I bought a little thermometer (made by Aqua Life) for my tank, having read advice not to trust the temperature reading set on the heater.
On putting it in the tank and letting the reading settle I was concerned that although the heater said it was 25C, the thermometer said only 22C. I was concerned by this, and thought the heater reading must be off a little. But to make sure, I went upstairs and found a huge long thermometer I used to use for processing colour photographs. It's very accurate and is marked in half degree steps.
The big thermometer showed the water temperature to be exactly what the heater claimed it was, meaning the the little aquarium thermometer was out by about three degrees.
Seriously, what's the point in trying to cross check your heater thermostat with a thermometer when the variation can be as big as that? In tropical fish keeping, three degrees can make a lot of difference to some species. People are going to assume their thermometer is accurate and adjust their heater.
Sorry this is basically just a rant.
On putting it in the tank and letting the reading settle I was concerned that although the heater said it was 25C, the thermometer said only 22C. I was concerned by this, and thought the heater reading must be off a little. But to make sure, I went upstairs and found a huge long thermometer I used to use for processing colour photographs. It's very accurate and is marked in half degree steps.
The big thermometer showed the water temperature to be exactly what the heater claimed it was, meaning the the little aquarium thermometer was out by about three degrees.
Seriously, what's the point in trying to cross check your heater thermostat with a thermometer when the variation can be as big as that? In tropical fish keeping, three degrees can make a lot of difference to some species. People are going to assume their thermometer is accurate and adjust their heater.
Sorry this is basically just a rant.
