Temperature Failing To Stabilise

[LisanCraig]

hi there recently brought a roma 200 complete set up. i've had it for around a week but i'm having great difficulty trying to get the temp to stabilise.. i have got the thermostat set at 23 degree's but my two different thermometers are reading at 29-30 degree's.. i have tried leaving the light off incase it was them heating it up but the only differnce in the temp was around 1-2 degree's any help and advice would be greatfully appreciated many thanks...lisa

 

[arobinson1984]

Your tank will generally stabilise the temperature in comparison with your room temperature. If your in the UK its pretty normal at this time of year, my tank is constantly between 27-29 even though the heaters turned off

Andy

 

[LisanCraig]

ok thanks very much was getting a little bit worried

 

[OldMan47]

The tank will be close to room temperature unless it is cool enough in the room for the heater to come on. In earlier times, when we didn't have tank heaters, we all used our lights to control tank temperatures. With an incandescent light, you get plenty of heat to keep a tank warm.

 

[waterdrop]

The tank will be close to room temperature unless it is cool enough in the room for the heater to come on. In earlier times, when we didn't have tank heaters, we all used our lights to control tank temperatures. With an incandescent light, you get plenty of heat to keep a tank warm.

( sheesh OM, they already think we're old enough, do you have to go saying you're pre-electricity??)

 

[OldMan47]

We had plenty of electricity but no nice compact heaters in a glass tube, at least not in my home. We used to control temperatures by letting the light bulb in a tank be slightly submerged in the water and have the hot light bulb heat the water. We would change wattage of the light bulb to get the temperature that we wanted. All the fancy gear we have these days makes it easier to keep fish but it can be done without all that stuff if you are resourceful. At one time it was a given that a fishkeeper would be constantly improvising.

 

[waterdrop]

Well, that's one you've certainly got me on. In the first 5g in our (dining room!) one of the pieces of equipment we were most proud of was the "Supreme" heater. It had swimming pool green/blue sort of slightly rubberized parts basically plugging a large test tube and the control end had to be up out of the water. As kids we got a big kick out of watching the little neon light go off and on, telling us whether it was heating or not.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

I had a Supreme the first time that I kept fish as an adult but as a kid we never had a heater in a tank. We did have lots of tanks in the house though. Most of them were in the 10 to 15 gallon range with an occasional large tank, a 20 long.

 

[waterdrop]

I always liked "20 longs" but would get tempted to switch them to "29 highs" which I believe were the same footprint. Used to stack them 2 to an iron stand, they were silver stainless steel metaframes, all the newer ones.

 

[MHunt]

Go off what the thermometer says not the heater. If the thermometer's two degrees too hot, the turn the heater down two degrees. The markings on most heaters are just a guide, not the actual temperature of the tank.