My big mistake...

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, I made a mistake yesterday, and glad I didn't lose my GBR's. I did a PWC on the tank, and unplugged the heater so it wouldn't explode when the water was lowered. Well, after I finished, I forgot to plug it back in. Today I found the temp was 56 degrees. At first I though, the heater failed. Then I noticed it was unplugged. Oops.... I plugged it back in and thought that it being a 50W heater, it wouldn't heat the water too fast. It heated it a couple degrees every hour or 2. Now it's up to 77 degrees, and the GBR's are still doing just fine. They were just a little slower when it was cold. But now they are back to their normal routine.....

 

[joannde]

56 !!! how did YOU live in that temp ??

 

[rich311k]

Got my fingers crossed for your fish, Wolf. You might want to turn the house thermostat a touch over 60 or are you saving money for another tank?

 

[blazeyreef]

56...thats cold for fishies, hot for me LOL I have to have my heaters set higher cause I like the house COLD!

 

[Fishyfanatic]

It's good to know that we aren't the only ones that don't use the heater until it is absolutely necessary. Ie: frostbite.

 

[An t-iasg]

Sorry, LWB, I hope the fish are ok!

What kind of heater do you have - a glass one? Get a Visitherm Stealth if you can. They are plastic and they don't have to be unplugged during a water change. The package says they detect the water level and when it's low, the heater turns itself off. I have noticed that my heaters do sometimes still feel warm when I do a water change and they are exposed to air. Since the heater is plastic, there's no harm of hurting anything, and the fact that it is exposed while on sometimes doesn't seem to hurt it.

I got one Visitherm Stealth and liked it so much that I soon got them for the other tanks too.

 

[maxwell1295]

I did that too but my temp only dropped down to between 71* and 75*. Just plugged it back in a little while ago...

 

[Lonewolfblue]

The fish are doing great. I have the tank back to 80 degrees. It's quite cool outside, and inside it's pretty cool. Last night was the first time I turned my gas heat on. I leave it off during the day, as the heat from the tank lights keeps everything fairly nice.

 

[tropicfishman]

dang you got lucky, wish I had that kinda luck, yesterday I pulled a back muscle and this morning I'm starting to come down with a cold