TwoTankAmin
Fish Connoisseur
I keep an assortment of fish. But the ones which I bred and sold were pretty pricey. They also live in pretty warm waters and can easily handle temps in the Low 90sF. I also learned a log time ago that tjhe leasy relaible piece of equipment which most of us in the hobby will use are heaters. They can fail in a number of ways. They can lose control and overheat a tank, ot they can fail to work causeing a tank to get too cold for the fish in it. And then there is the inaccuracy problem. We set them it a given temp and the temperature detection if faulty and the heater starts or stops at the wrong temps.
So my solution has been to use heater controllers. I set the controller at my target temp and then set the heater temp a degree or two higher. This gives me some insurabce that as long as the controller is working properly, the heaters will come on at the right temp. when told to do so by the controller. This also insures the power to the hetrs(s) will also be forced to stop working when told to do so by the loss of power.
I began my serach for a a basic conroller which was east to use. I settled on the Azoo Micro Controller which, despite my lifelong use of Fahrenheit as my temperature scale, used the Centigrade scale. Since most of my tanks are not huge and none of them normally used more than two heaters. the Azoo was ideal. It ccould handle a max. of 1,000w of heaters and up to three could be plugged int it. I was definitely nbasic. I had a single displace and a single button. Once set up and turned on the display flashed the lowest setting 20C.
Temperature Control: 20~34 degrees Celsius
Accuracy: +/- 1 degree Celsius
Power: Maximum load – 1000W, 3 outlets
Then, each push of the button raised the temp. 1 C until one reached the max. 34 C. Then it would circle back to 220. When one stopped pushing the button the temp would flash sever times and then stop indicating theat temp. was the desired one. After that the controller would turn the heat on or off about 1°C +/- the set temp. For me in F, this meant 1°C - 1.8°F. So, for example if I set the controller to 30C that is = 86F. That meant the controller should keep the tank no lowe than 84F and no higher than 88F. This was OK for my plecos. And if I set the comtroller a bit lower, say 28C, that made my target temp. 82.4F and a range of 80+F to a high of 84+F.
Since fish live in a temperature range which is normally greater than +/-1°C or 2°F. I was completely satisfied with this functionality from the controller. Unfortunately, I learned when I tried to buy more controllers recently tht they were no longer available. Ove the years I had ppaid islittle as $10 for some on clreance and the most recent price where I doucld still nut mmnew I paid $52. I was willing to ddo this for the simplicity of them coimbined with my preference to use the same equipment acroos my tanks is is reasonably possible. I discovered they had stopped making them because as a part of my downsizing I sold off a few of them as the tank was shut down for good. But I still had 6 and wanted one more as back-up. I could not get it.
Two days ago I discoved thone of the controllers on my only breeding group of plecos (and the rarest most expensive oneI had) was b,linking, They only did this when first plugged in and then when I wanted to change the setting to indicate the new number was selected, I tried changing the temp. setting and it blinked continuously. So I unplugged it and then reconnected it , aand it still blinked continuously. Fortunately one of the tanks which had another of the controllers on it was set up as a Q tank and had only plants, some brlued shrimp and a few assassin anails. So I tokk that controller off and used it to replace the one on the pleco tank.
Azom makes a newer version but it comes with a heater. I prefer to choose my own brand of heater and refused to but the new version. O looked into Inkbirds and determined that they were overly complex to use, especially to change the target temp on. The Azoo had it's built in 1C ranged, but the Ink one needed me to reset the range if I wanted to change the target temp. I loved how basic and easy the Azoo was to operate.
I searched far and wide for something similar to my Azoo but they do not exist. I have the same issue with tank lights, I am perfectly happy to use something basic and turn it on and off using a timer. I do not want to mess with sunrise and sunset settings etc. I want simple, easy to use and functional for my needs. I can pic a bulb with specs I like and that is all I want. I have a few basic LED lights and they have 3 setting controls which is way more than I want, but at leats they do not have sunrise/set settings as well.
I have no issue with folks who want fanciers functions than I do, what bothers me is there are fewer and fewer of the more basic version of things available these days. The more complex settings are, the easier it is for users to get things set wrongly and/or the more ways there are for them to break/fail.
