Fluctuations in water temperature

DivanRS

DivanRS

Joined
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Kempton Park
Hi all.

I have recently set up a Buyo TL 550 and i have a problem with my temperature fluctuating.

It fluctuates between 25.3°C and 26.8°C the whole time.

I have my heater in the last chamber at the back and it is set to 24°C

What could cause this and is it harmful? I only have a cleaning crew in at the moment.

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Howzit. Well are those temps though the day or in a few hours. I chucked out my boyu heater when i had a 550 and replaced it with a Jagger heater. Much more stable than a chinese heater. If those fluctuations are in a few hours then i can cause stress to corals and fish once you have some in your tank. My boyu jumped from 24 to 26.5 during the course of the day and i had no issues with fish and corals. If that amount jumped with in a few hours then it could have made things much worse. Nice thing about a Jagger heater is you can calibrate it. So you know its set to the correct temp you want the tank to run. Remeber in summer you might pick up some heating issues. My heater was never plugged in when its summer time.
 
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Oh and another thing. Those chinese digital thermometers are also not 100% accurate. I once had 4 on one tank and they displayed from 23 to over 28deg on the same tank.
 
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It jumps throughout the day. It is currently sitting on 26°C. About an hour ago it was on 26.6°C. This morning it was on 25.2°C.
 
Damn and its not even summer. Where you from? What cleanup crew you have in there. Ill do a test. Switch the heater off and record whats happening during the day if possible. If your temp still swing around then it might be your digital thermometer. Ill invest in a good heater. Eheim (spelling might be off) Jagger heater are very good value for money. But forst do the test and take it from there.
 
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My current digital thermometer jumps around between 24.5 and 25.8 in like 30min. Thats just to give you an idea how untrustworthy they are.
 
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Jason said:
My current digital thermometer jumps around between 24.5 and 25.8 in like 30min. Thats just to give you an idea how untrustworthy they are.
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I am in Kempton Park.
I have 2 turbo snails,1 urchin,2 cleaning shrimp and a sifting goby

Thanks for the advice. Will get a decent thermostat this weekend and see how it goes.
 
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@DivanRS I run my TL550 with 2 heaters, one in ch2 with skimmer and one in ch3 along with marine pure.they are both controlled by a stc1000 temp controller. Temp sensor and return pump in ch4. That way the controller can start the heaters when it senses that the return water is below set temp. Works very well
 
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The return pump may also add some increase in temp. Rather have the device tested. You can have 2deg swings throughout the day and it will not do any harm to fish and corals. if it happens within few hours of each other then you might have a problem. I'm speaking from experience. Rather invest in something more expensive and stable and you'll reap the rewards.
 
these temperature fluctuations are minor, rock pools on the coast go from a fresh 19 to 26 at low tide. If I were you I'd cater for your highs and set the heater accordingly. Good luck for summer tho, that's a different ball game all together.
 
DivanRS said:
Hi all.

I have recently set up a Buyo TL 550 and i have a problem with my temperature fluctuating.

It fluctuates between 25.3°C and 26.8°C the whole time.

I have my heater in the last chamber at the back and it is set to 24°C

What could cause this and is it harmful? I only have a cleaning crew in at the moment.

20160628_205115.jpg


20160628_205100.jpg
Click to expand...

If it is a standard Boyu TL550 I would say that the built in lights are probably causing your fluctuations... Unless you have the new LED lighting configuration. I don't know how warm those get. Try leaving the front feeding lid open for a day and see if that helps to stabilise the temperature.
 
DivanRS said:
I have my heater in the last chamber at the back and it is set to 24°C
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Rather move the heater to another chamber that got a constant depth. Due to water evaporation the level in the last chamber will differ, leaving the top part with the temperature switch half exposed at times, while at other times totally submerged.
 
I know this is a bit late, but I had the same problem. The solution is to move your heater to the first (right-hand-side) chamber. The last one does not have constant flow. The water moves under the divider straight into the pump which is at the bottom of the chamber. The heater heats the top part of the water and it does not freely flow into your DT. And as stated above, the second-last chamber's level fluctuates too much for the heater to be safe.

I had the problem where the tank doesn't heat up enough, so I adjusted the heater (to over 30 degrees as marked on the heater), but the tank didn't heat up. I added another heater to the first chamber, but that overheated my tank. I turned the heater in the last chamber off and only used the one in the first chamber. That solved my problem.

I am going to put both heaters into the first chamber and use one as a backup.
 
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KevinOpperman said:
I know this is a bit late, but I had the same problem. The solution is to move your heater to the first (right-hand-side) chamber. The last one does not have constant flow. The water moves under the divider straight into the pump which is at the bottom of the chamber. The heater heats the top part of the water and it does not freely flow into your DT. And as stated above, the second-last chamber's level fluctuates too much for the heater to be safe.

I had the problem where the tank doesn't heat up enough, so I adjusted the heater (to over 30 degrees as marked on the heater), but the tank didn't heat up. I added another heater to the first chamber, but that overheated my tank. I turned the heater in the last chamber off and only used the one in the first chamber. That solved my problem.

I am going to put both heaters into the first chamber and use one as a backup.
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What you using to meausre you Temps ?

MY STC shows 26.X degrees yet the little Boyu digital one shows 27 in my DT.
 
r0ckf1re said:
What you using to meausre you Temps ?
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I bought a small Boyu thermometer. The electronic ones are much more accurate than mercury or alcohol ones. I did not think to check accuracy yet, but will do so tonight with a laser thermometer.
 
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KevinOpperman said:
I bought a small Boyu thermometer. The electronic ones are much more accurate than mercury or alcohol ones. I did not think to check accuracy yet, but will do so tonight with a laser thermometer.
Click to expand...

Cool, let us know what happens.
 
I'm sorry it took so long, but this seems to be a general problem with this tank.

I have used several different thermometers and they all register the fluctuations.

The temperature fluctuations are too much. I have done about everything that makes sense to me to keep the tank stable, but at this stage I am just trying to keep the tank cool.

The lights heat up the tank and the ambient temperature causes the tanks temperature to rise rapidly.
I am now looking for a chiller and controller to connect the heater and chiller to.
 
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