Heater temperature and digital thermometer unbalanced?

Hi all! I have a visi-therm 200 marine land heater I bought yesterday in my 55 gallon tank. What I have noticed is that the temperature dial on the heater varies significantly from the digital thermometer in my tank. Digital thermometer reads 79 whereas the heater is only set to 72 on the dial. Should I be worried about this big of a discrepancy? I have an infrared thermometer which when I point and shoot reads 79 along the water and side of the tank. I am thinking the water is closer to 79. I am running two Aquaclear 70s and a sponge filter in this tank. Could the level of filtration be heating up the water?

thank you!

 

Personally, i just say keep it in mind when making adjustments. Rare is the heater that is not off by a few degrees, in my experience. Never seen that big of a gap, though!

 

Personally, i just say keep it in mind when making adjustments. Rare is the heater that is not off by a few degrees, in my experience. Never seen that big of a gap, though!

Thanks for the response! Glad to hear it is usually expected to have some kind of discrepancy. I will just continue to monitor and make sure everything stays where I want it to.

 

I would get a glass thermometer to test against them too. You can have 5 of the same digi thermometers and have different readings also. They are not always accurate either. I have access to a verified temp probe which makes it way easier.

 

The last heater I put in was off by 5 degrees. It's always a good idea to dial them in with a thermometer you trust.