Water creeped up to 85 Degrees

[mikeybabs]

I'm using a 200 watt elite heater:

Amazon.com: ELITE SUBMERSBLE HEATER 200W 24: Kitchen & Dining

and it's set at 76 however the water creeped up to 85.5 degrees and has probably been there for awhile since i've just noticed it

i lowered it to 72 in hopes that it will keep the temp at a steady 80 degrees...

could this cause any harm on the red devil cichlid that i have in my 54 gallon tank?

i'm guessing this temp has been like this since i got him 12 days ago

i had to put a second thermometer in the tank to confirm the tank...

im guessing this could have caused the aggression issue when he would bite me

thanks guys

[HUKIT]

No wonder he tried to bite you he thought you were trying to cook him! He will be fine. Alot of people use high heat for ick treatment so no worries but keep a eye on that heater and maybe look at buying a new one if the temp won't keep steady.

[Tim Wheatley]

At this time of year with the changing weather and the heat or cool in our apartment it's not uncommon for my tanks to get up to 82-83 before I notice and usually just remove some of the plastic strips from the back of the lid. It causes a bit more evaporation bit it lets the heat out too. If you don't have jumping fish maybe you could open a lid to let some heat out? I wouldn't ever really advise dropping the heater setting as now if you have a few cold days and your air temp drops, you'll have 72 degree water, not 80.

[mikeybabs]

Originally Posted by Tim Wheatley

At this time of year with the changing weather and the heat or cool in our apartment it's not uncommon for my tanks to get up to 82-83 before I notice and usually just remove some of the plastic strips from the back of the lid. It causes a bit more evaporation bit it lets the heat out too. If you don't have jumping fish maybe you could open a lid to let some heat out? I wouldn't ever really advise dropping the heater setting as now if you have a few cold days and your air temp drops, you'll have 72 degree water, not 80.

ok how does this method sound... i slowly adjusted the heater downwards until the "ON" light went off, and then slowly adjusted it back upwards until the "ON" light went back "ON" and then i put it slightly under that so that it went back "OFF" and currently the temperature is about 82 (on the seperate 2 thermometers that i'm keeping, not the heater)... so wouldn't that conclude that i used the heaters thermostat to set the temp since it is programmed to go on and off at a certain temp? and what i did was turn it to go "OFF" right at 82 degrees temp (which happened to land on the thermostats 72 mark)...

does this sound like good reasoning? so now all i have to do is monitor that the water doesn't go up to 85 and below 80? To me, it seems that the heater was going "ON" even when the current water temperature was in the 80s, so I think the temp indications on the heater are a little off... I bought this heater brand new, so im not sure why that is, but let me know what you think about this... I feel that if I keep it at 72 on the heaters thermostat it will keep the water between 76-80... since keeping it at 76 on the heaters thermostat kept it at a consistant 80-85....

thanks

[Tim Wheatley]

The heater keeps a tank at a minimum temp. If you want to, set the heater to the minimum temp you'd want, maybe 76? A heater working correctly then would have no part in a tank being 80+, the air temp in your home, the heat from the lights, etc, would. If you do what you are saying, and your tank is 82, you're then setting the heater to 81 if you leave it right where the light turns off, and the MINIMUM of your tank is then 81.

[jetajockey]

My discus tank is always at 85 degrees, it'll be ok

I've not used that particular brand heater, my favorite is jager.

[mikeybabs]

Originally Posted by Tim Wheatley

The heater keeps a tank at a minimum temp. If you want to, set the heater to the minimum temp you'd want, maybe 76? A heater working correctly then would have no part in a tank being 80+, the air temp in your home, the heat from the lights, etc, would. If you do what you are saying, and your tank is 82, you're then setting the heater to 81 if you leave it right where the light turns off, and the MINIMUM of your tank is then 81.

My theory is that the heaters thermostat setting is over compensating... When the water was 82 degrees I would adjust it off and the light would turn off at the 72 degree reading on the thermostat... Which leads me to believe what you're saying (that if I leave it at 72 it will maintain 80-81 which is my goal...furthermore if I leave it at 68 my theory is it will keep the water approximately 76...) I feel like this could be a common problem with heaters? Thanks for the reply. Also I agree on the outside factors contributing as it was a hot day however my light was off for at least 8 hours before I took the temp reading at night.

[Tim Wheatley]

Ok, as long as it isn't the temperature reading wrongly and is the thermostat outputting incorrectly...