Help Me! Tropical Tank Is At 70*f!!!

hcgirl80

hcgirl80

i is a gud righter lyke leela.
Jun 3, 2004
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USA
www.freewebs.com
HELP!!

I had my windows in my bedroom open last night because we just painted in there and we didn't want paint fumes. This morning I checked the temp and it is 70*F! The heater is a 5-15 heater and its thermostat is set at 78*F. It has never failed me before. Right when I found out I turned off the fans we had on to dry the paint. It is stocked with 1 tiger barb, the rest of the school died.

What's the deal?

THANKS!!

~PAige
 
Sorry 'bout your fish... but it sounds like you need a better heater. I never did like "range" heaters.
I got nothing else. Sorry.
 
A 5-15 heater? Isn't that a Tetra brand? If so, they aren't the most reliable in the world. A good heater would be an EboJager or Tronic. The funny thing is, good heaters don't cost that much more than the junky ones...

Jim
 
hc, I agree..... sounds like you'll need a better heater.... maybe a submersable, a reliable one...if I'm not mistaken, the rest of the school died a while ago, right.... not just last night? This being the case, the temperature thing really isn't a huge issue.... all you need to do is gradually bring the heat back up for the little guy and all should be ok...
 
Doll--
The heater is a submersible. And yes, the rest of the school died a while ago(I made a mistake in my cycle). The temperature is back up to 74*F now.
I'm pretty sure it will make its way back up to 78*F through-out the day.

It won't kill my Java Fern will it?

The fish is fine- he's acting as if nothing happened.

~Paige
 
Plants rather cooler water over hot so it won't hurt the java fern (plus I grow them at 68F). It sounds like maybe your heater was trying to compensate for the lower extenal temp and just could cut it. Try to get one that is in the 5 watts per gallon range.
 
I'd agree with the 5 WPG reccomendation. 3 is enough for a tank that is close to ambient air temp all of the time, but large differentials work the heater pretty hard. I also reccomend two heaters that total 5 watts per gallon between them. Ebo and tronics always come highly recommended, but I use visi-therm deluxe, and have been very happy for many years with them. they cost less than the Ej's and tronics, but have been flawless for me. Since you already have a 5-15 I would guess it's around 25-40 watts (probably not more than 25w) I'd get a 25w visi-therm and add it to your existing set-up.
Dave
 
even though your heater sounds pretty worthless your fish should do fine at 70 as long as it is not for an extended period of time (i.e. weeks). even discus can tolerate temps below 70 for short lengths of time without being negatively affected. my advice is not to freak out over low temps but to buy a new heater anyway. get one of those stealth kind, the black plastic ones that are unbreakable. worth the $$, made by marineland i believe? correct me if i am wrong
 
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