The past week I've been thinking about my three White Cloud Mountain Minnows and the temperature in the tank.
Tank is ~50 litres when full (I'd reckon about 46-48 litres as it is with the filter, heater, airstone and plants). Tank lighting is Sun-Glo 46cm 15w T8, on for 6 hours a day from 2pm to 8pm, and it has been in use since March this year. The temperature goes up to ~23.5C when the light is on. This morning it was down to 21.5-22C, and my father checked it while I was at work, reporting 21C. This is with the thermostat on the heater set to the line after the 19 mark; it actually goes something like |19| |22|, and it can be set either on the numbers, in the blank areas, or on the lines - not very intuitive! The thermostat does go above 22C, but I don't think it's of any consequence as I wouldn't be turning it up that high anyway. At the moment, this means the tank is experiencing a daily fluctuation of ~2.5C (that's if it doesn't go any lower than 21C) - is that fine for the White Cloud Mountain Minnows, seeing as their optimum range is 18-22C? Is that fine fullstop, regardless of fish species? Should I be allowing a fluctuation of this size, or a fluctuation at all?
I won't be going for an LED light, so I don't really think that I can avoid the temperature going above 22C due to the light itself. I could set the thermostat higher to minimise the fluctuation - but then the higher I set it, the closer it will be to 22C at it's minimum (the maximum optimum temperature for White Cloud Mountain Minnows).
Tank is ~50 litres when full (I'd reckon about 46-48 litres as it is with the filter, heater, airstone and plants). Tank lighting is Sun-Glo 46cm 15w T8, on for 6 hours a day from 2pm to 8pm, and it has been in use since March this year. The temperature goes up to ~23.5C when the light is on. This morning it was down to 21.5-22C, and my father checked it while I was at work, reporting 21C. This is with the thermostat on the heater set to the line after the 19 mark; it actually goes something like |19| |22|, and it can be set either on the numbers, in the blank areas, or on the lines - not very intuitive! The thermostat does go above 22C, but I don't think it's of any consequence as I wouldn't be turning it up that high anyway. At the moment, this means the tank is experiencing a daily fluctuation of ~2.5C (that's if it doesn't go any lower than 21C) - is that fine for the White Cloud Mountain Minnows, seeing as their optimum range is 18-22C? Is that fine fullstop, regardless of fish species? Should I be allowing a fluctuation of this size, or a fluctuation at all?
I won't be going for an LED light, so I don't really think that I can avoid the temperature going above 22C due to the light itself. I could set the thermostat higher to minimise the fluctuation - but then the higher I set it, the closer it will be to 22C at it's minimum (the maximum optimum temperature for White Cloud Mountain Minnows).
Hope this answers your questions.
