Hydrofarm thermostat

Anyone ever use one of these for aquariums? I'm going to have extras after I buy a herpstat and wss thinking of using it for my turtle's tank.

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I'm using one to regulate a small plug in space heater to supplement my jungle room a few degrees above room temp.

I would think the limitations that make it poor for snake use would actually work in the favour of heating water.

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

I would think the limitations that make it poor for snake use would actually work in the favour of heating water.

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I'm just wondering if the probe is water proof lol. Don't wanna short it out or anything

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http://www.hydrofarm.com/downloads/f...nstr_18734.pdf

Apparently not... they do make good fail safe T-stats especially useful with flexwatt to prevent it from being run over its recommended temps.

Damn :o( thanks for looking that up.

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NP too bad it recommends against it. It sounded like a good plan.

Yea it did seem like a good plan. What I wanted to do was go back to the nicer titanium or other metal material heaters because they seem to work better and last longer but the last one I had cooked a turtle I had. I guess the thermostat built in fritzed out and the temp shot up to 105...which was higher than the thermostat even allowed you to turn it to. I have been using the cheaper glass ones and the last one I used was one of those tetras that is designed for turtles with a built in thermostat that sets for just 78 degree. I am a little unsure of trusting one of the other types without a thermostat though.

That is awful !! I am sorry I have two thoughts on solving that issue.

If you plugged in the aquarium heater into a rheostat perhaps you could control the max temp it could reach by limiting the power?

The second thought is I do not recall ever seeing a herpstat probe could not be used in water. It might be worth asking this question to Dion of spyder robotics (sales@spyderrobotics.com). Perhaps a herpstat intro could be used as a controller?

My third though is if the tank is glass could the probe of the hydrofarm be taped to the outside and be set like a fail safe to kick off below a critical temp inside is reached?

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Originally Posted by kitedemon

My third though is if the tank is glass could the probe of the hydrofarm be taped to the outside and be set like a fail safe to kick off below a critical temp inside is reached?

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You know after going over thermal conductivity in my physics class the other day, this could be a sound idea. Glass is such a good conductor of heat that this could totally work. I would have to play around with it of course because the temps won't be a spot on read. Thanks a ton!

The problem I can see is if the room temp flutters a lot but then again water once it is warm won't cool off much. Thermal mass.

Why not put the probe on the outside then cover it in a thick layer of silicone to insulate it a bit from air temps.

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Originally Posted by dillan2020

Why not put the probe on the outside then cover it in a thick layer of silicone to insulate it a bit from air temps.

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This is what I was thinking. Also probably on the bottom of the tank so it's inside the stand and away from any breeze or the like.

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