Question About Using House Heater.

[AnglerTheStrangler]

Hello,

I was wondering what people do when the weather gets cold. If you have a fish tank with a heater that is at say 78 degrees wouldn’t it heat the tank up too much if you had the house heater on and it warmed it up past the 78?

 

[Lunnietic]

Hello,

I was wondering what people do when the weather gets cold. If you have a fish tank with a heater that is at say 78 degrees wouldn’t it heat the tank up too much if you had the house heater on and it warmed it up past the 78?

Depends on what kind of fish heater. I have one that turns on and off by itself and is triggered to turn on bu the water temp and I have yet to have a problem.

 

[Reeferxbetta]

Heating a house to 78 in the winter sounds expensive and anyways, any heater that's worth even using should have some kind of a shutoff so it won't just continually run, most smaller ones are preset to 77-78 and will shut off once the tank reaches that temp, and the larger (or better) ones will have an adjustable temperature, so you can set it to whatever temp and it will shut off once it reaches that temp. I suppose if your tank was warming up to over 78 due to room temp, you wouldn't even need a heater to begin with, rather a chiller if your tank was overheating.

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

Heating a house to 78 in the winter sounds expensive and anyways, any heater that's worth even using should have some kind of a shutoff so it won't just continually run, most smaller ones are preset to 77-78 and will shut off once the tank reaches that temp, and the larger (or better) ones will have an adjustable temperature, so you can set it to whatever temp and it will shut off once it reaches that temp. I suppose if your tank was warming up to over 78 due to room temp, you wouldn't even need a heater to begin with, rather a chiller if your tank was overheating.

Even if you have a good heater that shuts off once it hits 78 if you have the heater on for say 30 minutes and it goes over 80 wouldn’t that effect the tank temp and make it too hot?

Depends on what kind of fish heater. I have one that turns on and off by itself and is triggered to turn on bu the water temp and I have yet to have a problem.

I’m saying even once it shuts off if the house heater heats up hotter than the tank temp isn’t that going to heat the tank up more than it should?

 

[Reeferxbetta]

Even if you have a good heater that shuts off once it hits 78 if you have the heater on for say 30 minutes and it goes over 80 wouldn’t that effect the tank temp and make it too hot?

I'm a little confused by this question, are you asking what if the tank heater goes over 80? Or what if the house heater goes over 80? I have no idea who heats their house to over 80, and if your tank heater was reliable it shouldn't be going too hot, either way 80-82 ish is perfectly safe for tropical fish, stable temperatures are mostly what's important.

 

[Lunnietic]

I get what you are saying you must have one of those thermostats where you can turn heat on and off without any real numbers? (Like 60° instead you have levels 1-5 or low-high)

I've seen users using small usb fans to help cool their tanks when if overheats. Might be something to look into.

 

[Reeferxbetta]

I’m saying even once it shuts off if the house heater heats up hotter than the tank temp isn’t that going to heat the tank up more than it should?

Okay got it. Still, who heats their house over 80? And shouldn't the homes thermostat be reliable enough to not start overheating the house? Is this a hypothetical question or an issue you're experiencing? If any tank is overheating, I suppose I'd suggest a chiller, or fan of some sort.

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

Okay got it. Still, who heats their house over 80? And shouldn't the homes thermostat be reliable enough to not start overheating the house? Is this a hypothetical question or an issue you're experiencing? If any tank is overheating, I suppose I'd suggest a chiller, or fan of some sort.

It’s hypothetical

 

[wolfdog01]

Not sure if this will be helpful or not but during the summer our house is pretty warm (gotta love Florida) and in the winter the nights do get chilly. I think our house stays anywhere between 60-70 throughout the year. During the summer my tank (20 gal) can get as warm as 82 F but in the winter it gets down to a steady 78 F. I have a cheap heater than is preset to 78ish F. So I do think the house temp can change the tank temp, am I going to go out and spend big bucks on a dial heater? Nope, I think small, slow changes in temps are fine. In the wild their temps aren't constantly at 80 F, ya know?

 

[jdhef]

A heater will only heat a tank up to the temperature it is set to. For example, if you set your tank heater to 77 degrees F. Once the tank water reached 77 degrees F the heater would shut off.

But if the ambient temperature of the room was over 77 degrees F, the water temperature would rise to match that temperature. So if the house was at a constant 82 degrees F, the tank water would rise to 82 degrees F. But this would happen whether you had a heater or not.

