How many daily heat cycles do you see

DanATL · Jul 22, 2022

I'm seeing 5 to 6 heat cycles a per 24 hours in my tank. What I mean by heat cycle is the number of peak to peak temperatures swings. I was wondering how many daily cycles others are seeing. I have a 90 gal display with 24gal sump. Running an Inkbird controller with one 300w element. The Inkbird is set for a 77.4 to 77.8 swing but I get about 77 to 78 swing. I prefer to get that tighter. Ambient temp in the room is 72 24hrs/day. I can plug in my second 300w element and get faster heat up. Takes about an hour to heat up and 3hrs to cool down currently.

Jekyl · Jul 22, 2022

DanATL said:
I'm seeing 5 to 6 heat cycles a per 24 hours in my tank. What I mean by heat cycle is the number of peak to peak temperatures swings. I was wondering how many daily cycles others are seeing. I have a 90 gal display with 24gal sump. Running an Inkbird controller with one 300w element. The Inkbird is set for a 77.4 to 77.8 swing but I get about 77 to 78 swing. I prefer to get that tighter. Ambient temp in the room is 72 24hrs/day. I can plug in my second 300w element and get faster heat up. Takes about an hour to heat up and 3hrs to cool down currently.

I wouldn't dwell on it. Small temp swings happen in nature also. Feels like a chasing numbers situation. "KISS" is usually my reefing motto and has worked well

ReefLife_Guy · Jul 22, 2022

I wouldn't worry about it too much like @Jekyl said. My tank is a 55 gallon and I have a 20 gallon sump. My heater is linked to my Apex temp probe and turns it on/off that way. This is how it cycles in a day and I give mine a range of 1 degree F. You can get it tighter but the more you turn on and off something, the less use you will get out of it and the higher the chance of equipment failure there is. 1 degree swing is not dramatic and none of my corals seem to care.

All_talk · Jul 22, 2022

My system regulates within 1 degree or less, I figured that's close enough so I don't worry about the cycle/frequency. My room temp is not constant so if can be bouncing off the cooling fans or the heaters. Off the fans its about a 0.2 F swing every 1/2 hour. On heating its about a 0.4 F swing over 2 hours.