Mister, You're in Cold Water!

[noteworthy]

Well I just came home from work to check in on my 29 gallon tank and it's two inhabitants. I look at the temp gauge and it shows 68F! This is submersible heater that was part of a kit for 15-30 gallon tanks. It has been keeping the temp around 76 until today when we got a cold front. I have it turned all the way up right now just to get it to turn on and heat up the aquarium. Should I just throw out this new heater and get a bigger one? I have a new 330 GPH pump installed with dual filters so I don't think the problem is circulation.


Update- I've added 4 new platties to my 5 1/2 Gal QT tank. They ate 5 minutes after plopping them in the tank. I set the bag in the water for about 10 minutes.. then every 4 minutes I added a cup of water over a 16 minute period.

I just poured water out of my 30 gallon to top off the QT to the brim and used an older cartridge with bacterial and alge growth to help superstart the tank. I'll definately have to check ammonia levels in the QT frequently.

In two weeks I'll have 6 fishies in my new tank

Woohoo

 

[TankGirl]

I like to keep two heaters in my tanks, one on each end. I like Ebo-Jagers for reliability, as well as Visitherms. Big Al's has very good prices on the Visitherms, less than half what you pay at my LFS, even with shipping! You might be okay with two 50w heaters (or 2 75w if you typically have cold winters to deal with).

 

[noteworthy]

Thanks TankGirl

I'll look into adding another heater


Side-Note:
One of my platies in quarantine had about 10 babies a few minutes ago.
All of them were ate in a matter of seconds tho.

 

[TankGirl]

Well, congratulations, I guess! :?

It may be for the best, in that small of a tank. They will need plenty of cover to survive, but once they are out of Q you will find yourself with more platies than you know what to do with!

Oh, and BTW, be sure and watch that the temperature goes back up very slowly, as temp changes are extremely stressful for the fish.

 

[Christmasfish]

Boy, your luck with tanmks is like my luck with fish..

So you finally got those incredible ammonia spikes under wraps eh?

And more platies to replace the 2 that croaked. Fhwee! the fun part starts soon!

 

[noteworthy]

the two fish in the 29 are still alive and well...

the four I bought are still alive as well in the QT tank... well not in the QT anymore

Actually I came home not long ago and my cats rammed the wooden door into my QT tank and it shattered the front.. and 4 gallons of water spewed out and about 1 gallon was left and all four fish were in the back corner of the QT tank. I came home just in time to rescue them and put them in my wife's 10 gallon tank and they all seem to be doing well.


As for the ammonia problem in the 29.. I tried another test kit.. it shows the ammonia is at acceptable levels... I guess chloromine and chlorine do not affect this test. the other test is affected by any chloromine/chlorine in the water.

I have been doing every other day 25% water changes...

I'm thinking about adding red-eyed tetras in about a month... they are solid silver with a black vertical stripe across where the fin connects to the main body... 5-6 should be enough of those

 

[TankGirl]

Them some rammin' cats!! They don't know their own strength, I guess... Yikes! Good thing you came along when you did.

Some dechlorinators will give you false high ammonia readings, so that might have something to do with it. Check the label, it will indicate whether you should use Nessler or salicylate ammonia tests.

 

[noteworthy]

Anyway,

Back to the heater issue... a single 50w should be enough for a 10 gallon shouldn't it? it was also down around 68.. now it's around 72

 

[TankGirl]

A 50 for a 10 is exactly at the 5 watts per gallon rule, and I have done fine with that setup. For small tanks like that it is a waste of space to invest in 2 heaters.