# In-Line Thermometer.



## sir_keith (Oct 30, 2018)

I've been thinking recently that it would be really useful to have an in-line thermometer in the hose that I use to fill my aquaria during water changes. My water-changing routine is to use a submersible pump to remove the desired volume of water- I just pump the old water out into the garden- and to re-fill the tank with fresh water using RV hoses attached to a utility sink in the laundry room. I mix the hot and cold inputs right at the tap to give the desired temperature, make sure the temperature is steady when running through the hose, then fill my tanks. During this process I monitor the temperature of the incoming water with a laser thermometer, but it would be even better if I had a continuous readout from an in-line thermometer. I don't have a big enough water heater in that part of the house to change all my tanks at once, and if I'm pushing the limit, the temperature of the water drops as the hot water gets depleted, which is something I need to know about as soon as it happens.

So, I'm thinking about something like this, which I could splice into the hose just upstream of the outlet sprayer nozzle-










Here it is on Amazon- http://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XFXBS64/?tag=wafishbox-20

Any thoughts? Or alternate suggestions? Anything that makes life in the fishroom easier is a good thing! =D>


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Just a couple thoughts on that product, one is the small diameter of the unit which would reduce flow and 2nd is I'm not sure it's meant for the amount of water you would want to pass through it.

I would just stick with the method you are currently using or just test by hand for a guesstimate AND have a way to shut the water off at the tank when you notice the water getting cooler. I do not leave my tanks when I'm refilling except for the 220G and do check it frequently in case there is a possible issue with the hot water.


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## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

I don't like the small diameter issue that Deeda mentioned. What volume of water are you changing? When I kept Discus I used to fill two 55gal Brute trash containers kept in my garage with water each evening for my wc the following day. This was only to match pH as I never need to adjust temperature, but it's an option that could work in your case if you stick a heater in them overnight. Or make it simple and get a bigger hot water tank if that works.


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## sir_keith (Oct 30, 2018)

ken31cay said:


> I don't like the small diameter issue that Deeda mentioned. What volume of water are you changing? When I kept Discus I used to fill two 55gal Brute trash containers kept in my garage with water each evening for my wc the following day. This was only to match pH as I never need to adjust temperature, but it's an option that could work in your case if you stick a heater in them overnight. Or make it simple and get a bigger hot water tank if that works.


I hadn't thought about the diameter issue, but it might not be all that bad because the rate-limiting factor for water flow is not the hose diameter (1/2" ID), but the spray nozzle. I am using a thermoplastic spray nozzle with several settings, and I deliberately set it on a relatively gentle spray pattern so as not to disturb anything inside the tanks as I fill them. So having a constriction at the thermometer might not make much, if any, difference. I also posted the wrong pic of the thermometer initially: that pic shows the thermometer for a 3/8" hose, whereas I need the model for a 1/2" hose, shown here-










I'm typically changing 100-150 gallons of water per session, sometimes doing two sessions per day, spaced apart by an hour or so. Getting a bigger hot water tank is not an option: the current tank supplies water only to the guest wing of the house, and it barely fits inside the closet where it resides. The main wing runs on an electro-boiler and two large holding tanks, but those are at the other end of the house, way too far from the fish room.

So the bottom line here is that I still haven't decided if this is worth the fuss; I guess I was hoping that others would have already figured out the best way to do this, and I could benefit from their experience.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I did check your link and saw that it also came in 1/2" diameter so you would still need to do some DIY to run it inline with your existing hose.

We switched over to a tankless water heater (propane) over 10 years ago for a couple reasons 1st was to be able to bypass the water softener and 2nd was we added a lot more tanks and were concerned about running out of hot water. It's worked great for us and may be something to consider when your current hot water tank needs replacement.


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