MousePotato

I keep my tank at the office where the temperature is pretty constant as long as there is no power outage. When I first set it up I plugged in the heater and soon my far more knowledgeable co-workers had a good laugh at how warm my tank got. There was much s******ing about poached fish! CW2 turned it off and it has stayed off ever since. I have a thermometer on the side of the tank and it reads a constant 76 degrees.

So, I guess my question is simply “is a heater really necessary?”

Butterfly

A heater is needed to help keep a constant temperature. Most business adjust their air/heat at night and fluctuating temps can cause your fish to get sick. Me thinks its time to declare your tanks off limits to well meaning co-workers.
Carol

COBettaCouple

yea, i usually set the temp on the heater to the center of the temp. range for the fish in the tank.

MousePotato

Thank you for your advice.* Although I have worked for companies where the A/C was turned off during non-business hours, I am pretty sure my office is kept at a constant temperature.* I have (sadly) been there many times in the middle of the night and on weekends and building management has been gracious enough to leave the climate control running.

A heater seems an odd thing to me if most tropical fish need to be kept at water in the 72-80 degree range, but that could be a result of where I live.* I live just north of Houston, Texas and cold water isn’t much of an issue down here.* Our summers are brutal and winters non-existent.* I planted several pots of impatiens that have lasted outside for five years now!* I have considered adding a koi pond to my backyard, but I don’t want to dig as deep as required to protect the fish from our heat.* In other words, I would think that too warm would be a greater concern than too cold in this region.* What do you think?

Edit: I haven't really looked at my heater since CW2 set it all up in his whilrwind, but are they like thermostats where you can set them at a particular temperature and they will not turn on if the water is already at that temperature? Thanks.

jayfl234

What kind of fish do you have in your tank?

MousePotato

I have two African cichlids in my tank now.

griffin

i think most heaters are like that. just get it to the temp you want, and leave it.

COBettaCouple

the best heaters are submersible heaters that you can set the exact temp on. they will work like that. we like the VisiTherm brand.