Tank Temp & Fishy Behaviour

[Little_Nemo]

Tank temp keeps fluctuating, risen to near enough 26'C last night (coming out of the green zone on thermometer), so turned it down this morning to about 24'C. Just checked now, and again its showing almost 26'C again - the orange light hasnt come on throughout the time that i've been sat in the same room as the tank. Why does it keep warming up? Surely the tank waters too warm if the temp keeps coming out of the green zone?

And ... another thing, anyone know why fish swim up and down in a vertical motion in one corner of the tank? This being down the same side where the heater sits? Theres 5 out of the 6 (same species) that keep doing it. And 2 fish of a different species.

 

[Althamon]

Only thing I could suggest with the tank constantly heating up without the heater is maybe the lighting is causing the increase as it isn't uncommon for it to happen. My housemate used his lights to bring the temp up to a constant 26C during the winter before he went tropical and added a heater.

Also look up the temp requirements for your fish as that is a better indicator than moving from the predefined green zone which I assume is the average min and max all tropical fish could tollerate

 

[Marto666]

I have the same problem with all the warm weather recently and my heater that is set to 24c still comes on in shorts bursts now and again.

I was advised that the lights do contribute to the temp and to turn the heater down to 22c.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Tank temps will fluctuate over 24 hours. As noted lights will warm the water. But so also will filtration, powerheads/pumps etc. The ambient room temperature can also have an effect- either to cool or to heat depending on where it is relative the tank temp.

This is only an issue when the extremes the tank might reach are too hot or too cool for the fish. If you are talking 1 or 2 dg C above and/or below the desired temp, I doubt it is an issue for most fish and inverts. They can normally live in a temperature range, not at just a single temp.

ps- Cories love doing that up and down thing.

 

[BigbruiserAl]

All these things add to tank temps that some people might not thought of.

Room temp, over head lights, Tank postion(in sunlight), Raidiators, Air flow around the tank(windows/Doors), Hoods.

 

[Little_Nemo]

Luckily the tanks in the corner near a window but not in direct sunlight. My room is the one that gets the most sunlight, and it can be quite warm sometimes but I have a side window that i can open to let a breeze in to cool the atmosphere

 

[shadow1200]

I have my tank near the window on a sunny day my temp on my tank goes up only to 25 tho ..
On all your pics you have shown you have the light on. Turn the light on for a hour and watch the temp go up.
The max the fish can cope with temp wise is 27c .

If the temp keeps going up and down your fish will die . When you buy fish from the pet shop etc they say please leave the fish in the bag for a few hour's for the fish to get use to the temp of the water in your tank.
Imagine if your temp is going up and down like mad. Bye Bye fish i say
Fish should be left in a tankw ere the temp stays at 1 temp 1C going up and down is fine but over that the fish get stressed

Has you can see your self the thing with the fish with the heater is stress.
Try and leave the light off for a bit and see if the temp stays at 1 level. You never know if the temp stays the same then you have the wrong light in the tank if its heating the water up two fast. what watt is it ?
Should be around 15 wat for your tank.
Mine in my 4 ft tank is 30 wat which i think is the max it can go .

 

[joeskandal]

Tank temp keeps fluctuating, risen to near enough 26'C last night (coming out of the green zone on thermometer), so turned it down this morning to about 24'C. Just checked now, and again its showing almost 26'C again - the orange light hasnt come on throughout the time that i've been sat in the same room as the tank. Why does it keep warming up? Surely the tank waters too warm if the temp keeps coming out of the green zone?

And ... another thing, anyone know why fish swim up and down in a vertical motion in one corner of the tank? This being down the same side where the heater sits? Theres 5 out of the 6 (same species) that keep doing it. And 2 fish of a different species.

Hey, just checked out your nice photography site, we are in Lincolnshire too, near Metheringham....