Thermometer recommendations please

[Lotus99]

We just got a chiller yesterday, as temperatures seemed to be going up to 83 in the tank.

The temperature on the Lifeguard digital thermometer has been reading around 80-83 lately.

So, we plug in the chiller (Arctica), and it's reading the temperature at around 78 degrees.

Then, we put a Coralife digital thermometer on the tank, and it's reading about 0.5 degrees above the chiller's reading.

We have a bunch of the cheapie LFS in-tank thermometers, too, but I never really trust those.

Can someone recommend an accurate, reliable thermometer?

[nss9400]

American Marine Pinpoint Wireless Aquarium Digital Thermometer

They are accurate and you can buy the at any online fish store like marinedepot.com

[pjf]

I recommend the $40 Miller & Weber TM-9301 PerformaTherm non-mercury thermometer from: http://www.hmalabsupply.com/index.ph...pshop&Itemid=1

It is a foot long with a 66 to 80 degree Fahrenheit range. The 0.2-degree increments are 1 mm apart. It does not drift and I use it to calibrate my temperature controller and Eheim Jager heaters every few months. Don’t buy an electronic thermometer unless you have a way to calibrate it for drift.

An alternative is the nearly identical A-20 from http://www.sealifesupply.com/prclst2.htm. It is $24 and contains mercury.

[lecher]

I have a pinpoint wireless and bought a lab grade thermometer to check it. The pinpoint was within .4 degrees of the thermometer. Plus it will do up to 4 sensors.

[pjf]

Originally posted by Lotus99
Can someone recommend an accurate, reliable thermometer?

It's hard to beat an analog thermometer built to ASTM standards, such as the Miller & Weber TM-9301. You can even get a NIST certificate with it. It requires no battery to run dry. It will not corrode with salt. There is no sensor probe to replace and recalibrate. Unless you drop it, it will last a lifetime.

The non-toxic blue liquid and the 0.2-degree increments that are 1-mm apart are very easy to read - down to 0.1 degrees. It will not drift like electronic thermometers. All electronic thermometers must be periodically calibrated to analog thermometers such as these. (http://www.hmalabsupply.com/index.ph...pshop&Itemid=1)