Do you trust your apex temp probe?

Paranoiattack91

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I just set up my apex on my new tank and am frustrated by the temp reading but am not sure how accurate it is, I REALLY do not want to have to run a chiller. The tank is 180 gallon with a trigger systems cr44 sump and I have no equipment or lights running yet other than the return pump. My house is set at 76 degrees at all hours of the day but the tank temp is reading at 83 degrees on the apex. I threw a cheap ink/coralife digital thermometer in and it is reading at 77.6 degreees. Have any of you that run an apex had issues with the temp probe? I ordered the Hannah thermometer on brs to compare but it won’t be here for a few days.
 

PeterC99

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I have the same situation as you. I added this clip on dual fan where you can adjust speed. I’m able to keep 90g tank temps below 79.5 degrees.
CFA9B002-D252-4938-9D9C-ADE17EFAD825.jpeg
 

Kfactor

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I don’t I find my temp prob reads 2 degree higher
 

DeniseAndy

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I believe you can calibrate the temp probes. I think I did it once based on an old mercury thermometer. Long while ago. Maybe I am thinking of something else. I will try it sometime.
 

rhostam

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Yes, I do.

But I also have the heaters attached to an external controller (InkbirdSmart) to confirm values. I worry a lot about equipment failures.

Primarly line of defense is the Inkbird and it’s two temp probes. It shuts off and on the heater during regular operation. If it fails (ON), then the Apex will shutoff the power to the Inkbird based on its reading.

Inkbird and Apex alert based on thresholds.
 
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Paranoiattack91

Paranoiattack91

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I have the same situation as you. I added this clip on dual fan where you can adjust speed. I’m able to keep 90g tank temps below 79.5 degrees.
CFA9B002-D252-4938-9D9C-ADE17EFAD825.jpeg
I don’t mind running a fan, I am just more confused on why the tank is reading so hot with no equipment running and the house being at 76 at all times.
 

PeterC99

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I don’t mind running a fan, I am just more confused on why the tank is reading so hot with no equipment running and the house being at 76 at all times.
Think about it. What pumps, UV light and other equipment are you running that increases tank temps? What does your heater controller say the tank’s temp is?

My Apex is controlling my fan On/Off.
 
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Paranoiattack91

Paranoiattack91

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I
Think about it. What pumps, UV light and other equipment are you running that increases tank temps? What does your heater controller say the tank’s temp is?

My Apex is controlling my fan On/Off.
I think you are misunderstanding what I am saying. I have 0 equipment running in my tank yet, so 83 degrees that the controller says does not make sense but we will see when the Hannah thermometer comes in.
 

Billldg

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You have to look at what where you are measuring vs. where the probe is. Even though I have a GHL switch over thread, I still have my Apex up and running. I currently have my Apex probe in my sump along side my GHL temp probe. If I measure at the site of the Apex probe, it is pretty close. If I measure in the tank, the Apex probe is roughly 1 degree off. You can calibrate the Apex probe if it is off when measuring at the same spot. No probe, GHL or Apex is perfect when they are introduced to our tanks. :) ;)
 

clifg

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I compared mine with a traceable thermometer:


it was actually spot on out of the box. That being said I'm sure some are off. I like having this thermometer because I can use it to temp my mixing station as well as check the calibration of the apex temp probe
 

DeniseAndy

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There is life in the tank giving off heat. Think about a room with one person and it at 76 degrees. Now take that room and add 100 people. The room temp will go up. Bodies, life, everything. Now, I am not saying your probe is not off by a few degrees, but you cannot expect the tank to run at room temperature. At least that is my thoughts.
Let me know if I am way off, it is later for me. My brain goes to bed early. :)
 
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Paranoiattack91

Paranoiattack91

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There is life in the tank giving off heat. Think about a room with one person and it at 76 degrees. Now take that room and add 100 people. The room temp will go up. Bodies, life, everything. Now, I am not saying your probe is not off by a few degrees, but you cannot expect the tank to run at room temperature. At least that is my thoughts.
Let me know if I am way off, it is later for me. My brain goes to bed early. :)
There is no life in the tank yet. No fish, inverts, lights or equipment (other than the dc return pump). We will see when the Hannah gets here. I don’t trust the 77 degree reading that the coralife thermometer is giving but the 83 degree reading that the apex is giving seems way high.
 

Sleepydoc

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Everyone is telling you why your tank may be warm, but @Billldg is correct; you first need to check to see if it’s correct and then calibrate it if necessary. Part of the problem is most of the thermometers we get are hobby-grade and not terribly accurate. The thermometer from BRS is a great option but you can also calibrate thermometers using an ice bath (assuming they have a linear temperature curve.) It’s probably not a bad idea to check the calibration of your other thermometers, too.

 

TKCorals

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Just a heads up I had the temperature probe on my apex fail recently. I would check your temperature probe every once in a while to make sure it is working properly.
 

Bruce60

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Just a heads up I had the temperature probe on my apex fail recently. I would check your temperature probe every once in a while to make sure it is working properly.
I strongly agree with TKCorals. I recently had an issue with one of my pumps starting to overheat and we had a brief warm stretch, so I thought my tank running a bit warm at 79-80 was expected. After I fixed the pump and the weather cooled, I noticed that the tank did not cool down at all. Puzzled, I pulled out my Hanna temp probe and an old tank thermometer and confirmed the tank was actually at 72.
When I recalibrated, I found that my salinity probe, that had been reading strangely low, also readjusted with the temp back to a normal and expected reading.

This is a KEY LESSON!!! If you have an unexpected or strange reading, first try to confirm the reading before attempting to make changes. If I had accepted the false high temp as true and tried to cool the tank further I might have caused additional problems.
 

thewedge

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I have 3 Apex temp probes in 3 different tanks. They are all usually about .5 degrees from the infrared temperature gun I have. There is no option to calibrate it so I've always used it as my control. Without fail, every single heater I've bought with an integrated controller is always higher by
at least a degree. I have one that is off by 3 degrees. Surprisingly the Finnex controller i picked up is also off by a degree and a half
 
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