Today, in the kitchen or living room, and certainly in the fish room, I could hear my heater controller (ReefKeeper II) playing ping pong. Looking at the temperature on the display, it would go from 77.8 to 78.5 to something lower, to something higher, repeatedly. It sounded like a ping pong match, while these apparent temperature swings hit my low set, and then my high set temperature.
So I’m figuring I’ve got a blown temperature probe. I plug the probe into a second ReefKeeper on the same tank and see the same ping pong going on. I go onto the DA site and search for probes. I see a picture of my probe, can see it cost 24.99, but when I go to order, it states that the page isn’t available. By the way, I do not use I-Temp probes….I don’t like them….I use the Herpetology temperature probes. So I know I have an antique of a controller, but figured DA would still carry the probe. After trying a few approaches on the DA site, including going through the Herpetology section, I gave up. I then figured I’d pick up a Water Proof Thermistor and put the RJ11 fitting on the end and be done with it. I found that I could do this for between 3 to 8 dollars. I was about ready to place this order when a fellow reefer stopped by.
In looking at the tank, it was noticed that the MJ pump that fed the BRS GFO/Carbon reactor wasn’t running. The first MJ died a couple weeks ago, and this was an older backup that now died. Lucky for me, I had a third MJ waiting in the wings. I switched out the pumps, and surprisingly the temperature stopped playing ping pong.
Obviously there was a relationship of the blown pump to the temperature reading fluctuations. I know thermistors register temperature by the change in resistance to the change in temperature. I’m guessing that the pump must have had a voltage leak, and this leak must have tickled the thermistor. I didn’t detect any shock when I fished it out of the tank or even when I tried plugging it in a couple times while holding it in my wet hand….probably the reason is because I live in Crocs….nice rubber insulation.
I’ll now take my leisure in doing a better search for the ideal thermistor and make up a few of this to have them ready if and when one probe really goes bad. In the mean time I’ll be sure to check for voltage leaks the next time I see my temperature playing ping pong.
So I’m figuring I’ve got a blown temperature probe. I plug the probe into a second ReefKeeper on the same tank and see the same ping pong going on. I go onto the DA site and search for probes. I see a picture of my probe, can see it cost 24.99, but when I go to order, it states that the page isn’t available. By the way, I do not use I-Temp probes….I don’t like them….I use the Herpetology temperature probes. So I know I have an antique of a controller, but figured DA would still carry the probe. After trying a few approaches on the DA site, including going through the Herpetology section, I gave up. I then figured I’d pick up a Water Proof Thermistor and put the RJ11 fitting on the end and be done with it. I found that I could do this for between 3 to 8 dollars. I was about ready to place this order when a fellow reefer stopped by.
In looking at the tank, it was noticed that the MJ pump that fed the BRS GFO/Carbon reactor wasn’t running. The first MJ died a couple weeks ago, and this was an older backup that now died. Lucky for me, I had a third MJ waiting in the wings. I switched out the pumps, and surprisingly the temperature stopped playing ping pong.
Obviously there was a relationship of the blown pump to the temperature reading fluctuations. I know thermistors register temperature by the change in resistance to the change in temperature. I’m guessing that the pump must have had a voltage leak, and this leak must have tickled the thermistor. I didn’t detect any shock when I fished it out of the tank or even when I tried plugging it in a couple times while holding it in my wet hand….probably the reason is because I live in Crocs….nice rubber insulation.
I’ll now take my leisure in doing a better search for the ideal thermistor and make up a few of this to have them ready if and when one probe really goes bad. In the mean time I’ll be sure to check for voltage leaks the next time I see my temperature playing ping pong.
