Temperature In The Tank

[Tropical_Fish]

Not sure how accurate my thermometer is in the tank, it's one of the glass ones on a sucker, with little balls in the bottom and red stuff which moves up and down.

I don't have a heater in the tank yet.

When I put the water in the temperature was showing at about 16-17 degrees C. After leaving it overnight - the temperature is now showing 21 degrees C.

I'm only in England and was surprised it was that warm.

The car said the outside temperature was 16 degrees when I left a few minutes after - we obviously haven't got any heating on at the moment and the tank is not in direct sunlight.

The room didn't feel at all cold - I was in a t-shirt. It also didn't feel particularly warm.

When dipping my hand in the water it felt cool (but I guess it would as 21 degrees is 16 degrees below body temp)

Does it sound right? I've not really got any other way to verify it

 

[glolite]

It's probably right. I've got one tank running without a heater at the mo as it's in a very warm room. The temperature in that tank is 25! And I tested it with a separate thermometer. Don't forget the lights warm the water too.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

It's probably right. I've got one tank running without a heater at the mo as it's in a very warm room. The temperature in that tank is 25! And I tested it with a separate thermometer. Don't forget the lights warm the water too.

Only had the lights on for a couple of minutes to make sure they worked. Trying to keep them off so as not to grow algae etc during the fishless cycle

 

[meguro]

You could always buy another thermometer. I've got two that fit your description and one is fairly accurate (tested against 2 other thermometers) and the other is out by about 1.5C.

When you buy a thermometer, you can check the accuracy against the other ones in the shop. If there is about 3+ reading the same temperature and 1 that isn't, obviously buy one of the 3. The more you check against the better idea of how accurate they are.

Also, Isn't something like 26-31C ideal for a fishless cycle?

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Was going to aim for 28 degrees for the fishless cycle but I'm waiting on the heater to arrive. The cycle should start at 21 but will be slower.

The thermometer was the last one of the glass type, I'd heard they were batter as they did the temperature of the water rather than the stick on ones which give the temp of the glass