Heater Thermostat

Hi everybody new person in the Tank

I have just started up keeping a tank again been 30 odd years ago when I had the last one!

I have just bought a 110 Ltr tank  and I have had it running several weeks with no fish while it sorts itself out.

One thing I have noticed is the tank thermostat (external digital change color stick on the tank type) reads 78-80 ? it doesnt matter if I turn the stat up or down on the heater it just wont go down to 76.

The heater/thermostat is brand new, it doesnt seem to be faulty it switches off and on ok. (set at 76)

Does anybody know where I can buy just a stat  that I can install in line with the main heater as as a back up to stop over heating.

Do these stick on thermometers wear out of go faulty?

 I'm young and work in clesiuis so bear with me

76F is 24 C and 78 F is 26 C, i think!

You have to remember that the water in your tank is affected by the ambient temperature of it's surroundings as well as other things like heating etc. My front room is about 21 degrees so with no other sources of heat the tank temp will eventually settle at 21 C (probably over 2 or 3 days). However i've also got tons of lighting on the tank which means that even without the heater on the tank temp will not drop below 26 C.

So if your room is warm, you've got lots of lights or the tank is sat near a radiator that is on you will never get the temp below 78.

Does that make sense?

The strip thermometers aren't that accurate so to check you could buy an internal glass thermometer - only cost a couple of quid and very accurate - or go digital at a bit more cost.

I bought a digital thermometer one from my LFS for just under a £10. Very good and much better than the poxy stick on strip I bought.

Thanks for the input, It must be down to the room temp thats keeping it high.

My problem now is how I get it down to a safe level, as 77F seems to be the best temperature for an aquarium?

 At present with tank lights (min recommendation for plant and fish 10 hrs) on at midday according to strip themometer its 80-82

So  Will + 5 degs be asking for problems with the fish?

Or how do I cool it down without turning the lights off, is there some sort of water cooling system or am I just getting a bit paranoid about it

 Depends on the fish - my aquarium sits at 28.5C (is that 83F) - no problems (touch wood).

77F is the suggested figure because most tropical fish are happy at that but some fish prefer it warmer (85F) and some cooler (74F). The warmer the water the less dissolved oxygen so fish from fast flowing streams would suffer as they are used to higher oxygen levels etc.

What fish have you got in there?

......and yes I reckon your being a little bit paranoid about it! but it's better to ask and be sure than not ask and have your fish suffer.

Welcome to the forum by the way - most rude of me not to say that before

Well at present I have only a few in the tank just to get the filters up to scratch 5 tetras and a couple of Albino cats (no I dont know their proper names yet)

Tank temp has topped out at 82' so they should be ok?

I have installed a 4" air stone just to keep them happy, that will be up and running as soon as the pump arrives.

Tank has 50/50 plastic and real plants.

At present I need to read up a bit on what are fairly hardy communial fish to get the tank matured, me included before I start thinking about special species.

I must admit I get rather confused when it comes to co2 in the water and oxygen.

From what I have read Its a good thing to have plenty of oxygen in the water for your fish and plants.

So you have a carbon filter and live plants to take out the co2 in the water, and an air stone to put more oxygen in the water for your fish.

However apparently Its also a  good thing to have C02 in the water for your plants, and you can buy a gadget that puts CO2 in the water,

Not sure the fish would like that ?

For your fish it must be like hayfever cant breath but a lovely garden.

just whats best balance?

As long as you dont add to much CO2 there is no problem. It's a balance. With lots of plants they will aerate the water during the day when they take in CO2 and throw out O2.

If your adding CO2 then it doesn't make sense to agitate the water as this is counter productive. You need High levels of lighting for the added CO2 to have any effect on the plants anyway.

 I wouldn't worry too much about CO2 if your not going for a heavily planted tank. If you do want to go for a heavily planted tank let us know and we can go into more detail on lighitng levels/CO2/nutrients etc. Need to get rid of the rubbish plastic plants though - the devils work them

Eeek! this is getting more complex by the second

There I was thinking it would be nice to get back into running a Tropical tank again?

"more details on lighting levels"!!!!

"wimper"

Im going to have a sit down now and a valium

Plastic plants will go but for the moment they are giving some shelter until the real ones get going.

those themometers are no very accurate and dont forget the water in the tank will only adjust gradually, i unplugged my heater by mistake ( or forgot to plug it back in) and it was three days before my thermometers budged, so the water around the heater may be cooler but it takes a while for that the affect the whole tank. di

forgot to say welcome "rat" richy will be telling me off AGAIN, di

Thank you Di,

I left the window ajar overnight and the temp had dropped a Little but not enough?

