Winter is here--heater controller review.

I just recieved my new JBJ digital heater controller.
Aquarium Supplies, Buy Coral, Protein Skimmers, Aquarium Chillers, Saltwater Fish Tank, Aquarium Lighting, octopus skimmers, coral frags, pumps, powerheads, zeovit, bubble king.

It is awesome. I could never get my heaters (2) to keep the temp steady, thus they would fire off the chiller, or let the tank get too cold. Then when it would get hot outside the tank would get too hot. This controller can be calibrated to a known good thermometer down to 1/10th of a degree. If you set the temp to say 78. It will kick on at 77 and off at 79. This solved my temp issues, hot and cold. awesome product, and nice bright LED display.

 

Funny you mention heaters... My 800w heater just quit on me so I picked up a 1000w Won Brothers heater. This SOB is beefie.

 

Dont the heaters come with a built in thermostat?

 

If im thinking what they are talking bout.

titanium heater controlled by controller. whether a controller provided by heater mfg or controller as in neptune, RK, etc

 

Yeah, heaters come with thermostats but they are notoriously unreliable and inaccurate. They can get stuck on and cook your fish or not come on at all. Controllers are the way to go.- Paul

 

For the price of that heater controller you can have a Reefkeeper Lite L1 which offers a lot more possibilities besides just controlling a heater.
Bulk Reef sells the RKL for like $95 and it comes with 4 controllable outlets and a temp probe.

 

Dayyyyum!
I thought my 500 W was big. How long did your 800W last?
I've had the 500w for a year .. cheap ebay titanium heater.. I hope it last a long time.

Like piezopaul said ... don't trust them. It'll get you eventually if you do.

Ditto

So true.

 

Yes I know....You have been on me to buy a contoller for awhile now!!;D;D. One of the reasons I don't want a controller (However, they are really cool) is that my chiller is a JBJ. It has a digital display. If the controller cycled the chiller. It would have to in essence boot up every time it was shut down, and turned back on. I also like the red digital display temp on both the heater controller, and chiller. You can see then across the room, and they are a good way to keep each temp probe honest. I also like having control of most things. I don't really dose, so I really like being interactive with my tank. Controllers have alot of advantages, and I look at them all the time. But too much automation, kinda takes away some of the fun and techniqe for me.
Here is a pic of the set-up



They stay within 0.2 degrees of each other.