Do I Have 2 Have A Thing That Tells You The Temp In A Tank

[daniel_2kaii9]

hey, do i have 2 have a thing that u put on the glass of the tank that tells u the temp my pet shop is closed tomorrow so i cant get down there till next sat will that be ok ?

 

[Curiosity101]

Your heater should have a thermostat on it that sets the temp of the water.
In theory you don't 'need' a thermometer.

But the reason we have them is to make sure the heater is working correctly, as without the thermometer you wouldn't neccesarily know the heater was either too hot or too cold until it was too late.

 

[daniel_2kaii9]

shall i put the heater 2 28 ?

 

[OldMan47]

What fish are you trying to take care of Daniel? Many of them just need a temperature that is not quite as low as room temperature but can do OK at room temperature. Do not ever heat a tank until it feels warm to your hand, that is way too hot. Something that I sometimes use, when filling a bucket at the kitchen sink, is a digital meat thermometer. I bought it for use when making yogurt but find it is fairly accurate at aquarium temperatures as well.

 

[daniel_2kaii9]

What fish are you trying to take care of Daniel? Many of them just need a temperature that is not quite as low as room temperature but can do OK at room temperature. Do not ever heat a tank until it feels warm to your hand, that is way too hot. Something that I sometimes use, when filling a bucket at the kitchen sink, is a digital meat thermometer. I bought it for use when making yogurt but find it is fairly accurate at aquarium temperatures as well.

im keeping neon's tetra's molly's swordtail's cory's redtail shark platy's

 

[OldMan47]

The swordtails, platies, cories and mollies will be fine in most homes at room temperature. I have not tried neons or red tailed sharks at the lower temperatures so not sure of those. If you have no way to measure the temperature, try feeling the temperature of the tank stand and the glass of the tank. The tank glass should be just enough warmer that you are not really sure if it is warmer or not.

 

[daniel_2kaii9]

ok thanks i got a new 3ft tank its been running well it will be 24 hours tomorrow can i put the fish in tomorrow ?

 

[OldMan47]

You will not be ready for fish for about a month. I know that seems a long time but before you get any fish you will need to cycle the new filter. There is a post in the New to the Hobby section on how to do that and there is a link to the fishless cycle thread in my signature area. The essence of it is that you now have a piece of hardware that has the potential to some day become a biological filter. Until you have a biological filter in your tank, you should not add any fish. What we do is grow some bacteria on the filter to turn it into a biological filter. We feed the bacteria using pure ammonia to simulate having fish in the tank and let the filter bacteria grow to take care of the simulated biological load. Once it is processing ammonia and nitrites properly, we put in real fish in the place of the artificial ammonia source and the filter just keeps on going like it has been doing with the artificial doses of ammonia. We call the process cycling the filter or cycling the tank as a shorthand way of referring to it.

 

[zuulan]

ok thanks i got a new 3ft tank its been running well it will be 24 hours tomorrow can i put the fish in tomorrow ?

No not tomorrow. You need to cycle it first.

Also set your heater to anywhere between 24 and 26 degrees C and yes you should get a thermometer. They only cost a couple of quid and will in invaluable. Room temperature is ok if you live in a hot country but most homes in the UK will be to cold overnight and when the house is left empty. A heater will also keep the temperature constant.

 

[Bignose]

Very often the setting on the heater seems to have very little with what the actual temperature of the tank is. The heater settings are usually relative, not absolute. I.e. if you want the tank warmer, you turn up the heater; if you want cooler, turn down. But, every heater I've ever had has never been within more than about 5 degrees F in terms of what the thermometer read versus the setting the heater is on. Quite simply, the heaters are made cheaply and aren't designed and tested for very accurate temperature control compared to their settings. The manufacturer assumes that you will have a thermometer and adjust the heater settings in response the the temperature the thermometer reads.

 

[fluvial]

Very often the setting on the heater seems to have very little with what the actual temperature of the tank is. The heater settings are usually relative, not absolute. I.e. if you want the tank warmer, you turn up the heater; if you want cooler, turn down. But, every heater I've ever had has never been within more than about 5 degrees F in terms of what the thermometer read versus the setting the heater is on. Quite simply, the heaters are made cheaply and aren't designed and tested for very accurate temperature control compared to their settings. The manufacturer assumes that you will have a thermometer and adjust the heater settings in response the the temperature the thermometer reads.

I second that - my heater is set at 28C, which gives a reading of 24C on the thermometer.
Without a thermometer on the tank I wouldn't have a clue what the water temp is.
In fact I have two - one inside the tank, and one placed on the glass on the outside -
and I check them both several times a day !

 

[daniel_2kaii9]

the pet shop said a few weeks ago when i bought fish have your tank been running for 24 hours and i said yeah and she sold me the fish

 

[Schmill]

Hang on...

Above you said that your tank ahs only been running for 'almost' 24hrs, now you are saying that you went and bought the fish a few weeks ago?

Either way, don't listen to the staff at the shop, they just want to sell you fish, (that is how they make their money after all!), do as above and cycle your filter first.

 

[thefubar]

Very often the setting on the heater seems to have very little with what the actual temperature of the tank is. ... adjust the heater settings in response the the temperature the thermometer reads.

I second that - my heater is set at 28C, which gives a reading of 24C on the thermometer.
Without a thermometer on the tank I wouldn't have a clue what the water temp is.
In fact I have two - one inside the tank, and one placed on the glass on the outside -
and I check them both several times a day !

Do you deduce that it is the £1 thermometer or the £30 heater which is incorrect in reading the temperature of the tank?

I found that my "cheap and cheerful" heater (cost me less than £8 i think!) was alot more unpredictable than the £30 version i picked up that works as my filter outlet. Thermometer wise i keep meaning to pick one up that includes an alarm which triggers outside of a defined range, which strikes me as useful.

Sometimes a heater can overheat sometime it can underheat. Both are dangerous to fish.

Hang on...

Above you said that your tank ahs only been running for 'almost' 24hrs, now you are saying that you went and bought the fish a few weeks ago?

Either way, don't listen to the staff at the shop, they just want to sell you fish, (that is how they make their money after all!), do as above and cycle your filter first.

A stocking list from his profile>>>

[font="arial][size="2"]3ft tank - 2 balloon molly's 2 albino corydoras 1 panda corydora 4 swordtail's 2 guppy's 1 albino red tail shark 3 neons 4 glow light tetra's 2 sailfin mollys 1 lyra-tailed molly 2 platy's 2 daino's

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Which is quite a collection inside 24 hours

. I'm thinking there is probably a few pieces of detail which will make all this fall into place. Hopefully Daniel will share with us when he's home from skool.

 

[Bignose]

Do you deduce that it is the £1 thermometer or the £30 heater which is incorrect in reading the temperature of the tank?

Actually, I do more strongly suspect that it is the heater. Simply because it is much, much easier to make an accurate thermometer than an accurate heater. The properties of the alcohol mixture in the thermometer is very, very well known and it is only a few variables in the manufacture -- get the correct volume in the tube, and get the tube aligned correctly to the markings. To make a heater, the electrical resistance of the heating element has to be exactly right, the thermal resistance of the sheath material has to be exactly right, the on-off switch has to be calibrated right, the knob has to be lined up. Considering how cheaply they do make these heaters, there is no way that the quality control is very tight on these. I could very well be wrong, but that is my suspicion.