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I recently came back from a week holiday and found ALL of my fish dead!!:#( After testing the water, checking the heater, filters everything we put it down to the laminate floors in our spare room. When i got home i couldn;t stand on the floor it was so cold. I assume that the tank could not heat up properly from loosing heat to the floors. Ususally because the carpet in my room retains some heat. But the laminater floor was stone cold. I don't know if anyone elso has experienced this but i thought i better just point it out.
Thankfully my tank is now in my room fully equipped with CARPET !!!!!!

I doubt that your floors were the cause. I have 2 laminate floors I laid myself. First of all they are laid on some type of insulation(ie. called "floating floors". second I would not think even if the tank WAS on the ground, a reliable/proper heater could not keep up. Believe me as I have an old house(Chicago area) and I sweat it every night below 10 degrees F. My tanks ARE on stands but I do have 1 tank in a particulary cold room. Maybe check your H2O perameters or get another Thermometer if the tank is not staying within 1.5 degrres of setting. Sudden temp changes can lead to death, so 2 may be better than 1 in your case..

thats a fair comment. I layed our floor with my dad and we put insulation underneath the strips of laminate. My house is victorian so it's pretty old. I live in 'sunny' Bournemouth, England and the winters can be harsh (and depressingly wet, lol). But i'm sure it's not that unbelieveable that after a week of no central heating, it being so cold it took us atleast 24 hours to warm the floor back to a temperature where you can walk on it that it could have killed my fish. When i felt my tank it was stone cold, yet the heater was working fine???
i'm not entirely sure but the tank was sat on a metal stand which probably didn't help.

Possibly the glue or some substance like that used to put the floor down with caused the deaths. Just the smell of some of the new linoleums out there can make a full grown adult want to turn up their toes.

jan

Fish_Can_Fly

Is it possible you had a power failure over a period of time and it came back on again but off long enough to chill the water if the room is too cold.

Try to purchase Minium - Maxium thermomenter (Usually plant nurseries) this will give you the temp it drops to at night.

Also do you have an insulator under the tank thick styrene this will help.

I have my tank 3ins from an external brick wall which can get very cold during winter. Between the tank and the wall I have pressed a thick roof/wall insulating pad, this make a big difference.

Keith

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I thought about a power cut but i asked my neighbours and they couldn't remeber one and also the lights in my house are on a timer. I asume if i had a power cut the timers would be set all wrong. It's not such an issue at the moment now my tank is in my room To be totally honest our spare room has always been very cold when we painted it the paint ran down the walls because they were so cold it couldn't set. I don't really think the laminate floor was totally to blame but i ciirtainly didn't help things.

Fish_Can_Fly

when we painted it the paint ran down the walls because they were so cold it couldn't set

Having done a fair bit of painting you should find printed on the tin the Min & Max temps for painting.

How long ago was the room painted? Reason I ask is as the room warmed up even just a few degrees it would give off a dangerous fumes especially if the room is very poorly ventalated. Also was there any adhesives used in laying the floor down, or in the finishing of the floor.

Just looking for answers

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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thats a bit worrying considering to fix the problem we used a little heater to warm the walls as it dried. Plus it's the smallest room in our house (minus the bathroom)
When you say adhesives do you mean glue??
All we did was layed down some mat stuff so the laminate wouldn't slip
then it just clicked in place. sorry i'm only 15 so i can't give you any good info. I just helped with the painting.

Sorry the room was painted around 6 months ago. We left the windows wide open so you couldn't really smell it.

I think the house just got too cold for the tank. The type of flooring wouldn't make a whole lot of difference at that point. Your heater probably couldn't keep up with it. I'd at least double the heating if you are going to be turning the heat off when you go anywhere. I have a small tank in a big room and I found it took double the heating to keep the temperature from changing this winter and the room only got down to 65. At freezing temperatures that it sounds like your house was at or near the heater isn't gonna make a dent in the tank temp.

But i'm sure it's not that unbelieveable that after a week of no central heating, it being so cold it took us at least 24 hours to warm the floor back to a temperature where you can walk on it that it could have killed my fish.

No central heating. Aquarium heaters, at 5 watts per gallon of water (50W hearer on a 10G tank), are only good for raising the tank temperature a maximum of about 5 degrees. If you need to heat the water more than that, you need more power. If the insulated laminate was that cold, I'm willing to be that the room itself must have been a lot colder than 5 degrees below ideal tank temperature.

Sorry for your loss, but I think a better warning would be:

"Don't overestimate the capability of your aquarium heater"
-or-
"Why central heat needs to be left on when you keep topical fish and go away on vacation."

As a floorcovering installer for over 10 years, and as someone who has been laying Pergo laminate floors since they were glue together, I can assure you your laminate floors had nothing to do with the tanks temperature. Also, any adhesives or sealants used in the installation of any kind of floor couldn't possibly harm a fish tank even in the same room. And as far as carpets go, they really have no insulation value other than just making your footsies nice and warm on a cold winter day

Fish_Can_Fly

I was just going through a trouble shooting system trying to eliminate every possible cause. It just looks like cold but your heater should have worked. 15Yld or not you have answerd the questions better than some adults, considering the questions you have been asked, well done.

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
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