ll never have a problem with this setup. This is also why we appropriately size our heaters. An 800w heater may seem like a good idea in a 40g tank it can boil your fish in minutes.

Replace your heater yearly. Heating elements and controllers should have 2, hopefully with an Apex or other controller that allows you to run two with identical programming. If there’s an issue you can flip Heater1 off and Heater2 on.

Added layer of protection (I don’t use it. I use basic heating elements from BRS and maybe Jager I think) is to buy a standard heater with built in thermostat. Set Apex to 78. Set built in heater thermostat to 79. Apex breaks, heater will only go to 79.

If you don’t want a controller: AutoAqua makes a sensor you place in your tank, plug your heater into, and it will alarm and shutoff the heater outlet if it gets too hot. It’s about $50 I think.

Inkbird makes a Wi-Fi controller. I hate the regular one. Programming is PITA.

The NUMBER ONE issue with heaters is

a. It dies and the temp drops. You should always have a backup heater on hand. This isn’t a big deal.

b. The Temp probe sensor (Hydros, Neptune, Inkbird, etc) gets accidentally exposed to air (don’t keep it in your return section for this reason) and keeps heating despite the sensor reading low temp.

C. You have an emergency and purchase a cheap butt heater on Amazon and it shorts and electrocutes your sleeper goby and fully grown 5 year old damsel that you liked more than 2/3 of your children.

My apex is the single greatest point of my success. I went so long without one and had so much frustration. . I have:

Manually auto topped off my tank from 50 miles off the coast of Cuba when my optical sensors died.

Switched over my return pumps (one died) while having lunch with my family in a private villa in Capalbio, Italy.

A Neptune Apex is a reliable and excellent addition to a reef tank.

 

[KyleC]

I have used Apex for 5-6 years now. I am running 3 sensors (display, sump, and fish room ambient). So long as you have push notifications on and alarms set correctly, you’ll never have a problem with this setup. This is also why we appropriately size our heaters. An 800w heater may seem like a good idea in a 40g tank it can boil your fish in minutes.

Replace your heater yearly. Heating elements and controllers should have 2, hopefully with an Apex or other controller that allows you to run two with identical programming. If there’s an issue you can flip Heater1 off and Heater2 on.

Added layer of protection (I don’t use it. I use basic heating elements from BRS and maybe Jager I think) is to buy a standard heater with built in thermostat. Set Apex to 78. Set built in heater thermostat to 79. Apex breaks, heater will only go to 79.

If you don’t want a controller: AutoAqua makes a sensor you place in your tank, plug your heater into, and it will alarm and shutoff the heater outlet if it gets too hot. It’s about $50 I think.

Inkbird makes a Wi-Fi controller. I hate the regular one. Programming is PITA.

The NUMBER ONE issue with heaters is

a. It dies and the temp drops. You should always have a backup heater on hand. This isn’t a big deal.

b. The Temp probe sensor (Hydros, Neptune, Inkbird, etc) gets accidentally exposed to air (don’t keep it in your return section for this reason) and keeps heating despite the sensor reading low temp.

C. You have an emergency and purchase a cheap butt heater on Amazon and it shorts and electrocutes your sleeper goby and fully grown 5 year old damsel that you liked more than 2/3 of your children.

My apex is the single greatest point of my success. I went so long without one and had so much frustration. . I have:

Manually auto topped off my tank from 50 miles off the coast of Cuba when my optical sensors died.

Switched over my return pumps (one died) while having lunch with my family in a private villa in Capalbio, Italy.

A Neptune Apex is a reliable and excellent addition to a reef tank.

Thanks, very comprehensive! Certainly food for thought. I'll be investing in some type of controller now... if only to avoid overheating... but a wifi one sounds great!

Great advice everyone, appreciate the input!

 

[jda]

Ranco is the gold standard for heater controller. They are industrial grade, which is about a billion levels higher than hobby grade controller and infinately better than an InkBird. They are not expensive and you can wire them yourself, if inclined, so that they fit into your stand or whatever. You buy this once and you have it for life.

Have 2 heaters with internal thermostats set just above a Ranco, or the like.