Water Temp

[Spazm09]

Ok this is kinda a strange situation. Me and my roommate are poor college students. We decided not to turn on the gas in our house to save money. Currently my house is around 30 degrees INSIDE!!!. Ya i know its cold. The water in my 45g tank is about 55 degrees (without a heater) I know I need to get a heater but im wondering if it will be enough to keep the water at the temperature needed to keep fish alive. I have yet to stock it yet partially for this reason. so...

Will a heater keep the water warm enough through the winter?

Do I need to buy more than one heater?

[jgavlock]

Put a heater on each side of the tank.

You must really want to save money :eek:

[hmilstead]

Two heaters would be good. One on each side of the tank. Your fish are going to live better than you for the winter.

[Spazm09]

haha ya. gas is 25 bucks a month just to have it on. you have to add how much you use on to that. its normally not too cold so its worth it. I can see my breath right now LOL!!!

i dont really know how aquarium heaters work. do they have setting to adjust the heat? will 2 heaters be enough to raise it up from 55 degrees?

[jgavlock]

Yes and yes

I suggest Visi-Therm Stealth:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12060

[kooter]

Yes and yes

I suggest Visi-Therm Stealth:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=12060

I will agree. I have a visi-therm stealth and love it.
works great.
Hey, maybe your heated tank will give YOU some warmth too! :thm:

[Spazm09]

if only i was a hobbit ide bathe in the thing

[Mgamer20o0]

agreed visi-therm stealth are great. i have had them for years and never had a problem

[petitpoisson]

At 30F your are under the freezing point. I don't know if you rent the place but if I was the owner I would not be very happy (you risk freezing in the plumbing... the cold and the moisture is also going to do a lot of damage to the house).

Just my 2 (offtopic) cents...

cheers! (or ch-ch-ch-ch-cheers!!! in your case) :-)

[dmopar74]

if u cant afford to heat ur house do you really think you can afford to keep an aquarium going, it isnt cheap.

[jm1212]

not to be the "doom and gloom" person, but if you cant afford to heat your home, you should get rid of your tank for money to heat your house and so your electric bills are less. if the temp in your house is 30 degrees now during the day, i can only imagine how cold it gets at night. i woundt doubt that it is going to start getting into the teens during the day, and the its going to be in single digits at night, and to not have heat is just dangerous.

plus, if your water freezes it can damage thye filter and tank so that you cannot use them anymore. i would take the tank down and set it up when you can afford it.

[Spazm09]

i appreciate all of your concerns. first off, i CAN afford the heat we just chose not to have to save money to use for other things. second, any time it gets below freezing we drip our pipes. third, i live in east texas and it doest ever get much colder than this about 28-30F.