Wow thermometer difference!

[ingersoll]

I got a digital thermometer and wow my other one was 5 degrees off! Thank god I don't have anything in it yet.

 

[Ford625]

What did you have before?

 

[ingersoll]

The glass stick in the tank one.

 

[Ford625]

Lol I know the feeling! A while back I got one of the coralife digitals and couldn't believe the difference! But then again, it's always good to check with another to see if it's right.

 

[JohnK]

Ahh the high quality of much of the equipment sold for use in this hobby.

$.40 thermometer, slap a penplax, zoomed, corallife, or reefpro sticker on it and suddenly it becomes a precision piece of equipment and becomes worth $14.99.

 

[Ford625]

Ahh the high quality of much of the equipment sold for use in this hobby.

$.40 thermometer, slap a penplax, zoomed, corallife, or reefpro sticker on it and suddenly it becomes a precision piece of equipment and becomes worth $14.99.

Lol whatever it is, it's better than what I had!

 

[ingersoll]

I got the coralife digital one. Is that a good one? Where should I place the probe in the tank? Right now I have it half way down to the sanded and on the opposite side of the overflow.

 

[stingythingy45]

I had one of those Coralife stick at 78 deg.
I always use a glass one,no batteries.

 

[ingersoll]

The glass one I have is reading 5 degrees lower than the new digital one .

 

[salthobby]

Ahh the high quality of much of the equipment sold for use in this hobby.

$.40 thermometer, slap a penplax, zoomed, corallife, or reefpro sticker on it and suddenly it becomes a precision piece of equipment and becomes worth $14.99.

Does that mean its all the same? Which one do we trust?

 

[stingythingy45]

The glass one I have is reading 5 degrees lower than the new digital one .

Then I would trust the glass one.
Also a glass one will start to cool rapidly if you remove it from the water to look at it.

 

[pdd]

The question now is which one is right? 5 degrees to high can make a difference (83 degrees if you think it is 78). You need a third measure to tell with a truly calibrated glass thermometer

 

[inverted]

I trust the glass stick ones waaaaay more than the digital ones. Digital thermometers, in my experience are complete gunk. The Coralife ones are the absolute worst. I had two sitting next to each other on a counter. The house was about 68, one was reading in the mid 50s, the other in the high 70s LOL. More expensive and more high tech isn't necessarily better.

 

[pdd]

my cheap no name digital reads 3 degress low compared to a certified calibrated glass thermometer. Digital does not mean better. Good digitals can be calibrated, cheap ones are what they are. I have had cheap a cheap glass that was almost 5 degress off so glass may usually be better but one gets what one pays for.

 

[dz6t]

I have a lab grade glass thermometer and a $1 stick on glass from Petco, they read the same temperature.

 

[smithcreek]

Go to Walmart, Petco, etc., find the cheap glass thermometers and look at everyone they have. See what each one reads, there is usually a variance of about 3 degrees between the lowest and highest. Choose one of the thermometers that gives a reading right in the middle of the range and it will be more than accurate enough for a tank.

 

[ingersoll]

So I took another glass thermometer out of my oscar tank, washed it off an put it in the saltwater and it read the same as the other glass on that is already in there! Im sticking with the glass one. Digital piece of crap.

 

[Edward]

My digital thermometer says My tank varies between 86-125 whereas my glass one says 78-80 since I've had it...I thought the digital one I bought would be much more reliable but I was very mistaken. Not that my digital thermometer was expensive, but in my experience I have found that the old, time tested solutions have proven themselves successful and reliable in this hobby.

 

[dz6t]

My digital thermometer says My tank varies between 86-125 whereas my glass one says 78-80 since I've had it...I thought the digital one I bought would be much more reliable but I was very mistaken. Not that my digital thermometer was expensive, but in my experience I have found that the old, time tested solutions have proven themselves successful and reliable in this hobby.

You must had a sea food soup there at 125F, LOL
Very well said, +1.
Time tested technologies are the best.

 

[JohnK]

IME even the fairly expensive pinpoint thermometers are junk. I had a set with 4 probes, seemed odd that different tanks in the same room were all different temps so I put all 4 probes in one tank. None agreed.

Now I just stick my hand in the tank, if it feels right I'm happy. If I want to be sure I look at the APEX (which always seems to agree with my hand).