high water temps.

[wxboilermaker]

My tank is experienceing what I consider unusually high water temps. It stays at a near constant 83 degrees. I am running a heater, but it's set down near 75. Should I worry about this?

[mitche8359]

Does the heater stay on? Could be the thermostat going out in the heater. I've read where sometimes the thermostat goes out and the heater doesn't shut off. Gets the water hot! I've never had it happen to me. When my heaters go out, they just stop working. You might want to watch the heater and see if the unit ever goes off. The heaters that I've had have never been accurate with the temperature indicator. I just bought an older model Visi Therm at the lfs. It's off by about three degrees but holds the temperature steady.

[wxboilermaker]

The heater I have is an inline heater and it doesn't keep coming on. I've had it unplugged for a day to make sure it wasn't the problem and it better not be since it is brand new. BUt right now the temp has risen to nearly 85 degrees. Should I be trying to cool this off with ice?

[tropicalman]

Assuming that you have a tropical tank, 85º is not hot enough to worry about. What is the room temperature? I would just set the heater to about 78º so that temps do not get any lower that that. If you use incandescent lights, switch to florescent and only keep them on when you need to view the fish. If the temps got above 90º then you could begin to be concerned.

[wxboilermaker]

i'm using flourescent lighting and the room temp is warm, but still only about 75 degrees. I looked for a heat source, but there is no direct sunlight. Only thing I can think of is the canister filter overheating or my thermo is wrong. The temp has steadily rose through the day and is now sitting at 85.5

[oscarbreeder]

Id pick up a new thermometer and see if that is the problem.

[glasstapper]

unplug the t stat /heater for a few hours 3-4 see if the temp drops, don't forget you may have a faulty temp gauge

[tropicalman]

I agree there seems to be something wrong. You cold just take your thermometer out of the tank and see if it registers the correct room temp. If it seems OK then do as as glasstapper says. I always use two thermometers anyway just in case the heater malfunctions.