Where do you put your thermostat probe?

[Amber.]

TLDR - where do you stick your thermostat probe? Display tank, sump, or back chamber? (Which chamber if the back?) and why?

Hello,
I have been reading through some threads and found that many people put their thermostat probes in the actual display tank instead of the sump or rear compartment. I was wondering, where is the best place to put the probe? And why?

(I currently have the probe in my display tank by a power head because I kept getting low flow alerts when I would go into feed mode. I also noticed the schematic showed to have one heater in each second chamber in the back, and then add the probe to one of them AFTER the heater. I have not had a truly accurate reading putting it next to the heater itself - so why not solve two problems and just stick it in the front?)

 

[Kathy Floyd]

Mine is in my sump along with my ph probe.

 

[Uncle99]

Sump, first chamber.

 

[FUNGI]

in my DT. I really dont care to know what temp my sump is........

 

[fishface NJ]

sump...where water enters from DT before it goes to socks

 

[Garf]

in my DT. I really dont care to know what temp my sump is........

Where are your heaters?

 

[Reefer Matt]

I put my heaters in the sump, and the probes in the dt. Just my preference.

 

[Garf]

TLDR - where do you stick your thermostat probe? Display tank, sump, or back chamber? (Which chamber if the back?) and why?

Hello,
I have been reading through some threads and found that many people put their thermostat probes in the actual display tank instead of the sump or rear compartment. I was wondering, where is the best place to put the probe? And why?

(I currently have the probe in my display tank by a power head because I kept getting low flow alerts when I would go into feed mode. I also noticed the schematic showed to have one heater in each second chamber in the back, and then add the probe to one of them AFTER the heater. I have not had a truly accurate reading putting it next to the heater itself - so why not solve two problems and just stick it in the front?)

Ideally I'd have the probe just upstream of the heaters, in a closely connected (or the same) chamber. So in normal running you are monitoring the water from the display, however, if the pump that powers the All In One filtration fails, the close proximity to the heaters will turn them off. Placing the probe in a remote chamber (display in this case) to the heaters will cause overheating in the event of a pump failure and simultaneous heater thermostat failure, if the heater has one.

 

[FUNGI]

Where are your heaters?

DT

 

[shadyraro]

I keep my thermo control probe in my DT as my heaters are controlled by that probe and they will heat up my DT accordingly. When I had the probe in the sump the temp was always warmer than my DT being smaller so it wasn't giving me an accurate DT temp.

 

[VintageReefer]

If heater is in the sump and probe is in the DT, when you turn off your return for water changes, or if the return dies, clogs, etc…then the DT temp will start to lower, and the heater will kick on, but the DT probe won’t detect any change. So the DT continues to drop, and the sump continues to heat, which can be for hours and hours or however long it takes to realize there is a problem and you can end up cooking all life in the sump

 

[Gtinnel]

My probe is in the first chamber of my sump and my heaters are in the next chamber.

 

[X-37B]

Heater in the overflow. Probe in the return chamber.

 

[shadyraro]

If heater is in the sump and probe is in the DT, when you turn off your return for water changes, or if the return dies, clogs, etc…then the DT temp will start to lower, and the heater will kick on, but the DT probe won’t detect any change. So the DT continues to drop, and the sump continues to heat, which can be for hours and hours or however long it takes to realize there is a problem and you can end up cooking all life in the sump

My heaters are in the overflow and my tank is basically automated so I can control it remotely, so if the return died I'd get a notification straight away and if need be turn my heaters off.

 

[VintageReefer]

My heaters are in the overflow and my tank is basically automated so I can control it remotely, so if the return died I'd get a notification straight away and if need be turn my heaters off.

What if your network goes down?

Having the probe near the heater means in a worst case scenario the heater with elevate any water over the controllers set point

 

[Jimbo327]

Probe is in same chamber (of the sump) as the heater, preferably just a little upstream.

 

[aaron186]

My temp controller has 2 probes so I measure the input and return of my sump. The water at drain should be same as display or at least close. Before I had this I kept my probe and heater in same compartment in sump. If you turn off returns and your probe is in a different compartment, the heater could continue to heat.

 

[shadyraro]

What if your network goes down?

Having the probe near the heater means in a worst case scenario the heater with elevate any water over the controllers set point

There are systems in place and even if the network goes down the systems still operate.
I also have a probe in the sump and can switch between the 2 to operate my heaters. End of the day it works for me but may not work for everyone.

 

[VintageReefer]

There are systems in place and even if the network goes down the systems still operate.
I also have a probe in the sump and can switch between the 2 to operate my heaters. End of the day it works for me but may not work for everyone.

Pfftt. What if your in range of an emp? Lemme guess. Your tank room is surrounded by a faraday cage?

Joking aside it seems like you have a well thought out, above average setup. Wanna fill us in on it?

 

[shadyraro]

Pfftt. What if your in range of an emp? Lemme guess. Your tank room is surrounded by a faraday cage?

Joking aside it seems like you have a well thought out, above average setup. Wanna fill us in on it?

I don’t know what an emp or faraday is lol.
I have a Cade 900 and it’s doing good, what about yourself?