Temputure of house affecting tanks?

[Something Fishy]

I am having trouble getting tank temp up. Last night I posted about tank temps and needed to get mine up. So adjusted the heaters and went to bed. At night the house drops to 64 and during the day we have it set to only climb to 69.

55 gallon tank only climbed to 78 from 77 last night with 2 200 watt heaters. Could the house temp be affecting the tank temp?

What do you keep your house set at?

Thanks for helping the newbie,

Rusty & Amanda

[Brucey]

No, I would not have thought so. I Have a Q tank in guarage and I don't know what temp it goes down to at night but it is bleed'in cold and the tank stays around 78. Are you sure your heaters are set correctly and have you a spare thermometer. I always have three running in my main system sump
Brucey

[Something Fishy]

Well the thermometer comment brings up another question.

What kind of thermometer should we be using? We have the stick on kind. Are the ones that go in the tank more relible? We just have always used this style on the freshwater tanks. The saltwater is alot different than freshwater I am very quickly finding out.

Thank you for your help

[Brucey]

OK, so that might be the answer. Stick on thermometers are effected by the surrounding ambient temperature of the room ..... So, it may reading 4 or 5 degree's lower than your tank temp. Invest in a glass in tank thermometer and I'm sure you'll find it is reading higer than your stick on
Brucey

[Brucey]

PS, I have been raising SA Cichlids for years and still am, but moved to Marines about 18 months ago. The more you learn, the more you realise you don't know. LOL
Brucey

[Something Fishy]

Ok, as soon as the store opens I will be there.

Thanks for you help Brucey

[wooddood]

i keep the temp on my 120 at 78 in the winter and all seems fine.

[Cougra]

I would tend to concure with Brucey on the stick on thermometres. They are very unreliable. Use either an electronic thermometer or the good oldfashion glass ones that float in the tank. You really shouldn't have a problem keeping the temperature of your tank up at nights with a couple 200W heaters!

When using more then one heater in a tank, it's difficult to have them both set to the same temperature and one heater may be over working while the other isn't doing much. Don't rely on the markings at the top of the heater neither as those are just general guide lines and some heaters can be off by 5 or more degrees.

When I set the heaters for my tanks, I never set them inside the tank and play around with the temps there as I feel that method is a little too risky. I take a small bucket of coldwater (about 2 to 5 gallons) and place a heater in the bucket. Let the heater warm up the water and and turn off and measure the temperature in the bucket to see if it's working properly and what the temperature is set at. I do this with every heater I have and usually do a bi-monthly check on to make sure the temp doesn't drift ( I have one heater that is bad for that and only use it for heating water before adding to the tank now)

[Brucey]

Michelle, good advice. Also stick a PH in your bucket to make sure the water is circulated and the larger the bucket the better. Heaters can be very unreliable in small volumes of water
Brucey

[mwrager]

Brucey and Cougra are correct, get a thermometer that you can stick into your tank. With 400 watts of heater, you should be able to keep your tank temp up and stable.