Heater

[Guest]

We have one heater for our 75 gallon tank, but it's about 2-3 years old and it hasn't been kicking on as much as it used to. As a result... the heat has been jumping around from 72 to 79 or so throughout the day.

First question- I'm pretty sure, but are these heat changes throughout the day really stressing our fish out? Everything else in the fish tank is perfect, beside our clown having ICH.

Second question- We're thinking about replacing the larger heater for 2 new lower power heaters, so the tank is more evenly heated. We have a really long and thin tank with a bowed front, so I think this might be a better idea. What do you think?

My boyfriend and his sister went out and bought some new live rock yesterday. They also couldn't resist buying a mimic tang. *sigh* Our tank is cycled, but we're treating it with that KICK ICH stuff, so I don't know if that was a good idea. We did however get out all our little blue devils really easily with a fish trap. I think that alone removed a lot of stress.

Thanks!
Mango

 

[roka64]

That is a huge jump. I have read, 2degrees is tolerable.
I have two titanium heaters in each of my tanks. I clicked on the link, on this site, for premium aquatics and purchased the Finnex titanium digital heaters. I have only had them for a few months and are working great.

 

[Guest]

His sister is going out to buy 2 new heaters today, I think. Plus his brother-in-law might go buy another cleaner shrimp.

 

[hc8719]

just my opinion, but 2 heaters wont evenly heat the tank, as much as they might mess each other off.

if you have a well circulated tank (you should, it being SW needs heavy circulation) then one heater works fine, considering all parts of the tank are being moved around

 

[roka64]

but 2 heaters wont evenly heat the tank, as much as they might mess each other off.

I have to disagree. I do have two heaters and they don't always run at the same time. My temp stays the same in all parts, JME. I also have two, in the event one fails.

 

[Guest]

That's another reason why she wanted to get 2 heaters... just in case one shorts out or whatever.

 

[melosu58]

The temp difference is a big stress factor. The degrees going from 72 to 79 is too much. This does explain why your clown does have ick. One of the biggest things in dealing with ick is never add anything to the tank while you have this parasite in there. It`s up to you to inform others so they dont wreck your tank. You definitely dont want to add a tang during this time of disease and equipement malfunction.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

but 2 heaters wont evenly heat the tank, as much as they might mess each other off.

I have to disagree. I do have two heaters and they don't always run at the same time. My temp stays the same in all parts, JME. I also have two, in the event one fails.

My experience also. I'm of the "have two heaters so if one sticks on you don't fry the tank" opinion. Having two heaters does require a couple days of paying attention to water temps, keeping track of which one is on and when, and adjusting as necessary. But once they're dialed in, everythings works fine.

I think your first and foremost concern though is putting livestock in a tank with ich. Even if KickIch works miracles and cures everything, it won't happen overnight - and that Tang will get ich. In addition, adding livestock will just stress out the remaining inhabitants even more making their recovery that much harder.

 

[roka64]

I bought two Finnex Heatershttp://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...duct_Code=FI-HMD-150&Category_Code=Finnexheat. they are digital and shows the temp of the tank, weather it is on or off.

 

[lando]

I have two Marinland 100watt heaters in my sump and temp stays steady at 80-81. Having two is a good practice if one where to fail.

 

[alaher2]

Defintely don't mix the shrimp or the live rock with the Kick Ick, otherwise it could kill the live rock and/or any other inverts there are in the tank. It would be a great idea to start a QT tank to deal with your sick fish and especially the tang since they are prone to parasites.