But if that house temperature were to drop to 68 degrees F, the water temperature would start to drop (and without a heater the water temperature would also drop to 68 degrees F. But since in this example the heater is set to 77 degrees, the heater would turn on once the water temperature got just below 77 degrees and then keep the water at 77 degrees.

But do note, that it does take some time for the water temp to reach the ambient temp. So for example, if your room temp were to drop 10 degrees for an hour, the water in the tank might only drop 1 degree (assuming no heater) since it takes some time for the water to give up it's heat. Conversely, it also takes some time for the water temperature to rise when room temp rises (or even when you turn on a heater).

 

[Reeferxbetta]

It’s hypothetical

Okay. Yeah where I live, it's hot in the summer, like 115 hot… so my tanks get pretty hot, regardless of the heater temp, but I suppose if someone had their heat really high, they would either have to lower it, or use something to cool the tank, if your heat is on at say 85, but your heater is at 78, your heater will just shut off at 78, but your tank will heat to room temp.

 

[purslanegarden]

yep the heater in the water and the thermostat in the house should be able to compensate for various outside conditions, even if it has to keep running (or shutting off). if the surrounding air of the room is eventually able to make the water be 78, then the heater in the tank won't need to come on if the water is already 78.

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

Okay. Yeah where I live, it's hot in the summer, like 115 hot… so my tanks get pretty hot, regardless of the heater temp, but I suppose if someone had their heat really high, they would either have to lower it, or use something to cool the tank, if your heat is on at say 85, but your heater is at 78, your heater will just shut off at 78, but your tank will heat to room temp.

Yeah that’s pretty much what I was thinking. So if someone like their house really toasty and they have fish tanks it’s gonna heat the tanks up if it’s higher than what the heater is set at.

 

[Reeferxbetta]

Yup! The heater can only help if it's too cool by heating, but if it's too hot, the heater would just remain off, although most tropical fish who require heaters to begin with are recommended to be kept at temps usually from around 77-82, but I guess if you liked to keep your house at like 80/82, you probably wouldn't even buy a heater to begin with, assuming that the house is kept at a stable temperature, as the heater would just remain off.

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

Yup! The heater can only help if it's too cool by heating, but if it's too hot, the heater would just remain off, although most tropical fish who require heaters to begin with are recommended to be kept at temps usually from around 77-82, but I guess if you liked to keep your house at like 80/82, you probably wouldn't even buy a heater to begin with, assuming that the house is kept at a stable temperature, as the heater would just remain off.

Yeah I agree. I think that if someone was going to turn on the heat that high they probably wouldn’t have it on that long anyways so yeah. I was just curious what other people had to say on the matter..

 

[Reeferxbetta]

Yeah it'd be nuts to heat a house to over 80, while the days have been 60s-70s where I live, my heat is set to 69… couldn't imagine it at 80, it would certainly be toasty

 

[sfsamm]

So if your home is over the tanks temp it's not going to instantly raise your tanks temperature... And water is naturally going to stay cooler than the surrounding air anyway. It's why you can get in a nice cool lake when it's triple digits outside. This summer I had several weeks in triple digits with my air conditioning out of order.... None of my tanks ever went over 86 degrees while my house 24/7 was well past 90. Once I was able to get fans over the tanks they maintained themselves between 78-82 (depending on stock tolerance) purely through evaporation while my house remained over 90 consistently.

 

[RSababady]

Once I was able to get fans over the tanks they maintained themselves between 78-82 (depending on stock tolerance) purely through evaporation while my house remained over 90 consistently.

I have fans permanently installed in the top of my tank to do just this. If the temperature of water goes above a preset threshold, then the fans blow stronger and stronger until the water temp drops. Evaporation of water takes latent heat out of the water thus reducing the temperature of the water.

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

Hi,

I’m wondering if an aquarium heater is the right amount of watts per gallon of water does it matter how cold the room temperature gets? Can the room be pretty cold without it effecting anything?

 

[Punkin]

I can’t recall the exact ratio, but I believe it’s 3-5 watts per gallon. I have a 20 gallon tank and a 100 watt heater. I keep it at about 75 and it stays that way no matter how cool it gets, and we keep our house pretty cool in the winter. not cuz we like it cold, but cuz we’re cheap!

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

I can’t recall the exact ratio, but I believe it’s 3-5 watts per gallon. I have a 20 gallon tank and a 100 watt heater. I keep it at about 75 and it stays that way no matter how cool it gets, and we keep our house pretty cool in the winter. It cuz we like it cold, but cuz we’re cheap!

