Unplug your heaters

[RD.]

Like most things in this hobby, one size does not fit all. I live in the Northwest, and have AC, and even with near 100F outside temps this past week, the ambient temp in my basement is 60F. Most tropical fish aren't going to do well @ 60F, including most cichlids from the CA/SA regions. My heaters run year round....

 

[krichardson]

Hello;same and although the thermometers on my tanks read 80 degress I have noticed just how cold the water feels with the heaters unplugged.

I have the heaters set at 78 degrees.My tanks are in my basement as is the furnace which warms the area a bit while it is running.

 

[Toiletcar]

I only run heaters 2-3 months of the year. Reason is it gets cold w/ drafty windows in the winter. No need for them rest of the year because my tanks stay at the perfect temps .

 

[krichardson]

What?
What do you set your heaters too?

Cenote azul hit 90 a couple weeks ago here in the backyard. Everything else has more shade and hasn’t climbed above 86.

78 degrees,I just noticed that I quoted my post instead of replying to yours earlier.

 

[neutrino]

Like most things in this hobby, one size does not fit all. I live in the Northwest, and have AC, and even with near 100F outside temps this past week, the ambient temp in my basement is 60F. Most tropical fish aren't going to do well @ 60F, including most cichlids from the CA/SA regions. My heaters run year round....

Exactly.
I have air conditioning, use it when it's warm, but we're presently in a spell of low 70s during the day and 50s at night. Tanks too warm is never an issue for me, though heaters would be off year round if I had cooler water fish. And obviously-- when ambient temperatures are warm heaters run less anyway.

 

[Tj203]

Hello; I unplug my heaters in the spring and plug them back in in the fall.

Why unplug them? That is the whole point of a thermostat. You set it to what ever temp you want. Why run the risk of forgetting to plug it back it?

 

[Stanzzzz7]

I don't use heaters at all anymore. I have them on standby just incase but I have yet to see my tank fall below 72 ish. I removed them from my tanks about 3 or 4 years ago and they have not been in since.
I have an amazon tank at the moment and the fish are constantly spawning with out the 80+ temps often recommended.
Obviously all situations will be different but my house stays quite warm.

 

[Toiletcar]

Why unplug them? That is the whole point of a thermostat. You set it to what ever temp you want. Why run the risk of forgetting to plug it back it?

I unplug and remove the heater. No need for an ugly heater if the temp stays constant.

 

[skjl47]

Why unplug them? That is the whole point of a thermostat. You set it to what ever temp you want. Why run the risk of forgetting to plug it back it?

Hello; I am old school and still have some of the older types of heaters which still work. I can take apart and fix the more common issue with those heaters which is the contact points. Like the contact points in a car distributor the ones in a heater will form transfer deposits as the heater arcs on and off. This eventually can cause the heater to be stuck in the on position.
On the older heaters which use a bi-metal strip to open and close the contact points it can be a project of a few days to set the temperature. By unplugging the heater stays at the last setting and is adjusted when plugged back in.

I have begun to use the newer type with digital guts and find little to be happy about so far. They may be easier to set the temps but when they fail there is no fixing them, at least by me. The heating element can still be good but the controls fail. So something I could fix in the old style makes the new style trash.

 

[RD.]

While I don't wish my house was any warmer, I do wish that I could get away from heaters, but only if I could do so without causing a negative affect on my fish.
The following is a repost from a past discussion on Amphilophus, a very common CA genus. While I won't go so far as to describe that fish as more "happy" at higher temps, I have been a student of animal behavior for 50+ yrs, and this particular fish, when kept in water at cooler temps, reacted by what I can only describe as a state of depression. I've been observing this fish daily for the better part of a decade, and he is pretty easy to read. He's also proven to be very intelligent, as far as pet fish go. My grandkids call him BIG Brain. lol

I keep my adult male at 77-78F, which seems to work best for him. I tried low 70's when I had a heater fail, and he became a LOT less active, went off his feed, and his nuchal hump shrunk down. I kept him at 70-72 for 2-3 months (over summer), and then finally replaced the heater. Within a few days he was back to his old self. He clearly appears to be more comfortable at 78.

The following is from a past post of mine on this subject........

I personally don't think that a fish suffers, if kept at a middle ground temp, somewhere between what would be found in winter, vs summer. That is typically how I run my tanks, and this seems to work best especially if the tanks are mixed species (gasp), or mixed continents (double gasp). I recalled an old thread on cichlidae on Herichthys, and the temp that one individual kept his carpintis male. https://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5919

I don't agree with that, anymore than I agree with keeping that species at 80F year round. A fish kept in cooler water, fed less, and that lives longer does not necessarily equate to a healthier, or happier (fill in the anthropomorphic blank) life.