Will My Water Temp Cause A Problem?

[LookingToLearn]

I have 2 goldfish, no heater installed in my tank. I live in a house with a woodstove and my house temp fluctuates greatly. It can get over 80 in the house during the day and regularly drops to around 60-65 during the nights. My tanks water temp fluctuates from between 70 in the am to about 74-75 by night.. Is this too much of a temp. fluctuation for my fishes?
Thanx very much for your help.

 

[Colin_T]

it might be but goldfish are pretty tough. As long as the water quality is kept good they shouldn't have any problems.

You could try moving the tank to the far side of the room away from the heater. this would slow the fluctuations.
If you are really worried then buy an aquarium heater and set it on 70F and leave it. That should reduce the temp fluctuations even more.

 

[LookingToLearn]

it might be but goldfish are pretty tough. As long as the water quality is kept good they shouldn't have any problems.

You could try moving the tank to the far side of the room away from the heater. this would slow the fluctuations.
If you are really worried then buy an aquarium heater and set it on 70F and leave it. That should reduce the temp fluctuations even more.

Thanx so much for the advice.

Do you think I will have less of a problem with my water temp fluctuation when I move them to my 55 gallon tank? The tank they are in now is only a 10 gallon tank..


Thanx again for the reply. This newbie really appreciates it.

 

[littlest]

I'm pretty sure that the bigger the volume of water the less the fluctuation in temperature. It probably will still fluctuate a fair bit though.
like Colin said, you can also stick a heater in there. I know plenty of people who use heaters in goldfish tanks to reduce temperature fluctuations

 

[OldMan47]

The temperature is affected by surface area for heat transfer rate and volume for the amount of water being affected by the heat transfer. Unless you have a strange shaped tank, as the volume goes up, the surface goes up more slowly. You will be doubling the length keeping the front to back distance about the same and increasing the height slightly. Figure its about 3 times the surface area. The volume went up 5 1/2 times so expect the temperature to fluctuate about half as much if everything else stays constant. Your 5 degree swings should settle down to 2 or 3 degrees with the 55.

This has nothing to do with my fish knowledge but just other things I have learned over the years.

 

[Colin_T]

As mentioned by littlest and oldman, the bigger tank will suffer less from temperature fluctuations due to its larger mass.
You could try insulating the tank as well. Stick some polystyrene foam to the back and sides of the tank and have a coverglass on it. That will slow the temperature fluctuations a bit.

 

[waterdrop]

Begs the question though, aren't goldfish often used in ponds where the temp would vary much more than he's talking about? Or am I mistaking indoor goldfish with Koi and some sort of outdoor goldfish?

 

[Colin_T]

Pond temperatures fluctuate slowly over weeks or even months. The aquarium is suffering from massive temperature fluctuations during the course of a day. Slow changes aren't a problem but regular daily fluctuations are bad.

 

[waterdrop]

good point colin, hadn't thought about how much bigger the pond volume is!