Best place for an accurate temp reading?

Your heater (any heater) is calibrated in the factory for a given quantity of water at a certain ambient (room) temperature. If your water movement, ambient room temperature, or water volume isn't exactly the same, the temperature dial on the heater won't function the same way in your tank as it did when calibrated. Consider the temperature setting dial on aquarium heaters to be a rough guide at best, and find yourself a good thermometer to use when setting the heaters in your own home.

Also, if your house changes temperature with the seasons, be sure and reset your aquarium heaters when the prevailing weather changes as well.
 
thats what i figured on the heater, but it acts very strangely. i guess i'll get another thermometer and hope for the best. Any suggestion on a type of thermometer Raskolnikov?
 
I use 2 in each aquarium. One that sticks onthe outside glass, and one that floats in the water. That way I can compare the 2 and check to see if there is a diffrence. I would like Raskolnikov to explain this statement a little more,

"Also, if your house changes temperature with the seasons, be sure and reset your aquarium heaters when the prevailing weather changes as well."

I am just curious why this is. I am not trying to say you are wrong or anything like that, I just don't understand. The way I have always thought is that if you want your water to be 80 degrees you set you heater to 80 degrees, mine doesn't have the degree on the dial, just + or - so I have to calibrate it everytime I change the temperature hince the reason for 2 thermometers just for safeties sake. No matter if the ambiant temperature is at 50 degrees my heater should still keep my water at 80. I think the light bulb in my head is flickering on this so maybe if you could explain a little further the light bulb will click to on. lol We may have to start a new thread on this one because it is kinda off topic, maybe I want get into trouble....
 
the first Coralife digital thermo is the one i have, sry you misunderstood me it does stick on the outside of the tank but the element goes inside :D going to go get a floater now
 
Dan the Fish said:
hello all,
I recently bought a 10g aquarium, set it up as my research so far has informed me. I have a All-Glass aquarium heater, and its kinda quarky, it seems that the thermometer dial on the top is inacurate according to my thermometer(digital). I put it by the outflow of my filter like everyone is telling me to, but the temp its set at is 76Fdegrees and my thermometer says 79F. If I turn it up to 77F it kicks on and heats the water to about 80F-ish, I was curious if this is a common problem with those heaters or if its just a bad heater?
Click to expand...

All temperature controls have a differential, that means it can not keep an exact temp, there will always be a swing of a couple of degrees. If you set your heater to 80 degrees, it may have to hit 83 before it stops heating, now if you had an electronic control you could have a differential of 1 degree and raise the water to 81, shut off, and turn back on when the temp hit 80. Those bimetal controls are not all the accurate, but as long as temp in the ball park, you should be ok.
 
I have two thermometers placed on the opposite side of the tank from my heater. One is the stick-on liquid crystal type and one is a plastic one that goes inside the tank. It has the red liquid in it. Both seem to give the same reading.
 
I have a digital and it goes up and down
 
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