Aquarium heaters and controllers

[JB33t]

Are these heaters BRS heaters any good in anyone’s experience. I’m setting up a 25g sps tank with a 10g sump and I would preferably have a finnex however the minimum (300w) is too big for my tank and I don’t wanna oversize on a heater. I’m going to purchase a ink bird controller for the heater does the ink bird act as a fail safe and automatically turn the heater off or does it just give an alarm to me?

 

[Water Dog]

The BRS heating elements are of excellent quality. They are made by the reputable German company, Schego.

The InkBird on the other hand... Let’s just say that BRS was rebranding InkBird temperature controllers under the BRS label. If you look on the BRS site, they are all out of stock. I’ve read on here that because of reliability issues, BRS is no longer selling these rebranded InkBird temperature controllers.

 

[JGT]

Other thing is that the BRS heaters have no thermostat. So you can’t have the thermostat on the heater serve as a backup to the Inkbird.

 

[JB33t]

The BRS heating elements are of excellent quality. They are made by the reputable German company, Schego.

The InkBird on the other hand... Let’s just say that BRS was rebranding InkBird temperature controllers under the BRS label. If you look on the BRS site, they are all out of stock. I’ve read on here that because of reliability issues, BRS is no longer selling these rebranded InkBird temperature controllers.

Interesting, therefore what would you recommend besides the inkbird?

 

[Water Dog]

Interesting, therefore what would you recommend besides the inkbird?

I personally use and recommend a Ranco. Here is a great thread about Ranco temperature controllers...

Heater Controllers...

Alright guys I need some guidance. I setup my tank in June. Since then I’ve had two BRS (inkbird) heater controller go glitchy on me. They’ll suddenly (in the middle of the night) start alarming ‘HI’ high temp warning with a buzzer. The temp isn’t high. I can check it with my apex and my Hanna...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[uninformed]

Look up the Willhi controllers on Amazon. I have them on two freshwater tanks and one saltwater tank and they are excellent. I had one issue with a temperature probe that failed and the company sent me a new probe straight away. I would suggest buying the temperature probe with the plastic probe for our reef tanks. The metal ones have been fine in freshwater.

WILLHI WH1436A Temperature Controller 110V Digital Thermostat Switch Sous Vide Controller NTC 10K Sensor Improved Version

 

[HockeyRooster]

I used the inkbird you have a picture of and recently switched it out for a wifi inkbird. Both have been great and I am using my old inkbird on my QT. My new wifi inkbird has coated probes which is a bonus (even though there have been no problems with the metal probe on my original.

 

[JB33t]

I used the inkbird you have a picture of and recently switched it out for a wifi inkbird. Both have been great and I am using my old inkbird on my QT. My new wifi inkbird has coated probes which is a bonus (even though there have been no problems with the metal probe on my original.

I like inkbird it seems simple and plug and play but they really seem to be a hit or miss how long have you run yours for?

 

[JB33t]

Look up the Willhi controllers on Amazon. I have them on two freshwater tanks and one saltwater tank and they are excellent. I had one issue with a temperature probe that failed and the company sent me a new probe straight away. I would suggest buying the temperature probe with the plastic probe for our reef tanks. The metal ones have been fine in freshwater.

WILLHI WH1436A Temperature Controller 110V Digital Thermostat Switch Sous Vide Controller NTC 10K Sensor Improved Version

Hm interesting this is the first that I’ve seen this one. I’ll keep it in mind thank you

 

[Bepis]

The new inkbird is great. With two probes now I can actually trust it. Though keep in mind it swings the temperature about .3-4 degree F

 

[JB33t]

I personally use and recommend a Ranco. Here is a great thread about Ranco temperature controllers...

Heater Controllers...

Alright guys I need some guidance. I setup my tank in June. Since then I’ve had two BRS (inkbird) heater controller go glitchy on me. They’ll suddenly (in the middle of the night) start alarming ‘HI’ high temp warning with a buzzer. The temp isn’t high. I can check it with my apex and my Hanna...

www.reef2reef.com

Okay they don’t seem to difficult I have zero experience with wiring but that video seems simple enough that was posted. Will the Ranco just shut off the heater if the temperature gets too hot or does it do some alarm?