So as a temporary measure I bought a pair of cheap and cheerful stick on thermometers both show tank temp a steady 77/78 so the old one has been binned.

I have indulged in Digital thermometer with various temperature alarms on it, also has reminder alarms to clean tank and other things., wonder if it makes tea too?

Will see when it arrives.

Sound cool rat, lets hope it measures the temperature it seems to do everything else, i have two digital thermometers and one of those glass ones with a sucker you stick onto the glass, to be honest they are just as good  ( i had three tanks by the way), just incase you thought i had those all in one tank, were not all completely mad on here, just everyone else. di

  rat

Firstly remember KISS......keep it simple

Fishkeeping compared to your 30 odd years ago has changed a lot and no doubt appears complicated and techie.

But it really doesn't need to be complicated and can be low tech very successfully

I agree with all that's been said so far

The usual temp range for most community fish is 24 to 27. I keep ours set at 26. Indeed that is changable during the summer. When it gets very hot the temp can and likely will reach 30. Even a bit higher. Some things you can do to reduce the temp when this happens is to put some small bottles of frozen water in the tank. Direct a fan at the tank glass. Leave the top open. Turn the lights off. Cool the room temp with open doors fans etc. Close the curtains. Anything you would normally do to cool the room down for yourself really

Part of the treatment for whitespot includes raising the temp to 30.

Don't worry about CO2 at this stage. Yes all plants need it but lots of real plants do fine without added CO2 and when starting out the key is to have lots of fast growing plants that require simple care

Carbon is not necessary. It is useful for removing last traces of medication, but will also remove other things from the water including added plant fertilisers. When it is used it must be changed every few weeks as it will leach nasties back into the water.Some people us it to 'polish' the water and keep it clear, but filter wool/floss does the same thing very effectively with no adverse effects

LOL Dave plastic plants are the work of the devil......totally my thoughts but we will get told off by my stingray etc al LOL

Not only do real plants look good (we hope!), they contribute towards the condition of the water ie take up excess nutrients like nitrAte and ammonia/ammonium. Provide hiding places for fish etc But as said, it is possible to have a nice planted set up without the addition of CO2 and high lighting.

To be honest, I'd concentrate more on the fact that you have added fish to an uncycled tank. You'll need to keep a check on the levels of ammonia and nitrIte as both are toxic to fish and can kill them. Both need to be nil so you'll need to do regular small water changes to keep the levels down. The very best way to cycle a tank is to do it with no fish. Have a read at the fishless cycling guide at the top of the tropical setup section.

Hope I haven't sent you to the valium bottle again LOL

Just keep asking for advice when you aren't sure and we'll try to help you all we can

Good luck

I set the tank up around 14 days ago added Aquasafe water treatment, also Filter starter.

The tank did go a bit cloudy for a few days but then cleared.

I have only just added a few fish too it for the time being.

I have a Master test kit arriving soon so I will be able to test for nasties. Thats assuming I can understand it

Does anybody know about these master test kits, do they have the necessary treatments if something is out of balance, or do you have to buy those separately?

I would like to thank everybody for all the information that has been submitted, saved me a lot of time going back and forth to the local pet shop asking a lot of questions which I might not have got an answer too.

Rat

 Hi Rat,

Sorry I sent you to the valium!

As others have said this hobby can be as simple or as difficult as you'd like to make it. If you've been out of the game a while I would take it easy and not worry about adding CO2 etc at this stage - lets get the tank up and running first eh!

I know lots of people on here use the master test kits, so someone should be able to answer your questions. They don't generally come with treatments as far as I am aware just tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH and sometimes KH and GH (water hardness).

As lilac said if you didn't cycle the tank first before adding the fish then it will be cycling now. This is the process that a new tank goes through to 'build up' friendly bacteria that break down ammonia and nitrite  into nitrate. The first two are bad for your fish and they will kill them, you need to get these levels to zero. As you've already added fish don't be surprised if you lose a couple, I would do some small water changes (10%) every day to help the fish through the cycling process - this usually takes 4-6 weeks BUT with fish and the small changes you need to do it is likely to take longer than this.

Your local fish shop (LFS) should have told you all this!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've just realised that your on the IOW - where abouts and which LFS do you use - my parents live in Cowes.

and remember keep asking questions - we don't mind - the only dumb question is the one you don't ask!