temporary heater?

stunt 101

1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish
Feb 18, 2004
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Northern VA
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I am setting up a new tropical tank. I do not want to make 2 trips to the lfs. (tank is already cycled) When I go next time I will be buying fish and a heater. I want the temp of the water to be good for the fish when i bring them home. and then I will put the heater in. all i need is and idea of how i can temporarily get the tank heated up. (room temp is 69~70F)
 
I'm not sure how far you have to go from lfs to your home, but in my experiece, even with the fish in a cooler, the water cools down somewhat from the store to my home, and I have to spend time aclimating the fish to the warmer water. Bring the fish home, and aclimate them to the cooler water you currently have, and add the heater, have it slowly bring the temp back up to the temp you want. Unless you have some extremely delicate fish, I think this would work fine. Some of the experts might have a better answer then me in regards to this, but I don't think it is much of a problem.


Matt
 
thank you the fish that I will be dealing with are tiger barbs and yoyo loaches which I believe are not that delicate, so I will use your idea. the tank shouldnt take that long to heat up anyways.
 
I would jump-start my heater addition by heating some water in one of my aquarium-only containers in the microwave. You could add enough boiling water to bring the tank water up to approx the desired temp just before you leave home. The tank shouldn't cool down too much by the time you get back.
 
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