 

[Soren]

Okay they don’t seem to difficult I have zero experience with wiring but that video seems simple enough that was posted. Will the Ranco just shut off the heater if the temperature gets too hot or does it do some alarm?

If you buy pre-wired Ranco controllers, they will be plug-and-play in the same manner as the Inkbird controllers.
Both controllers simply shut off power at a set high temperature and turn on power at a set low temperature or a set differential band. Neither have alarms of which I am aware.

I have two Ranco controllers for my 90-gallon reef I am currently setting up. I have not run them yet, only wired and tested them so far.
My experience with Inkbird controllers was with a dry-curing refrigerator chamber, not directly reef-related. It worked fine, but I have heard of Inkbirds failing and leaving heater on to raise temperatures in a reef and kill many corals and fishes. My failure cost for dry-curing was much lower, so Inkbird was good enough.

 

[newfly]

i would suggest getting a heater with internal thermostat and add an external controller like ink bird on top of it. Heater failure can cause the tank to crash, and its always nice to have secondary fallback/insurance. There is practically no price different for the heater with thermostat or the one without.

 

[HockeyRooster]

I like inkbird it seems simple and plug and play but they really seem to be a hit or miss how long have you run yours for?

Original has been running since April of 2018 and the wifi one is about 4 months old.

 

[JB33t]

i would suggest getting a heater with internal thermostat and add an external controller like ink bird on top of it. Heater failure can cause the tank to crash, and its always nice to have secondary fallback/insurance. There is practically no price different for the heater with thermostat or the one without.

Very interesting idea here. Double protection. Would anyone be willing to give a 2nd opinion on this idea?

 

[JB33t]

If you buy pre-wired Ranco controllers, they will be plug-and-play in the same manner as the Inkbird controllers.
Both controllers simply shut off power at a set high temperature and turn on power at a set low temperature or a set differential band. Neither have alarms of which I am aware.

I have two Ranco controllers for my 90-gallon reef I am currently setting up. I have not run them yet, only wired and tested them so far.
My experience with Inkbird controllers was with a dry-curing refrigerator chamber, not directly reef-related. It worked fine, but I have heard of Inkbirds failing and leaving heater on to raise temperatures in a reef and kill many corals and fishes. My failure cost for dry-curing was much lower, so Inkbird was good enough.

Thank you very much. I’m definitely leaning towards a Ranco as of currently they seem to be the best thing I can get.

 

[SPS2020]

I personally use and recommend a Ranco. Here is a great thread about Ranco temperature controllers...

Heater Controllers...

Alright guys I need some guidance. I setup my tank in June. Since then I’ve had two BRS (inkbird) heater controller go glitchy on me. They’ll suddenly (in the middle of the night) start alarming ‘HI’ high temp warning with a buzzer. The temp isn’t high. I can check it with my apex and my Hanna...

www.reef2reef.com

+1 for the Ranco.

I have not had good experience with Inkbird, specifically, the new one with two thermostats and wiFi. The fluctuations were more than two degrees and sporadic. YMMV.

On the contrary, I have had good experiences with the Hygger Quartz heaters and controllers. I still use my Apex as a safety though.

 

[SPS2020]

Very interesting idea here. Double protection. Would anyone be willing to give a 2nd opinion on this idea?

Yep...that is where my Apex comes into play.

 

[Gtinnel]

Very interesting idea here. Double protection. Would anyone be willing to give a 2nd opinion on this idea?

I use a inkbird controller with Eheim heater and it works great. I have the inkbird to keep the temperature between 78.0 and 78.5. Then the Eheim heater is set to 81 degrees in case the inkbird fails on. The Inkbird (wifi model) sends a notification to my phone and beeps if the temp drops below 77, goes above 80, or has to run for more than a set number of hours.

I heard horror stories about the inkbird but I haven't had any problem with mine in the year I've had it. Once it notified me that my tank was too cold because my heater failed, so I will now never go without some kind of temperature controller

 

[newfly]

Just to give you some idea, i bought a Hydros Control 2 as a secondary controller for my heater & ATO in addition to controlling the AC powerhead. Both heater and ATO have their own controller, so the Hydros acting as a fail safe. I'm most concern about the heater(don;t want to cook the tank) and ATO(overflow - water damage). Having multiple layer of safety just give me a piece of mind. Multiple things needs to fail at the same time for disaster to happen.