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Do I need a heater?

Christos Ioannou

Christos Ioannou

Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
268
Location
Cyprus
Hi all. I am running an inline heater in my tank. I now understand that anything "inline" is affecting filter throughput. Water is returned through spraybar.

Ambient (room) temp in winter, with central heating on, is 19celcius at its lowest , 21-22 during "comfort" time.

So, do I need a heater? Stock includes shrimps, otos, cardinals.

Thanks!
 
Have you checked how much the flow is reduced by?

Check seriouslyfish.com knowledge base to see what the fishes minimums are. You could always just pop a heater in the tank during cold spells.
 
Hi Christos

I live in the eastern Spanish Mediterranean coast with very warm winters (minimum temperature rarely below 5 degrees and only a few days, most days above 14 degrees). We are not on a central heating system but on an individual system. In winter we try to keep our home at 19 degrees, a bit more sometimes, and in that condition the tanks are ok. There are about 22-23 degrees during the day and fall 1 degree at night. IMO this is about perfect for plants. The problem is when we leave for a few days and the temperature falls down. In that case I've seen my tanks fall to 18 degrees... Nothing serious if you keep shrimps or hardy fish (endler, minnows and probably other species, but at least these new do well) but probably not good for cardinals and other species.

To solve this problem I use an in-tank heater but quite small for the volume I have and I only use it some days between January and February. I don't want my tanks to reach 25 degrees, I just want to make sure they don't go below 18. It is ugly but it's only for. a few days per year and it does not affect the flow.

Jordi
 
I don't think you need a heater 24/7. Do what parotet said, just have a small heater on hand if the temp drops below 18. That's good advice.

In my 2ft the inline heater has broken. I won't be replacing it. btw I live in Perth, Western Australia were it's pretty warm. Summer is insanely hot :sick:
 
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