I have a 10 gallon and my heater is a 50w. That’s good right? You think I would be ok if my room got around 60f?

 

[Punkin]

That sounds good, I also have a 5 gallon qt tank that I use a 25 watt for and had no problems. My house in winter is probably a good 10 degrees cooler than my tank and it holds the temperature.

 

[Deathrehab]

Sometimes you have to go bigger depending on placement in house, house drafts, and temp.

As an example my bedroom is my fishroom,
My room stays the warmest due to 5 aquariums in a 12' square room. But my 5.5 on my dresser by my window that is extremely drafty, I have a 75 watt heater in it. It struggles to keep tank at 79 when below freezing outside but my 3 20 gal tanks on the opposite wall have 100 watt heaters and will do over 80 no issues . Keep in mind movement of water olus size of water contained will effect temps aswell.

Idk if that made much sense

 

[Lunnietic]

The only time room temp really affects water temp is when the room is hotter than the tank. You should be fine with the heater you have!

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

The only time room temp really affects water temp is when the room is hotter than the tank. You should be fine with the heater you have!

Ok thank you

Sometimes you have to go bigger depending on placement in house, house drafts, and temp.

As an example my bedroom is my fishroom,
My room stays the warmest due to 5 aquariums in a 12' square room. But my 5.5 on my dresser by my window that is extremely drafty, I have a 75 watt heater in it. It struggles to keep tank at 79 when below freezing outside but my 3 20 gal tanks on the opposite wall have 100 watt heaters and will do over 80 no issues . Keep in mind movement of water olus size of water contained will effect temps aswell.

Idk if that made much sense

Yeah that makes sense. I guess what I’m wondering is as long as the heater can keep the tank warm and handle the cold it doesn’t really matter how cold the room gets?

 

[Deathrehab]

It depends on how cool room is . There is a point where so many wayts won't be enough

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

It depends on how cool room is . There is a point where so many wayts won't be enough

Oh ok cool thank you

 

[Racing1113]

Yes the room temperature definitely affects what wattage you need.

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

Hi,

I’m just curious what the temperature fluctuation range of a good quality heater is? Like what is the accuracy range of an average to good quality heater?

 

[Reeferxbetta]

Depends on the heater really, most will tell you how accurate they are, typically it's somewhere between 1-3 degrees, it also depends if you have a preset heater or one you manually set, I find the preset ones to be slightly less accurate. It's going to be very dependent on the heater, I had an aqueon heater that when set to 75 (ish) would heat the tank to like 88, I also had a fluval heater that wouldn't let the tank get below 78.4 or over 78.6, was pretty darn accurate for a heater I found on sale for like $30. It will also depend on what room temperature is for you, and what wattage your heater is, you might have to get a little more specific to get an accurate answer (Ex: I have a 50 watt fluval heater for my 10 gallon tank, my room temperature is 70, and my heater is set to 77, within how many degrees should this heater be accurate?) but to throw a number out there, if your house isn't extremely hot or cold, and you have the correct wattage of *reliable* heater, I'd say somewhere between 1 and 3 degrees.

 

[AnglerTheStrangler]

Depends on the heater really, most will tell you how accurate they are, typically it's somewhere between 1-3 degrees, it also depends if you have a preset heater or one you manually set, I find the preset ones to be slightly less accurate. It's going to be very dependent on the heater, I had an aqueon heater that when set to 75 (ish) would heat the tank to like 88, I also had a fluval heater that wouldn't let the tank get below 78.4 or over 78.6, was pretty darn accurate for a heater I found on sale for like $30. It will also depend on what room temperature is for you, and what wattage your heater is, you might have to get a little more specific to get an accurate answer (Ex: I have a 50 watt fluval heater for my 10 gallon tank, my room temperature is 70, and my heater is set to 77, within how many degrees should this heater be accurate?) but to throw a number out there, if your house isn't extremely hot or cold, and you have the correct wattage of *reliable* heater, I'd say somewhere between 1 and 3 degrees.

Yeah that sounds about right. Does your room stay 70 all the time on its own or do you turn on the heat? The heaters I’m using right now seem to be pretty darn accurate. They are Cobalt Neo-Therm’s and the box says within .5 degrees and they haven’t fluctuated outside of .3 and I’ve had them for awhile.

 

[Reeferxbetta]

It doesn't get too cold where I live, it's actually been in the 70s during most days, occasionally a day in the mid 60s to upper 50s, so usually my room stays fairly warm, my heat is set to 69 though, so my room is usually around 70-75 most of the time.