BTW, the controller that failed was the very first one I bought about 11+ years ago. I started with them after two different tanks had heater malfunbtions where the heaters got stuck full on.One tank was 104F when I disovered this and it killed the discus pair and turned the rummy nose tetras into mush balls, But the 5 Hypancistrus L450 plecos growing out were all alive and hunkered down in caves. They spawned for the first time about six weeks later. The second failure killed my breeding colony of RB line of Hypancisrus L236. That as when I realized I needed to startusing heater controllers.
So my solution has been to use heater controllers. I set the controller at my target temp and then set the heater temp a degree or two higher. This gives me some insurabce that as long as the controller is working properly, the heaters will come on at the right temp. when told to do so by the controller. This also insures the power to the hetrs(s) will also be forced to stop working when told to do so by the loss of power.
I began my serach for a a basic conroller which was east to use. I settled on the Azoo Micro Controller which, despite my lifelong use of Fahrenheit as my temperature scale, used the Centigrade scale. Since most of my tanks are not huge and none of them normally used more than two heaters. the Azoo was ideal. It ccould handle a max. of 1,000w of heaters and up to three could be plugged int it. I was definitely nbasic. I had a single displace and a single button. Once set up and turned on the display flashed the lowest setting 20C.
Temperature Control: 20~34 degrees Celsius
Accuracy: +/- 1 degree Celsius
Power: Maximum load – 1000W, 3 outlets
Then, each push of the button raised the temp. 1 C until one reached the max. 34 C. Then it would circle back to 220. When one stopped pushing the button the temp would flash sever times and then stop indicating theat temp. was the desired one. After that the controller would turn the heat on or off about 1°C +/- the set temp. For me in F, this meant 1°C - 1.8°F. So, for example if I set the controller to 30C that is = 86F. That meant the controller should keep the tank no lowe than 84F and no higher than 88F. This was OK for my plecos. And if I set the comtroller a bit lower, say 28C, that made my target temp. 82.4F and a range of 80+F to a high of 84+F.
Since fish live in a temperature range which is normally greater than +/-1°C or 2°F. I was completely satisfied with this functionality from the controller. Unfortunately, I learned when I tried to buy more controllers recently tht they were no longer available. Ove the years I had ppaid islittle as $10 for some on clreance and the most recent price where I doucld still nut mmnew I paid $52. I was willing to ddo this for the simplicity of them coimbined with my preference to use the same equipment acroos my tanks is is reasonably possible. I discovered they had stopped making them because as a part of my downsizing I sold off a few of them as the tank was shut down for good. But I still had 6 and wanted one more as back-up. I could not get it.
Two days ago I discoved thone of the controllers on my only breeding group of plecos (and the rarest most expensive oneI had) was b,linking, They only did this when first plugged in and then when I wanted to change the setting to indicate the new number was selected, I tried changing the temp. setting and it blinked continuously. So I unplugged it and then reconnected it , aand it still blinked continuously. Fortunately one of the tanks which had another of the controllers on it was set up as a Q tank and had only plants, some brlued shrimp and a few assassin anails. So I tokk that controller off and used it to replace the one on the pleco tank.
Azom makes a newer version but it comes with a heater. I prefer to choose my own brand of heater and refused to but the new version. O looked into Inkbirds and determined that they were overly complex to use, especially to change the target temp on. The Azoo had it's built in 1C ranged, but the Ink one needed me to reset the range if I wanted to change the target temp. I loved how basic and easy the Azoo was to operate.
I searched far and wide for something similar to my Azoo but they do not exist. I have the same issue with tank lights, I am perfectly happy to use something basic and turn it on and off using a timer. I do not want to mess with sunrise and sunset settings etc. I want simple, easy to use and functional for my needs. I can pic a bulb with specs I like and that is all I want. I have a few basic LED lights and they have 3 setting controls which is way more than I want, but at leats they do not have sunrise/set settings as well.
I have no issue with folks who want fanciers functions than I do, what bothers me is there are fewer and fewer of the more basic version of things available these days. The more complex settings are, the easier it is for users to get things set wrongly and/or the more ways there are for them to break/fail.
BTW, the controller that failed was the very first one I bought about 11+ years ago. I started with them after two different tanks had heater malfunbtions where the heaters got stuck full on.One tank was 104F when I disovered this and it killed the discus pair and turned the rummy nose tetras into mush balls, But the 5 Hypancistrus L450 plecos growing out were all alive and hunkered down in caves. They spawned for the first time about six weeks later. The second failure killed my breeding colony of RB line of Hypancisrus L236. That as when I realized I needed to startusing heater controllers.
