Digital Thermometer V's Temperature Strips

[Tag2008]

Hi Guys,

I was on ebay the other day and found a digital thermomiter for £7, A bargin i thought and had it!!!

Now I have it im seeing worrying temperatures with it.

My tanks have always just had the wee temperature strips that you stick to the glass and there are wee coloured blocks that illuminate depending on the heat.. Im sure you all have one of these...

I used to use the old glass thermometers and had a big fish(My Oscar) smash it one time so opted for these stick to the glass LCD strips after that...

The new digital Thermometer reads my tanks are 28 & 29 C and my strips read 26c & 27c ... whats going on thats a 2 degree difference on each tank?

Would it be that my thermometer strips are so inaccurate that they are off by so much or could this be a duff thermomiter off ebay??

There were no real instructions came with this digital thing, it has a probe and I have just dangled the tip in the water and I have tried it fully submerged and get the same results...

Thanks again for any thoughts or comments..

Tag

 

[minxfishy]

The strips are notoriously inaccurate - personally have never used them, always had a stick in the tank glass one.

 

[puppyjess123]

I've got to say i have one and it is rather rubbish

 

[Hawkins]

well the stick on one is outside the tank, even that makes a difference

 

[Tag2008]

I've got to say i have one and it is rather rubbish

What kind did you think was rubbish Jess? The Digital or The LCD Strip?

 

[Gurglar]

I got 2 digital ones off ebay a little while ago and they were crap I don't know if they were accurate but the screen ended up fading and you couldn't see the numbers properly I thought it was the batteries and changed them and it made no difference so they went in the bin personally I like the glass thermometers that you stick on the inside.

 

[Nick16]

i have 2 glass ones on my tanks and never had a problem with them! £1.99 from my lfs. so they are cheaper than the digi ones.

 

[Keithoms]

I use a lovely big screen digital one i bought from ebay. Perfectly accurate and looks great.

 

[Corleone]

I picked up my glass thermometers at the dollar store. Get lucky once in a while and find them buy one get one free. Cheap enough to be negligible.

One of my tanks did have an external liquid crystal strip job on the side. I originally got it because it was much easier to check in poor light just before I headed to bed, but it seems to have frozen or something, because it's read 74 since March or April or so, and my tank hasn't been quite that cool all summer.

 

[Tag2008]

I appreciate the comments,

Im off to the pet shop to get a glass one to compare readings..
I thought Id like the digital one as it has a minimum & Maximum alarm and thought that feature would be worth the £7 in case of heater falure..

If this digital reading is correct ive been keeping my water a good 2-3 c hotter than I should be, fish seem fine as its been consistent I guess but cant be good huh?

Thanks again..

This is the one I bought if anyone has one to comment..

 

[Keithoms]

I appreciate the comments,

Im off to the pet shop to get a glass one to compare readings..
I thought Id like the digital one as it has a minimum & Maximum alarm and thought that feature would be worth the £7 in case of heater falure..

If this digital reading is correct ive been keeping my water a good 2-3 c hotter than I should be, fish seem fine as its been consistent I guess but cant be good huh?

Thanks again..

This is the one I bought if anyone has one to comment..

HAHA, thats the exact one i bought!

 

[Tag2008]

I appreciate the comments,

Im off to the pet shop to get a glass one to compare readings..
I thought Id like the digital one as it has a minimum & Maximum alarm and thought that feature would be worth the £7 in case of heater falure..

If this digital reading is correct ive been keeping my water a good 2-3 c hotter than I should be, fish seem fine as its been consistent I guess but cant be good huh?

Thanks again..

This is the one I bought if anyone has one to comment..

HAHA, thats the exact one i bought!

Nice one Keith.. they have a nice big display eh.. Did yours come with any instructions? any idea what Instead water and sieve vindicate are for? lol

 

[rocknurworld2006]

I appreciate the comments,

Im off to the pet shop to get a glass one to compare readings..
I thought Id like the digital one as it has a minimum & Maximum alarm and thought that feature would be worth the £7 in case of heater falure..

If this digital reading is correct ive been keeping my water a good 2-3 c hotter than I should be, fish seem fine as its been consistent I guess but cant be good huh?

Thanks again..

This is the one I bought if anyone has one to comment..

HAHA, thats the exact one i bought!

Nice one Keith.. they have a nice big display eh.. Did yours come with any instructions? any idea what Instead water and sieve vindicate are for? lol

yes there quite good

wish i could buy loads as i have 12 tanks so not ideal lol

 

[Keithoms]

I appreciate the comments,

Im off to the pet shop to get a glass one to compare readings..
I thought Id like the digital one as it has a minimum & Maximum alarm and thought that feature would be worth the £7 in case of heater falure..

If this digital reading is correct ive been keeping my water a good 2-3 c hotter than I should be, fish seem fine as its been consistent I guess but cant be good huh?

Thanks again..

This is the one I bought if anyone has one to comment..

HAHA, thats the exact one i bought!

Nice one Keith.. they have a nice big display eh.. Did yours come with any instructions? any idea what Instead water and sieve vindicate are for? lol

yes there quite good

wish i could buy loads as i have 12 tanks so not ideal lol

Yeah mine came with instructions, binned them though as setting the time +min maxi temp was easy.

Not a clue what the sieve vindicate and water are.

 

[OldMan47]

Features of the digital
1. They are easy to read
2. They can be moved from tank to tank and adjust quickly
3. They can very only as accurate as the last time they were calibrated

Features of a stick on
1. They are consistent and do not go out of calibration
2. They are affected by room temperature
3. You can't read anything closer than about 1 degree.

Features of a glass thermometer
1. They are consitent and do not go out of calibration
2. They respond slower to going between tanks than a digital
3. They are dirt cheap
4. They can be a bit hard to read.

You make your choices and get what features you want and are willing to pay for. I tried the digitals and thought they were wonderful until I compared them to each other. I didn't like the errors between them. One or both had to be wrong when they were 2 degrees apart in the same tank within inches of each other. I find the externals on thicker glassed tanks are too much affected by air temperature. I use the old fashioned glass ones but will compare all the ones in the LFS to each other and buy only the ones that match each other.