Question regarding inkbird

[knee]

I use inkbird on all my heated tanks and have always put a 1 degree heat interval. I recently started doing 2 degrees before the inkbird turns on but was wondering if I can go up to maybe 4 degrees. Will that be too big of a temp difference? How does that affect the fish since they're gonna be exposed to that fluctuation basically every day? It's also starting to get cooler here in socal so I know that the heaters will be working more to keep the temp up.

I also keep dicrossus filamentosus but they're inkbird is still set to a 1 degree variance because they're hard to get and I don't wanna lose any of them. Will it be detrimental to them if I increase the variance to 2 or 3 degrees?

[Retrophyllum_minus]

So, I do not have an answer for you. However, on advice from this forum I was going to order two inkbird setups. Can you tell me which model you use? I'm trying to figure out exactly what I should get.
 

Sorry! Don't want to hijack your thread but rather than a second post related to inkbird I just thought I'd ask here. 

[knee]

On 9/17/2024 at 5:58 PM, Retrophyllum_minus said:

So, I do not have an answer for you. However, on advice from this forum I was going to order two inkbird setups. Can you tell me which model you use? I'm trying to figure out exactly what I should get.
 

Sorry! Don't want to hijack your thread but rather than a second post related to inkbird I just thought I'd ask here. 

No worries! I use this one. Make sure it says with aquarium probe before you purchase 

https://a.co/d/agv8ZOE

[gardenman]

A lot depends on your water volume. Different volumes of water change temperature at different rates. For example, a four-degree swing in a 120-gallon tank might take several hours. A two-gallon tank might move four degrees in ten minutes. In general, in fishkeeping, you want to avoid sudden changes. A four-degree swing every eight hours or so probably isn't an issue.  A four-degree swing every eight minutes is probably not a good thing. I'd recommend testing how long it takes one of your "normal" tanks to swing four degrees. If it's a few hours, then you should be fine. If it's ten minutes, that would probably be too fast. Water temperatures in the wild fluctuate quite a bit from shallow to deep so fish can handle some change. Of course, in the wild they can swim back to warmer or cooler water if they want to while in a tank they're stuck with what they've got. And you'll also want to monitor how quickly your heater returns the four degrees which is also somewhat water volume dependent. If the tank cools four degrees over eight hours, great. If it then gains back those four degrees in ten minutes, maybe not so great. A gentle prolonged cooling followed by a gentle prolonged heating is probably okay.

[knee]

On 9/18/2024 at 7:22 AM, gardenman said:

A lot depends on your water volume. Different volumes of water change temperature at different rates. For example, a four-degree swing in a 120-gallon tank might take several hours. A two-gallon tank might move four degrees in ten minutes. In general, in fishkeeping, you want to avoid sudden changes. A four-degree swing every eight hours or so probably isn't an issue.  A four-degree swing every eight minutes is probably not a good thing. I'd recommend testing how long it takes one of your "normal" tanks to swing four degrees. If it's a few hours, then you should be fine. If it's ten minutes, that would probably be too fast. Water temperatures in the wild fluctuate quite a bit from shallow to deep so fish can handle some change. Of course, in the wild they can swim back to warmer or cooler water if they want to while in a tank they're stuck with what they've got. And you'll also want to monitor how quickly your heater returns the four degrees which is also somewhat water volume dependent. If the tank cools four degrees over eight hours, great. If it then gains back those four degrees in ten minutes, maybe not so great. A gentle prolonged cooling followed by a gentle prolonged heating is probably okay.

That was a good read. I’ll stick to the 2 degree variance then. I don’t wanna stress my fish out too much. I can probably do the 4 or even 5 degree variance during the summer but it’s already getting a bit chilly. 

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the info and the advice 🤩

[T. Payne]

I would recommend as little of a temperature change as possible for stability of the fish. All of my inkbirds have a 1 degree difference.

[HelplessNewbie]

We have a 2 degree difference for the inkbirds used in our 20 gallon and 65 gallon tanks.

[quikv6]

I usually go with a 3-4 degree differential. It can extend the life of the heater (decreasing the on/off cycles significantly), and it keeps the fish used to a slight variance, which is helpful during waterchanges that may not be temp matched exactly.

[knee]

On 9/19/2024 at 3:25 AM, quikv6 said:

I usually go with a 3-4 degree differential. It can extend the life of the heater (decreasing the on/off cycles significantly), and it keeps the fish used to a slight variance, which is helpful during waterchanges that may not be temp matched exactly.

What size tank are you doing this on? Right now my 60 breeder has a 2 degree variance and the 40 breeder has 1 degree. I’m thinking of doing 3 deg for the 60B and 2 deg for the 40B. 

[Tazalanche]

My 135 & 55 have both been set for a 2 degree variance for years without issue, so I've left them alone.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."