Placement of Temp probe & heaters

[MBVette]

So I realized this morning that I am a dumbazz and have my probes and heaters about 2" away from each other so I am not sure that they are actually working optimally. Where is the best place to place the temp probe in the sump? Should I put it by the return pump or where the water hits the sump by the overflow? And I assume I should not have the heaters as far away in the sump as possible to avoid the water getting warmed and giving false readings to the probe.

[rocko918]

I have my temp probe in the main tank and the heater in the sump.

[Ryan S]

I have both in my sump, but at opposite ends.

 

The probe is next to the overflow incoming water and the heater is next to the return pump.

Edited November 1, 2012 by Ryan S

[Der ABT]

i have both in my tank cause that where i want the right temp.

 

Otherwise id have the probe in the tank and the heater next to the return pump.

 

or the probe next to the overflow incoming water and the heater next to the return pump.

[Swimboy123]

I have both in my sump, but at opposite ends.

 

The probe is next to the overflow incoming water and the heater is next to the return pump.

 

More or less the same configuration with my setup

[MBVette]

I have both in my sump, but at opposite ends.

 

The probe is next to the overflow incoming water and the heater is next to the return pump.

 

Thats whats I was thinking about doing, since I am not going to put either in the display. I figure the heater by the return pump sends up the warm water and the overflow should be sending the coldest temp water back down.

[Ryan S]

Thats whats I was thinking about doing, since I am not going to put either in the display. I figure the heater by the return pump sends up the warm water and the overflow should be sending the coldest temp water back down.

Well, that depends. Do you have an overflow box that skims the surface of the water?

 

In my tank, with the overflow box skimming the surface of the water, [technically heat rises], so, the warm water gets dumped into the DT at the top, then stays at the top, then is pulled back into the overflow from the top... I have 2 MP40s for flow to mix it up, but I would bet the bottom of the DT is colder than the top region. Probably doesn't matter?

[MBVette]

true it might not be the coldest since my overflow grabs from the surface, but with 3 MP40's the water gets churned up enough that it probably doesnt make a huge difference.

 

With the probe and the heaters next to each other the temp was swinging 1* down every hour after the heaters shut off. I just seperated the two and I wonder if that will keep the temp a little more stable since the probes are not reading right off the heaters.

[Ryan S]

I am sure it will keep it more stable.

[Sharkey18]

With all that flow you should be fine as long as probe and heaters are not close to each other.

 

I also have 2 temperature strips on my tank ( one high and one low) and regularly check the tank temp just to be sure the temp in the tank is what I think it is.

 

I have also placed the probe discreetly in my tank before and it worked really well. I think if I can make that happen in the new tank without it ruining the look, that is what I will do.

[hypertech]

Mine are both in the sump. Between the return pump and the powerheads mixing the display, I just don't see how they temp could be all that different anywhere in the tank.

[MBVette]

So since I moved it this morning; the temp has stabelized a lot.

 

It was taking about 30-40 minutes to drop from 78.0 - 77.5. Now that I have moved it it has been 2.5 hours and only dropped .1 degrees

[Rosco's Reefs]

All mine is in my sump. I do run two heaters, one on each end of the sump, with the temp and ph probe in the middle and equi-distant from each other.