Random Inkbird issues???/

[southerntnreefer]

Here is one that hasn’t been removed yet it say’s my tank is 111 deg.. lol

yup! that is exactly what mine was doing. I have 2 small fans over my sump. i was preparing for summer heat threats, i came home to those on, heaters off, and a reading of 79.3. I unplugged everything, threw in 250 watts worth of heaters i had from my mixing supplies, to limp along until i can come up with a better solution.

 

[MTBake]

I had issues with 2 Inkbird over the past 6 months. Neither held a steady temp. Tank dropped to 70 degrees on me both times. They are in the trash and replaced by a Ranco. Ranco will even seal the probe with heat shrink tubing to protect it from saltwater. They did this for me for no charge:)

 

[southerntnreefer]

how hard is it to configure the Ronco?

 

[BZOFIQ]

I had issues with 2 Inkbird over the past 6 months. Neither held a steady temp. Tank dropped to 70 degrees on me both times. They are in the trash and replaced by a Ranco. Ranco will even seal the probe with heat shrink tubing to protect it from saltwater. They did this for me for no charge:)

Aqualogic uses that same controller but drops the probe into a small section of titanium tube and fills it with some form of thermal epoxy.

There are also 2 stage version that allow 2nd heater to kick on if the first one fails and/or cannot keep up.

 

[BZOFIQ]

how hard is it to configure the Ronco?

Few presses of the button. Keeps all the settings even if power fails.

 

[southerntnreefer]

ill have to give it a look. Im picking up a couple standard heaters to have on hand until i can get the controller re configured.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Ignore the nasty glass as I made a mess last night trying to move hawk to my qt system but I came home to better temp from my backup heaters and 3 alive fish!! So stoked!

 

[Denisk]

This is interesting. I have two on two different tanks and no problems. Hopefully they last... I’ve heard so many good things about them hence why I already have two haha.

 

[PhilT]

I bought a finnex heater controller to test, but haven't installed it yet. If it works out I'll buy a couple more for my other tank systems.
There is a thread here somewhere that talks about replacing Inkbird temp probe, which apparently is not saltwater rated. I may try that modification and use it on a frag system.

I have a Finnex but only use it for the alarm in case the temp goes over or under safety zone. I have the cobalt neo therm heater. Originally, I had the heater plugged into the controller, with the heater set to 78 and the Finnex set to 82, so I would know by alarm if the heater was stuck. But I saw that the Finnex was turning off the power at 78. The temp readout was 78. So not sure if the readout is different than what the probe senses or what? Anyways cobalt says that turning power on and off continually could affect its thermostat so now it’s plugged directly into an outlet.

 

[southerntnreefer]

This is interesting. I have two on two different tanks and no problems. Hopefully they last... I’ve heard so many good things about them hence why I already have two haha.

I got it after all the good words, but I guess I got a fluke.. I've got standard heaters in there now to get it back stable

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I wonder if the inkbirds have gone down in quality the past few years... I have two that I use in QT tanks for about 3 years and they are fine... I regularly check them with a digital thermometer before putting anything through QT. But I’ve been hearing a lot of failure stories the past year.

For what it’s worth, the rancos are not completely free of trouble. I had one die after about 6-7 years of use... longer than an inkbird but the same result in the end, just putting it off a few more years. My ranco failure pushed me to buy my first apex and now I have a second apex on the tank for redundancy, since everything fails sooner or later.

 

[Fin]

This from Ink Bird's site - a 12" stainless steel probe that the description says can be submersed (in beer) and not have to worry about placing the smaller probe in a "separate thermowell probe." I have replaced the smaller probe on two of my controllers and so far, so good. I will also say that in the FAQs on the Ink Bird site, it says the the small probe is submersible and safe for aquarium use. I just found that today.

I use Ranco too though. I had one of those running my chiller on my 140 when it had MH lighting. It worked flawlessly for about 10 years. Most of the Ranco controllers you will find on Amazon and other places may need to be wired and is not always plug and play, like the commonly available InkBirds are. Here is a quick video showing how to wire them up, if you can't find one already pre-wired.

 

[southerntnreefer]

Where I've got 3 tanks, 4 counting qt,deploying Apex would cost me a small fortune, that's why I got an inkbird, to see if I could deploy them to the whole fleet of tanks. So now it's back to square 1. At least I've got heaters and heat back in the tank

 

[Reefer40b]

Guys give them a call. They will send you a new probe. If you run inkbird have a alternate way to measure temp that you can look at when you feed. My first one has drifted out over a couple months, sent a new probe and all is well. My other one has been fine since I have had it. It may be best to seal the probe... plasti dip maybe...

 

[southerntnreefer]

I've got an case open with them. Reads bpiling water correctly but my 76 degree tank is 82. 8 According to it...

 

[southerntnreefer]

 

[Fin]

14 month old InkBird with the long submersible probe installed. This is in a holding tank I have.

 

[southerntnreefer]

That

14 month old InkBird with the long submersible probe installed. This is in a holding tank I have.

That's pretty close. I must of just got a bad unit. Glad it wasn't my finnex titaniums

 

[Fin]

I've got an case open with them. Reads bpiling water correctly but my 76 degree tank is 82. 8 According to it...

Let us know what they say. It is a little confusing that on the same site, in one place it says the regular probes are submersible and can be used in aquariums. In another place it says the 12" stainless steel probe is submersible, so you don't have to place it inside a separate thermowell probe. Confusing at best.

 

[ca1ore]

You can buy a prewired Ranco - I linked to it earlier in this thread. No question that they can fail; every mechanical or electrical device can. My calculation was that $75 that lasts 7 years is better than $35 that lasts 1 or 2.