2-degree Temperature Swing Each Night

[JenCliBee]

Thanks all! Is 80-78 and ok temperature to keep a community tank at? Or should I come down a degree or two?

my cumminity tank sits around 84 not by choice just because of the house temp thermometer on outside of glass so not exactly accurate more that is room temp so id say around 82 in tank my fish are all happy and healthy and never had and disease problems (touch wood) lol i guess dieses dont like them temps lol

 

[Evad]

It's when you turn your tank lights off. Get a better heater, or two small heaters at each end of the tank, this should stamp out the problem.

I have two 250W heaters in there now - and should probably have 100w more total. I explained in the original thread why adding another heater could be an issue. Sounds like I am OK from the responses on this thread.

Thanks all! Is 80-78 and ok temperature to keep a community tank at? Or should I come down a degree or two?

my cumminity tank sits around 84 not by choice just because of the house temp thermometer on outside of glass so not exactly accurate more that is room temp so id say around 82 in tank my fish are all happy and healthy and never had and disease problems (touch wood) lol i guess dieses dont like them temps lol

What you say is very true. I had a friend keep all his tanks at 82 degrees for all fish types. Plants grew great and never a disease. But his fish never lived as long as mine did..... Shorter lifespan with higher temps

 

[JenCliBee]

What you say is very true. I had a friend keep all his tanks at 82 degrees for all fish types. Plants grew great and never a disease. But his fish never lived as long as mine did..... Shorter lifespan with higher temps

yes m8 i'd prob have 2 agree with the lifespan thing i cant see it shortening it 2 much overall but will possible sholten 2 some piont

only problem is i cant do a thing about it my heater is only set to 78 and obviously nevers comes on it's just a warm building hopefully winter will change it somewot but i think now i will set heater 2 around 82 in the winter so they have same temps all year round i can possibly see problems with it dropping 2 low certain times of the year beens it this sort of temp in summer mnths

jen

 

[Bignose]

i think the shock comes in to play when it just BOOM drops 2 degrees. Even in the wild it gradually gets cooler and then gradually gets warmer. now if you chucked some ice cubes in there you might have a problem i would think but the 2 degrees isnt a big deal because it is gradual as the house cools off.

Just to reply to this... Sure, in general the temperature does gradually change. But, in more places of the world, there are still the occasional cold rains that come from a storm that moves through fast and rains really hard. Streams and rivers and sometimes even lakes can double, triple or more in size in just a short amount of time. The rain is a different temperature than the body of water, most likely, and a change of 2 degrees F is very, very small. That is, it wouldn't take rain water bing a whole lot different temperature than the body of water to change the mixture's temperature by 2 degrees.

Furthermore, there are several fish in the wild that actually intentionally seek out different temperatures in their water during their day-to-day life. I've read a paper about a fish species (I do apologize, I cannot seem to find the course for it at the moment) that feeds in the depths of the lake they live in. They feed on the shrimp that live in the cool water, then, after eating, they swum to the warm part of the lake because the warmer waters allow their digestive enzymes to work significantly faster. If I recall correctly, the warmer area of the lake was a good 5 degrees C warmer than the cool area. That'd be 12 degrees F difference in a matter of minutes that the fish intentionally experiences. If temperature change was really as stressful as is often suggested, this fish shouldn't be able to stand a chance.