Inkbirds are a brand/product of external thermostat, these are units that regulate the temperature change provided by a heating unit. Without a thermostat the heater will not switch off at the desired temperature. Many heaters contain their own ones but very frequently they do malfunction, so in theory these external units are more reliable. Some heaters do not have an internal thermostat such as many titanium ones so would require an external thermostat.

There isn’t much of a range in external thermostats with either Inkbird or D-D around. The reptile hobby does have a wider range of thermostats but it is unclear how much and if they are waterproof unlike these two aquarium brands.

Generally the majority of people set their external thermostats as the only thermostat with the heater unit itself at a much higher temperature. Personally I prefer to use both as a fail safe, so the heaters are only setup just above that of the Inkbird and therefore if the Inkbirds fail hopefully those thermostats of the heaters should cut it off.

The other benefit is these are connected to WIFI and therefore can be controlled from my phone. On top of that it will send push alerts for any issues and if I notice that the units are disconnected it could hint to a powercut.

These thermostats do not require only to be controlled via your phone but also can be used manually if that is preferred. It also means they will stay running during any WIFI outage. The temperature history also allows for you to loosely track how long it takes to heat the tank and also if and when there was any power outages.

Review/opinion:

I have two Inkbird’s myself and have done since 2021, they have proven reliable to me and a necessary part of my aquariums since having heaters fail in the past. They are really good units, setting them up can be a challenge but certainly worth it. Where I do keep fishes that require 28c I think it puts a lot of pressure on most heaters so the inkbirds really help here. The thermostat allows for two heaters to be attached meaning it doesn’t take as long to reach the desired temperature.

Setting up your Inkbird

Step 1: Download the Inkbird app on the Apple App store or what is required for Android.

Step 2: Your home screen should look similar to this without any inkbirds setup. Click on the Plus Icon.

Step 2: Choose the product you have, here the Inkbird-306A.

Step 3: Choose the mode. I find AP mode the easiest, it might not be automatically set to that so press the other mode option to select it.

Step 4: Press the WIFI button on the Inkbird until the light on the unit blinks slowly. This might take several goes.

Step 5: The Inkbird will then require your WIFI including password of which needs filling in.

Step 6: It will request for you to join the network that is provided by the Inkbird unit. Go onto your WIFI settings and join that network.

Step 7: Press connect.

Step 8: It will then connect which can take time, keep the phone close to the Inkbird unit while connecting.

Step 9: All connected, you can name the unit.

Running Inkbirds

This is the main screen, it has several updates so hadn’t always looked like this. It should be pretty self explanatory how to use.

The central value is the temperature where it will tell you if the heaters are providing heat or not. This screen is also where any warnings will appear such as low temperature, wide temperature range between probes etc.

You can select temperature by pressing on that range T1-T2.

Under settings you will find this screen, this is where you can select alarms. I have mine quite extreme as during water changes it can be a real pain if you set it to 2-4 degrees under. Heating time might also be worth considering, it’ll produce an alarm if too long so consider how long after a water change the aquarium takes to reach it’s desired temperature.