Reddit mentions of HDE LCD Digital Fish Tank Aquarium Thermometer Terrarium Marine Temperature (Black)

Equipment List
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• Lighting: AquaIllumination Prime set to 14k
  
  
• Lighting Mount: AquaIllumination Prime Tank Mount
  
  
• Filtration: Innovative Marine Media Basket
  
  
• Filtration Media: Chemi Pure Blue
  
  
• Filtration Media: Filter Floss
  
  
• Return Pump: Upgraded to Maxi Jet 900
  
  
• Flow: Only the Spin Stream for now
  
  
• Heater: Cobalt Neo-Therm 50 Watt
  
  
• Thermometer: HDE Digital
  
  
• Auto Top Off: Tunze Nano Osmolator
  
  
• Algae Scrubber: Two Little Fishies Nanomag
  
  
• RO DI Unit: Express Water 100 Gallon Per Day 6 Stage
  
  
• In Line TDS Meter: HM Digital
  
  
• Handheld TDS and PH Meter
  
  
• Aquarium Salt: Red Sea Coral Pro
  
  Chemicals and Food
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• Kent Nano Reef A & B
  
  
• Brightwell Aquatics Zooplankton
  
  
• Two Little Fishies ReVive Coral Cleaner
  
  
• New Life Spectrum 1mm sinking pellet
  
  
• I also feed frozen mysis occassionally, and I have a .5mm Hatchery pellet for Walter from Sustainable Aquatics.
  
  OnePlus 2 Manual Camera Settings
  
  
• Focus: Auto
  
  
• Aperture: 1/20
  
  
• White Balance: Cloudy (Very Bottom Option)
  
  
• ISO: 100
  
  For those interested my light is an AI Prime LED set to the 14k spectrum.

1. 84 degrees is honestly not that big of a deal. It's outside of the ideal range of 78 to 82, but 84 degrees in an otherwise perfect tank will not kill your betta. I promise. (You might already know this, but it sounds like you are freaking out a little bit! Don't stress out too much.)
   
   
2. Buy a real (digital) thermometer if you are using those sticker ones. They are not at all trustworthy and they do wear out. This one is reliable, cheap, and eligible for Amazon Prime: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GR0LKN8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 You can also buy a digital thermometer at a pet store for $10 or less.
   
   
3. If you buy a thermometer and you find your tank IS running slightly high, this is what I would do: Is your heater adjustable? I would keep it on but turn it down to the lowest or near-lowest setting. You can modify later if you find that this is not quite right. My heaters all seem to run hotter than what the dial says. You just have to find the sweet spot! You can also cheat a little by doing a small partial water change with room temperature water. Dramatically changing the water temperature in a short period of time is never a good idea, but doing a small water change that moves you from 84 to 82 degrees should be just fine. (But, again, you need a digital thermometer for that to be a good idea at all! A sticker one might cause you to underestimate the amount you are changing the temperature, maybe dramatically, which is much less healthy than running a little warm for a short while.)

I use the following

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C1BYESU/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

that one I use to measure ground temps

and one like this one would be good for measuring ambient temps, but for ball pythons ground temp is more important

http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Digital-Fish-Aquarium-Thermometer/dp/B00GR0LKN8/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1426551847&sr=8-24&keywords=digital+thermometer

edit for more info: the ones you slap on the side of the tanks are just measuring the temperature of the glass, ball pythons are terrestrial snakes for the most part so the ground temps should never go above 90

Cutie.

On a side note I recommend getting an in-tank thermometer. The ones that stick on the glass are notoriously inaccurate. Personally I use this one:

http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Digital-Fish-Aquarium-Thermometer/dp/B00GR0LKN8/

My SO and I each have one of these http://www.amazon.com/HDE-Digital-Fish-Aquarium-Thermometer/dp/B00GR0LKN8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457717170&sr=8-1&keywords=aquarium+digital+thermometer.
They work pretty well. Within a degree accuracy.

Personally i don't like kits because the parts tend to be low quality. You could get a simple 5 gallon tank this heater this thermostat and this filter

Saved. Thank you for all that information. I'm in the same boat as the OP. I'm wanting to automate things more than do robotics, though. For example, have a thermometer record a reading every 30 minutes in an excel spreadsheet and send me an alert if the temperature raises or lowers past a threshold.

For things of that nature I'm sure I'll have to learn a bit about electronics and soldering. Have any recommendations for projects heading in that direction?