Tank Temp

[robertob]

Can someone help me? I have a 10 US Gallon tank with 4 White Cloud Minnows. I have read that these fish like cooler temps. preferrably 46-72 degrees F. I set my heater on 68 degrees F. The thermometer in my tank H2O reads 76-78 degrees F. I can't seem to get any lower temps. Is there a simple solution?:confused:

[kveeti]

What is your normal room temperature? Unless it's below the 68, probably you don't even need a heater.... Do you use lights? What kind of lights do you have in your canopy? If they are incandescent they will be adding heat to your tank, especially so in something like a 10 gallon. In that case, you could switch to screw-in flourescents which give off a lot less heat. Is the tank near any other heat sources?

[ChilDawg]

You're going to have a hard time keeping such a low temperature in the summer unless that is what your A/C is set at. I would suggest thinking about a chiller unit for your tank if you are still having problems after considering all of kveeti's suggestions and thinking about turning up the flow rate of your filter in order to provide some extra oxygenation.

[carpguy]

I agree with Kveeti about the lights. Look into the screw-in flourescents. After awhile I realized that my heater is almost never on (sometimes at night) and that I've been heating my tank with my lights…

Childawg's right about the summertime. I'm trying to sort that conundrum out myself. One option is to get some small quiet fans and have them blow across the surface of water. The evaporation will cause some cooling (this is, after all, how sweating works). Keeping the tank in an air-conditioned room is also a good option. Chillers are expensive, so I don't know how practical it is as a solution for a 10g.

[Tiburon72]

Hello Robertop,

I have some advice and please don't take it wrong. First if this is you're very first tank I would advise up-grading to a bigger one; bigger tanks are more forgiving and if problems should arise you have a bigger time span to react to the problem, and fix it.

I know tanks can be pricie, but a nice tank would be a 30 or even a 45 Gallon, believe you never stop learning when it comes to being an aquarist. Everything you will have depends on the size of tank you have. What kind of filter you are going to choose, heater, UGF (Under Gravel Filter), power heads, plants or no plants and this will be dictated by what type of fishes you wan't to keep in your tank; wheter is going to be a community or a species or even yet just an underwater garden.

Check your heater and make sure you have the correct watts/gallon of water you require, and check the basics, how strong your lighting is (watts) .

[robertob]

I appreciate your help. I plan on getting a 55 gal tank in the future after we buy our new home. Right now we can't afford it. I do thank you however, for your advice. The tank temp is now 73-74 F after unplugging the heater last night. After my tank cycles I plan on changing species of fish to guppies, danios, & corys. I have had this tank for almost 4 weeks and I am going to wait a few more weeks before I add anymore fish. Thanks again guys!:cool: