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My 55 gallon is maintaining a temperature of around 82-83 degrees Fahrenheit. I have a heater, but it is set to only 75 degrees and I have never seen it come on. The tank is in my living room which has a vaulted ceiling. That's the only possible reason that I can think of for the high temperature. I keep my ac at 75 degrees, although the living room is probably more like 78 degrees with the ceiling being the way it is.

My fish seem fine.

I am just concerned that I am stressing them by having the temp at their uppper limits. Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be a cause or what I can do about it? I don't have any problems with temperature in my 20 gallon that sits in the dining room about six feet away from the 55.
Thanks!

- Meow -

Maybe the lights. What kind are you using? How long are they on?

My hood and lights are just the ones that came with the set up. (All Glass Kit from PetCo) They aren't very strong, two 15watt bulbs. I do have live plants so I leave the lights on for around 12 hours every day.



- Meow -

I think it's probably an inaccurate heater. Several of my aquarium heaters need to be adjusted five or so degrees above or below what temp. I'm trying to achieve.

The easiest way to see would be to unplug the heater and see if the temp. matches the room temp. after 12-24 hours. It should, assuming theres no other heat source like direct sunlight.

Standard flourscent lights don't heat the water much, if any, in a tank that size. Even my tanks with compact flourescents (which are much hotter) maintain room temp. in the summer months.

Depends on what species you keep.

My heater is set on 72 and my thermometer consistently reads 78. If those bulbs are incandescant they will bump the temperature another degree or two.

Hi

I had the same problem here in Sydney earlier in the year. Sydney had an exceptionally hot summer and basically, my heaters never even needed to turn on. It wasn't a case of heaters being inaccurate, it was the problem of the climate just being too hot. I think that's what your saying is happening in your case, as you say your heater never comes on.

I was given a few different suggestions and here is my thread, which might also help you http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/27119.1.htm?20#

Hope this helps. BTW, my fish seemed to survive it all in their stride.

Cheers
TW

Hi sunspotka,

Basically, my first thoughts were in line with Georgia's as I have a similar issue with my Ebo Jaeger heater (which are notorious for generating more heat that the dial is set to). That heater went from almost accurate to a difference of 9 degrees between dial and water temperature within a year of use.

The stress level will depend on the fish, as Cup_of_Lifenoodles pointed out correctly. I also think that higher temperatures (than needed, Discus like this temp for example) speed up a fish's metabolizm (spelling), and this usually means a shorter live span.

Now here are some thoughts:

- What if the thermometer is wrong? Have you checked with another one?
- What heater is it anyway? Some of the cheaper ones (besides the expensive Ebo) are also very often wrong.
- What is the wattage of your heater? Let's say you overpower your required wattage by far, then the heater would go on rarely but heat the water fast. Then, when it shuts off, it still would radiate heat into the water until it cools off.
- Of course it could be a combination of all of the above.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

All the fish in that tank can tolerate temps as high as 82 degrees. I don't really want to keep the temperature that high though, I have also heard about high temps shortening life span. It is pretty hot here in Florida, but it is only going to get worse as the summer progresses.

However, I sat and stared at the tank for awhile last night and I caught the heater on. Its the first time that I have seen it on, probably because it was only on for about a minute. I really don't think its anywhere close to being accurate. This morning I unplugged it and will monitor the temp throughout the day. Its warm enough right now that I think that I can get by without it for awhile. The wattage of the heater is 200. Is that excessive for a 55 gallon tank? I have two thermometers in each tank, an inside floating kind and the outside strip kind. They both read the same. The brand of the heater is All Glass. Its the one that came with the kit. I bought the kit to save a little money, but clearly it wasn't a value if I have to replace all the extras it came with. Oh well, you live and learn.

Thanks for the link to that thread TankWatcher. It was very informative and gave me good ideas in case I continue to have a problem.

- Meow -

Hi,
The generally accepted "Rule of Thumb" for heaters is
5 watts/gallon. This need can be met with one heater,
or the total of a couple.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

sunspotkat,

Wattage wise this heater may be a little on the low side, but the 5 watts per gallon are intended for all temperature zones (ok, maybe not the arctic) and you have mild temperatures all year round. I would think 200w are just fine. It probably is as you said, the kits do not include top notch products, beginning with the light, over the filter, and I guess down to the heater.

Anyway, if you ever want to get a new one, I would recommend the Aquarium Systems Visi-Therm Stealth Heater. They are fully submersible, don't break, pretty accurate, and because they are black they don't disturb the visuals that much.

I hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Wow! I had never checked out Big Al's before, but they have good prices, even with shipping. I was at PetCo today and I saw that exact heater priced at $37.99. Big difference. Thanks for the link Little Fish. I think that I will check that heater out. I like that it doesn't break as easily and I have a black background on the tank so it will really blend in.

Anyway, I unplugged the heater this morning and the temperature has gone down about one degree in seven hours. Hopefully it will have gone down more by tomorrow morning. I would open the tops to let more heat escape, but I'm worried that the shark would try to make a grand leap into the unknown. One of the cats has his eye on that shark and would love the chance. (Perhaps because shark resembles a sardine AKA kitty yummies)

- Meow -

Just an update-

It has been about 24 hours since I unplugged my heater and the tank temperature is at 79 degrees. I guess it was the heater that was causing the problem.

That's okay, I'd rather replace a heater than deal with trying to cool the tank in other ways due to the weather.

Thanks to all

- Meow -

sunspotkat,

Now let's just hope that your AC will be able to handle the hot summers as well. One thing you can do is to buy a Chiller ( $$$$ ) for these days, or try to have a fan blowing over the water surface.

Glad you seem to have found the issue and also glad that I may have pointed you into a direction that saves you some money.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

A useful tool for you to acquire here will be a decent digital thermometer. I have one and it's allowed me to track aquarium temperatures with ease. As a result, I can set the heaters to generate the temperatures I actually want for my fishes without worrying about any inbuilt discrepancies in the heaters themselves.

Of course, if your heater relies upon good quality solid state electronics to control temperature, this shouldn't be a problem, but units of this kind are notoriously expensive.

Incidentally, if you need a chiller at all, you can rig up a seviceable 'Heath Robinson' chiller with a powerhead, 30 feet or so of siphon tubing, and a spare 5 gallon aquarium. Coil the tubing, hold the coils together with cable ties, put the coils in the 5 gallon aquarium. One end of the tubing goes to the powerhead in your main aquarium, the other feeds the output back into your aquarium. Fill the 5 gallon aquarium with cold water, add lots of ice cubes from your freezer, and hey presto, a chiller for about $30.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

I'd definately get a new thermometer. It doesn't have to be a controler that the heater plugs into (which cali was refering to), just a regular old thermometer.

Try either a floating glass thermometer (about $1-2), or a Coralife digital thermometer from bigals (about $5)... or get both just to see if they're reading right. I personally own 3 or 4 of each kind, and they all read within a degree of each other. But the 'stick on digital' thermometers are junk and are way inaccurate (I've personally tested them against other kinds and found them to be over 7 degrees off sometimes!)...DEFINATELY stay away from those

On the topic of cooling the tank...
The best/most economical way I've seen to cool a tank is a fan blowing over it... or, if you've got a sump, a fan blowing over the sump

Good luck