Why is my water temp so high ?

I have always set my heater to around 76-78f, however I decided to use an old sticker therm I had (when I say old I mean like 10 years) and stick it on the wall of my tank. It said the water temp was 84f

I decided to go to the store today and buy a $3 glass therm that goes into the tank. Its been in there for about 30 minutes now and the temp says 84f.


How come my tank is so warm ? If its actually 84f, then how come the heater comes on every like 30-40m for a few minutes. Its set on 76f so if its 84f.. then something isn't right. I turned the heater down to 72f just now and I'm going to see if the thermometer goes down also..

What should I trust ? The heater in my tank or the sticker thermometer and the glass one which both say 84. The tank is in my room upstairs in the house, and its summer so my room does get warm, however right now its nice and cool in my room.

I know this pic is blurry but I can't focus the camera on small objets like this.. However does this look like its 84 ? Or is it 74f. I hate when the 60-80-100 ect numbers are always above the lines it make it seem like the top line is 80 and the bottom is 60 and not the other way around..

 

I would trust the non-stick on thermometer. Both thermometers as well as heaters are not built to "lab" standards. Not for $3. Lol. Perhapse turn the heater off??

 

I have 2 thermometers (one is a glass and the other is the digital kind with the probe). I have them at different parts of the tank. They tend to be consistent with each other, but not the heater. I set the heater at 76 and it heats to almost 80. If I want it to heat to 76, I have to set it lower.

 

I set my heater to 72 and the temp hasnt changed from 84f. I'm starting to think it might be because the ambient temp in my room is probably around 80F all the time due to it being upstairs.

I just unplugged my heater all together and I will keep an eye on the temp. What weird is all my fish seem to be doing fine, even the neon barbs which so they say like temps in the low 70's.

Does anyone know if there is some kind of "chiller" to cool the water down you know like the oposite of a heater ? The ones I see on google are like $200 lol. I was wondering if some kind of peltier that you would use to chill a computer's cpu would work to cool the water down... Mm

 

It does sound like it could be the ambient temp causing the hot water, but then your heater wouldn't be coming on (unless it's not really telling what temp the water is as well as it should). I think unplugging the heater was a good move.

There are chillers, but they're quite expensive, as you've found out. Also, they're generally used for animals that need their water kept cooler than tropical fish do, so I'm not sure how high you can set their temps. If the heat wave continues in your tank, you could always lift the lid (provided you don't have jumping fish), and/or aI'm a fan at the water. Evaporation cools water down. I have cool water salamanders in unlidded tanks, and the fans I've got running cool the temp 5 degrees below the ambient lid-free temp of the tank. If you do have jumping fish, you could always switch to a screen lid for a little while and run a fan on the tank.

 

Yea my Golden neon barbs are said to jump. Only fans I have that aren't noisy are computer fans, but then Pc on 24/7 more heat..

I unplugged the heater all together and it didnt change the temp. Unplugged the air pump, and the powerhead. Temps actualy went up. maybe because the water wasn't circulating very well anymore..

 

Ya you should keep the filtration and air pump on, water circulation will help lower the temp. You could also put a water bottle in the freezer and then when it is frozen, put it in the tank.

Try typing in the search bar "ways to cool tank" and see what else comes up

 

I have this problem with my smaller tanks as I do not have AC and my house can get quite hot when the temps go over 100 (normal summer high).

Things that help are:
*Leave the lights off if you do not have plants
*Keep the power head running to churn the surface as much as possible
*Add extra air stones to ensure the water remains oxygenated and to help release some of the heat
*Add a fan to cause additional surface agitation
*Do a small water change with slightly cooler water

No matter what you do, keep a close eye on your fish. Many species are able to tolerate high temperatures for short periods of time.

 

I have this problem with my smaller tanks as I do not have AC and my house can get quite hot when the temps go over 100 (normal summer high).

Things that help are:
*Leave the lights off if you do not have plants
*Keep the power head running to churn the surface as much as possible
*Add extra air stones to ensure the water remains oxygenated and to help release some of the heat
*Add a fan to cause additional surface agitation
*Do a small water change with slightly cooler water

No matter what you do, keep a close eye on your fish. Many species are able to tolerate high temperatures for short periods of time.

I'm starting to wonder if this is why my platy's all died 1 by 1 the last few months.. Cause my water was perfect and they had no visible problems outside... Other then those fish the neons, tetra's ect are all fine