Chase J

Whats The Advantage of A Digital Thermometer? Disadvantages?

Bubba the Gump

Im not completely sure but I dont think that mine is as accurate as a standard thermometer.

prairielilly

A glass thermometer is read by the height of a column of fluid relative to a paper scale. The gradations are usually small and therefore it can be hard to read.

A digital thermometer puts a probe into the water which measures the temp and relays it to a battery-operated display mounted outside the tank (at least that's how mine works, some varieties go inside the tank). The digital readout gives you the temperature to 0.1 degrees in Celsius or Fahrenheit, for example you'd know your tank was at 78.7 F as opposed to 'around 78-79'. I use both kinds and also the stick-ons; my favourite is the digital bc I consider it to be the most accurate.

prairielilly

Are you meaning the LCD stick-on thermometers? they have liquid crystals which react to temperature. They are easy to read but their main disadvantage is they are on the outside of the tank, so they're reading the temperature through the glass/acrylic rather than the actual water.

Bubba the Gump

thats what i was refering to is the stick on.

Chase J

No i Meant THe Digital Bsttery Relay Probe THingy lol

prairielilly

in a lot of stores/websites the LCD ones are referred to as 'digital thermometers'...

I'd put the [real] digital ones in all my tanks if they didn't cost $13 each

cerianthus

What ChaseJ is referring to is Battery operated Monitor. Has probe(sensor)with wire to displayer. ($20). I find this most accurate and registers to tenth of degree.
Other accurate option will be to use thermometre from drug store. Thats right, one that can be used on us. Just have the tip in the water until beeps and display the temp ($10).
You can use anyone of above to see if any thermo made for tank are accurate.

Emory

Chase - When you go to the store be sure to compare the temperature readings amongst the same thermometers. Often I have seen fluctuations.... and these are the same thermometers in the same room on the same display hanger. I have ended up with the sticker kind that reads through the glass more often than the others. Mind you, I could not compare the battery operated ones in the store.

Chase J

yeah i see what ya mean

mathas

$7 at regular price, if you're ordering enough to make shipping worthwhile.

I have one, and it reads 0.3ºF cooler than my heater is set at. That's accurate enough for me.

cerianthus

I did not know it was this cheap lately. I just saw one by Coralife for $5.89 at DFS. As mathas pointed out, when puchased in quantity (maybe group buy), this will eliminate lots of guessing?

prairielilly

Thx, but I live in Canada...it costs about $65/item to ship from DrsFS.

cerianthus

Ouch!!!

fishgirl

I have a Battery operated monitor that is labled for lizards but I use for my 10G betta tank. I bought mine for a bout 7$ U.S. at mt LPS.