how bad is it that my water temp is 66 and won't warm up?

[tank-challenged]

I add hot water during the water replacement, but the temperature settles back every time to mid-60's. the fish store told me to keep it in the range of 70-80. i put a lamp next to tank, there is a hanging light over it too... but it just doesn't get warmer. i've had the fish for several months -- and they seem FINE. do i have to do anything?

 

[lovemybarbs]

What type of fish do you have?

 

[Jchillin]

Size of tank?

Sounds like you need a heater.

 

[TomK2]

Uh-oh. I think you have problems. If you are keeping cooler water species (goldfish?) then your tank of 66 degrees may be OK, but periodically pumping up the temp during water changes is likely causing too rapid of a temp shift. If the temp in the 60's is good for your fish, then strive to minimize temp swings with water changes. If the temp is too low for your fish (that is too low for most tropical fish), then you need a new heater to keep the temp higher and stable.

 

[IceH2O]

Adding hot water??? You trying to poach some fish?

You need to splurge and buy a heater or 2 depending on tank size.

Think the going rate is 5 watts of heater per gallon. I'd look into a submersible. I have the Marineland® Visi-Therm® Stealth Submersible Aquarium Heaters and it works great. Even automatically shuts off if the water gets below a certain line. Though i haven't tested that, I shut mine off when doing pwcs.

 

[tank-challenged]

i have 3 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank....

so are goldfish okay at that temp?

 

[Jchillin]

Post Subject: i have 3 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank....

Thanks for adding that information to the subject. That is fine for most goldfish. Room temperature is always the way to go. You don't need heater unless your room temps fall below 60F. When you do water changes, you need to match the water temp in the tank. You can do this with a thermometer.

 

[7Enigma]

Having all that light to replace a heater is not the best way IMO to go about things. If you need a heater, you can get a cheap one for a 10gallon tank (50watt model) for under $20. It will let you set the temp of the tank to whatever you need and not have to worry about trying to keep the heat up with the lights. All that light might also cause algae problems that will be a pain to get rid of.

If the house never gets below 60F, you don't need the heater, but don't keep so much light on the tank or your risking a big algae outbreak, ESPECIALLY since you have 3 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank. They are very messy fish.

 

[TomK2]

My wife is the Goldie expert for me, she says 65 degrees is optimal for Goldies. Most of us have no heaters in the tank, so the tank is at room temp. That means a tank temp in the low 70's for us, because I refused to consider a chiller and my wife refuses to lower the thermostat!

Like JC said, try to match tank temp when doing water changes, don't worry about raising or lowering it if you are keeping Goldfish.

A 10 gal tank does not provide enough room for the goldfish to grow. If I remember correctly, the Goldie sites recomended something like 10 to 20 gals per goldfish. We have limited our 55 gal tank to just 3 to 5 goldies at a time. But I have used a 10 gal QT for short periods of time to house 3 small goldfish temporarily.