Temperature lower ends

[convict360]

Hi guys, my heating is broken as of today; and ive noticed that my tank is down to 22° from 24, which is where I usually prefer it to sit at.

All fish look ok so far, including my blood parrot, cories, tiger barbs and Odessa barbs; but I just wondered if I should be concerned at that temperature?

I'd have said the odessa's and cories would be OK, but if necessary I can throw in another heater in case it drops to 21 or so during the night.

P.S house heating is broken, not tank heater; the tank heater just looks like it may be struggling a little

 

[Red_Man]

An extra heater to fight the cold wouldn't hurt until the house heat problem is remedied.

 

[Woefulrelic]

If you have one on hand I would throw in a heat to keep the current one from running too much, or set the heater down to 22c so it doesn't have to work as hard but runs at night. I think those temps won't cause much trouble with the species I am informed on, at least not in a short span.

 

[pops]

22c=71 this is getting low for tropic fish. they fine there but not want it to get any lower.

 

[convict360]

Cheers guys, I threw in a supplementary heater; I always worry about stories from peoples heaters malfunctioning and boiling everything, but no choice in this scenario!

 

[xraycer]

Cheers guys, I threw in a supplementary heater; I always worry about stories from peoples heaters malfunctioning and boiling everything, but no choice in this scenario!

Overheating due to the heater being stuck in the "on" position can occur with a single heater, so a controller is really the only safeguard.

You can help achieve being heat retention by throwing a blanket/sleeping bag over the tank until your house heating system is fixed.

I agree with Pops that 22C is on the low end for tropicals. While the fish may appear fine, they probably aren't comfortable, and this could affect their immune system which could lead to sickness over something their immune system can typically fight off. I don't ever keep my tropicals below 25C

 

[skjl47]

Hello; Some years ago the power was off for four days in early December. I managed to keep the house in the low 50's F with propane heaters. I had tiger barbs, cory catfish, serape tetras, kuhli loaches and others. I did not feed during this time as there was not aeration which will not be your issue.
All the fish survived the cool spell. I know the tiger barbs survived for several years beyond the cool spell. Some others did as well, but the tiger barbs stick in my mind.
The two (or more) heaters in a tank is a good plan. I do this on a regular basis in tanks larger than 10 to 20 gallons. Never tried a heater controller so will not comment. I have found that if 300 watts are needed then two 150 heaters or three 100 watt heaters are much safer. If one fails the other is much less likely to overheat a tank and conversely if one fails the other is likely to keep a tank from being too cool.
Not sure about Scotland but here in Tennessee USA we are entering the first cold month (November). I think your latitude is not too different from mine in the northern hemisphere?

 

[convict360]

Both heaters are set to 26° so ideally I'll see that improve in the next couple of hours; thanks guys

 

[convict360]

Hello; Some years ago the power was off for four days in early December. I managed to keep the house in the low 50's F with propane heaters. I had tiger barbs, cory catfish, serape tetras, kuhli loaches and others. I did not feed during this time as there was not aeration which will not be your issue.
All the fish survived the cool spell. I know the tiger barbs survived for several years beyond the cool spell. Some others did as well, but the tiger barbs stick in my mind.
The two (or more) heaters in a tank is a good plan. I do this on a regular basis in tanks larger than 10 to 20 gallons. Never tried a heater controller so will not comment. I have found that if 300 watts are needed then two 150 heaters or three 100 watt heaters are much safer. If one fails the other is much less likely to overheat a tank and conversely if one fails the other is likely to keep a tank from being too cool.
Not sure about Scotland but here in Tennessee USA we are entering the first cold month (November). I think your latitude is not too different from mine in the northern hemisphere?

We are perpetually cold in Scotland haha (not freezing), usually we sit at around 7° outside, inside its maybe 17° most of the time

 

[skjl47]

We are perpetually cold in Scotland haha (not freezing), usually we sit at around 7° outside, inside its maybe 17° most of the time

I had a mean temp for the last year of 56 F (13.33 C). A high temp of 93F (33.89 C). A low temp of -10 F (- 23C). I used a site called Weather Underground for this information. I did not see an average temp for the past year, but based on comments by the TV weather people I suspect the overall average was warmer than normal. Only had about three weeks of really bad winter last Feb and March. Got an unusually high amount of snow which collapsed several buildings, porches and other structures in the area. Had the power out on a morning when temp was five below zero F. I installed a coal heater this past summer as that power outage spooked me. I also found that my heatpump is at the end of an average use time span.

Good luck getting the heat fixed as electric heat is costly.