Porcupine Puffer ate my glass Floating Thermometer!!!

[mike31154]

Originally Posted by bulletsworld

I thought of one of those. But I figured they arn't to accurate.

I use a number of different thermometer types including the stick on cheapies. IME, the stick on is within half a degree Celsius (yes I prefer C over F) of the two digital thermometers in the display. I've seen plenty of threads with folks reporting that the digitals are off. No type of thermometer is foolproof. One of the ones I liked the most was in fact a floating glass thermometer/hydrometer combination. The hydrometer part of it was accurate as well when compared to my refractometer. It's well established technology, needs no batteries etc, the drawback being that they're breakable as you've experienced.

As far as accuracy, how much is really needed in the hobby? I often see folks reporting a salinity of 1.0264 on their refractometers. What's up with that last decimal point? The scale makes it almost impossible to read off that level of accuracy, it's at best a guess. If you just need a quick check to ensure you're heaters aren't malfunctioning, a stick on thermometer will do that for you nicely. Even if it's off a few degrees, it will keep you in the 'ballpark' so to speak.