Winter Aquarium Temps? How low do you go?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Last winter my old 450 gallon temps dropped down to the low 60's using 1200 watts of heaters due to my tank being set up in a non insulated garage. I upped the wattage on my heaters to 1600 watts but it didn't help much and when I tried to up it even more my breaker box kept tripping. Amazingly all my fish survived and none of them caught ick. At that time I had a school of big loaches too. Though for my new tank setup I won't let my temps drop that low again. If it gets set up in the garage again I'm gonna insulate it and upgrade the breaker box. All my fish hobby friends said my fish were soldiers.


Sent from my iPad using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
My tank averages 76-78* in the winter with WCs taking it down to 74* at times. This opposed to 82-84* during the summer.
 
I keep my 240 at 76 and the planted livebearer tank at 74. I have a friend that has his 50 some tanks / 2000 + gallons unheated. They stay in the high 60's to about 70. He only uses heaters in tanks that he is trying to induce a spawn. He doesn't have any issues from it, and has been doing it like this for years.
 
All my tanks (Except the Goonch) are now at 75 and my fish seem fine. It's only been a couple weeks though. I hate to go cooler than that. My house is at 70 and the pumps/lights keep the tanks around 74 so it's really not a huge deal. I agree with some of the post above that maintaining a consistent temperature is very important. Fluctuating temps could cause a more stressful environment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom