Rate My Fish Tank

Sun Dec 07, 2008 4:31 pm GMT   Reply      

Hello everyone! I am new to the site and looking forward to talking with many of you. Here is something frustrating that I experienced over the last few weeks.

It gets cold in the room where I have my 120 gallon tank. So I checked the temp and the digital thermometer said it was 62 degrees. I panicked and added another heater. This morning and a very large dead Pleco later my friend asked if I had a different thermometer. So I put another one in and it was 96 degrees. I have spent the oast 10 hours cooling the tank and hoping I do not loose more fish due to lowering the temp. I went and bought an old fashioned mercury thermometer and stuck it on the glass. I cannot trust a digital thermometer for a long time.

Sun Dec 07, 2008 5:05 pm GMT   Reply      

Ah gee thats a real bugger about your pleco....what a shame.

Aren't your heaters on a thermostat so even if the thermometer is incorrect, the heater will only go to the set temperature anyway?

Welcome to the site!

Sun Dec 07, 2008 8:00 pm GMT   Reply      

often times digital themometers need to be calibrated, there should be some sort of adjustmant on yours, fill a galss of water with ice and water, let it sit for a minute or two then stick your probe in it and adjust it till it reads 32...... and just perodically check it sau like everymonth.

Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:11 am GMT   Reply      

I do have a 300 watt Hydor thermometer with a stat. It obviously was working. I just never thought to check the thermometer.

My tank is now at 80 and watching my fish very closely to see if they make it through such a drastic temp change.

Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:15 am GMT   Reply      

it sounds like things are working better now, but do you have adequate waterflow around your heaters? Ie, are they near filter intake/outake or powerheads? 120gal is a lot of water.

also if your tank is near an ''outside'' door or window that leaks some air from outside it'll be much harder to keep a constant temperature in your tank.

I second the opinions on thermometer..
I like to use the cheap glass round ones you suction cup to the inside of your tank. They're sold real cheap pretty much everywhere and are very dependable as long as they're also around moving water in the tank.

Mon Dec 08, 2008 11:26 am GMT   Reply      

I have the heater in the center of the tank on the back glass about a foot from a submersible power head. The tank is next to an exterior wall but no doors or windows.

I still have the digital thermometer in the tank but I am also using the cheap mercury on that you stick on the glass. The thermometers are on opposite sides of the tank and between the two of them there is a 6 degree difference.

Mon Dec 08, 2008 4:14 pm GMT   Reply      

Try getting the heater a bit closer to the powerhead if you can. Like within 6". It'll draw more unheated water to the heater's thermostat causing the heater to stay on until more of the water is the same temperature.
I read above you got another heater? You could try placing them at both corners of the tank and getting another powerhead to go side-by-side with the other heater if you still have it. When in slow moving water heaters can kind've form little thermo-pockets of water that cause the heater to stay off if the water isn't being pushed around. You can never really have too much water flow around them.

Or you could consider getting one of those little oil-powered heaters (I don't know how they work but my gf has two) if the room is small. They'll keep your ambient temp up well and are very cost effective and energy efficient. I think they still sell them at wal-mart for like $50-75. They'll only be real helpful if you can close a door to the room though.

Tue Dec 09, 2008 4:21 pm GMT   Reply      

with heaters you really get what you pay for. I use a Rena smart heater and a cheapo digital thermometer. The heater is a 100 watt which cost about $40. It heats from the inside and you can hook it up to a filter or pump and have a constant flow of water through it to make sure the entire tank stays a certain temp. I have my thermometer in the middle-bottom of the tank and my heater on the top-left side. I have the heater set to 78ish. It has been setup and left alone for about 3 months and my thermometer reads a constant 77.4-78.0 degrees.

Fri Dec 12, 2008 7:04 am GMT   Reply      

The only thing I can recommed with cooling the tank down is NOT to do it quickly. Fish are more then willing to adapt but if you change things to quickly it shocks them and well you know what happens from there.

Post is probably too late but just a FYI.

Fri Dec 12, 2008 3:43 pm GMT   Reply      

24 hours to bring the temp down and 5 days later I am at 78ish and have not lost any more fish. Thanks to all that have helped.