tank heat loss at night

[Sahabo]

Advice for a newbie!

I have a 5.5 gallon, filtered, heated glass tank with a hood. I keep the temp at about 80 degrees for my betta. The problem is that we turn our heat down at night to about 62. Now, I thought that the hood and the heater would keep the temperature steady. But every morning I wake up and the tank thermometer says that the temp is down about 2-4 degrees. Is the tank losing heat through the glass or the small cutouts on the back of the hood? Is there some kind of insulation I can put on the outside of the tank to keep the temp stable? I have also thought about getting some adhesive background for the outside of the tank...would that help insulate the tank? Also thought about styrofoam or that reflectix stuff.

Looking forward to hearing what has worked for you!

[rich311k]

Is the light on during the day? The heater should keep the temp steady. I would bet the lights are warming it during the day.

[fijiwigi]

I keep my house temp at a steady 76 degrees constant helps for my betta tank that doesn't have a heater. Plus my wife likes to Roast since she was raised in California. I usually have to go outside if I want to cool off, Much easier than fighting with the wife.

The heater for your 5.5 gallon should keep the tank warm no matter what unless its set wrong or defective. What kind of heater is it?

[Sahabo]

My heater is a Visi-therm stealth 25 watt. I have the hood light on during the day and off at night, about 12 hours on, 12 hours off. Any we have to turn the heat down at night to save money and to keep my husband sane and able to sleep

Maybe the heater isn't working well? It's only a week old. I have a cheapo liquid crystal thermometer on the outside of the tank, and it usually says that the temp is about 2 degrees lower than what I set on the heater.

[fijiwigi]

Originally Posted by Sahabo

Any we have to turn the heat down at night to save money and to keep my husband sane and able to sleep
liquid crystal thermometer on the outside of the tank.

I wish my wife was so nice LOL
I would suggest buying a floating glass thermomoter they are much more accurate I have a stick on as well that reads 78 when my floating glass thermomoter reads about 81 The Visi-Therm heaters have a really good reputation for quality so I would try a new thermomoter first.

[rich311k]

Try not turning the light on for a day and see if the temp holds steady. If it does then just up the heater a bit and all should be well.

[Purrbox]

The temp settings on the heaters are guesstimates only. They get you in the ballpark, but you may need to adjust up or down as necessary.

[Sahabo]

hmmm. well, I will definitely pick up a floating thermometer to see if that helps get a more accurate reading. I'll also try keeping the light off to see if the temp stays stable.

Regular routine:
I set the heater for 80. Turn the hood light on at about 8am. When I get home at 5:30, the liquid crystal therm reads 78. Before bed, I turn the hood light off, we turn the house temp down to 62. When I get up, the therm reads about 76. We turn the houst temp up to 70, I turn the hood light back on, and by the time I get home again at 5:30, the water temp is back up to 78. It hasn't reached 80 yet.

Even if I adjust the heater a bit so gets to 80 during the day, I'm still concerned that it's going to drop at night when we turn the house temp down. Do I have to turn the tank heater up every night to compensate? A lot of people say that glass tanks don't hold heat well and that's why I was considering insulation. But it's such a small tank, I think it should hold its heat!

[Purrbox]

Actually small tanks loose heat faster. Higher aquarium surface volume to total water volume ratio. Makes it easier for the heat to escape quickly.

[Courtney8526]

It might be that your heater is kicking off at 76 degrees. Maybe if you set it a little higher, it might stay at 78 over night. The setting on my heater is more than the actual temperature of the tank.