first I set my heater to 79, and it only went up to 78. then I turned it down to 77 it's at 80?! am I going crazy?
2007-04-04 08:13:13 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pets ➔ Fish
You are not giving your heater enough time to heat the entire tank. Ambient temps in the room will also affect your tank temps. Put it on one setting and let it stay for a day. SLOWLY adjust temps.
2007-04-04 08:20:13 · answer #1 · answered by danielle Z 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
It takes a heater a long time to raise or lower the temperature.
I have a bunch of 20 longs. Using 5 watts per gallon, 100 watts should be fine. I set up around half a dozen of them last November with just "warmer" and "colder". The thermometers were reading 72° when the tanks were filled. My goal was to get them to 78°. It took over two days in a room that is 65° that time of year. They are on more or less constantly for those two days. They are still on more than off, because a 13° or greater difference. I may replace them with larger heaters if the project they are involved with goes until next winter.
For the record, you need a thermometer. Not one of the stick on kind, but a glass tube one. When you are at the store, you will see several read the exact same thing. One or two will be off. Those are the one's you don't want. My RenaCal Excel 150 is in a 29. It is set to 78°. The tank is 73°. I've exchanged this heater four times in two years. The room temperature is 68°. While this is "supposed to be" a good heater, and pretty expensive, the temperature is really off. Most units from other makers are too.
2007-04-04 15:49:39 · answer #2 · answered by something_fishy 5 · 3⤊ 2⤋
Two things to be aware of here -
1) It's going to take a while for your water to heat and cool down in your tank. Water resists temperature change.
2) It's not an efficient use of energy for a heater to pop on every time the temperature changes by one degree. Most thermometers are made with a +/- 2 degree variance. So if you set the thermometer at 75, it may wait till the temperature reaches 73o to kick back on. Just the same, it may heat till the internal sensor reaches 77o to turn off. A four degree fluctuation, as long as it occurs slowly, is not going to bother your fish. Find a midpoint for a temperature range that's good for your fish and set the heater to that.
2007-04-04 19:11:28 · answer #3 · answered by copperhead 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It sounds like the thermostat on your heater is defective, and you need to remove it from your tank NOW. Theres no telling if it will decide to take the temp to over a 100 which will kill your fish.
I have had this happen before, and your fish would be better off with a few cool water day's than frying from a defective heater.
Good Luck.
E.
2007-04-04 15:20:33 · answer #4 · answered by > 4 · 1⤊ 4⤋
t depends on how big a tank you have,and maybe if you did a water change all the way below the bottem of heater and left it on sometimes the heater will break
2007-04-04 15:39:12 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
Make sure the water in the tank is at it's proper level. This same thing happens to me if my water level is a bit too low.
2007-04-04 15:31:03 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because your heater is broken !
2007-04-04 15:21:15 · answer #7 · answered by taitiaraliz 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
combine what everybody already said, make sure it isnt broken or else you'll fry all of your fish
2007-04-04 15:32:47 · answer #8 · answered by imagin_asian 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