# Aquarium temperatures



## xriddler (Feb 16, 2012)

http://www.seriouslyfish.com/whaddaya-mean-too-hot/

I think this is a really cool read. What do you guys think? i wonder if cardinals can survive an unheated tank  at room temp 20C


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I like about 78 f for myself working in my tanks, any lower and I find it very cold on my hands.

Recently I had no heater in one of my tanks for a few days, the tank has feeder guppies and lots of plants that I grow to sell and stuff.

The temp dropped quite a bit but the tank is in my basement. The fish seemed perfectly fine, but my big vals took a massive beating, lost all the leaves and I think now after a few weeks they are starting to recover.

Lower temps are probably fine for many fish, but they are not so nice for us working in the tanks and can be hard on some plants


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Most of my tanks are barely heated or not at all. being in the basement it can get quite cool, especially in the summer, or very sunny winter days. I surmised most of what is mentioned in the article. If you look at the breeding report in Breeding Aquarium Fishes, with regard to neon breeding, the temp was 72F. It stands to reason that if the fish breed at this temp, they don't need to be kept warmer the rest of the time. I will also concur that lower temps mean fewer diseases.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

I believe that temperature stability is more important than a specific temperature, although that temperature should be somewhere in the vicinity of 20-25C.

As an example, I got 10 golden white clouds from Menagerie back in August 2012. I figured that since white clouds actually prefer colder water, I didn't put a heater in the tank.

The white clouds lived fine for 2 weeks, and suddenly began to die like flies almost overnight. I lost 6 of them within 48 hours.

In the end, the only explanation I could find was the temperature drop during those 2 days. It was early september, and it got pretty cold at night.

Neither the surviving white clouds nor the albino cories showed any signs of disease. I did not change the tank setup aside from putting in a heater, and the surviving white clouds are living just fine.

On another note, two weeks ago, I noticed that my heater was broken, and the temperature stayed near 20C/68F. I only noticed when I did a water change and the heater would not light on. In fact, the tank had been running at 20C for a few weeks at least. However, due to the fact that we had the central heating running almost 24/7, I experienced no losses. I even have some otos, which are supposedly temperature sensitive.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

solarz said:


> I believe that temperature stability is more important than a specific temperature, although that temperature should be somewhere in the vicinity of 20-25C.


+1

The rapid fluctuations, in my opinion, would lead to more stress.

I tried, just as a crude experiment, to check the water temp of an unheated, uncovered tank that I am leak testing right now(15 Gal, about 40% filled) against ambient temp. The thermostat in my home reads 22C (steadily maintained through the night...as in, the temp settings on the thermostat not set to go lower at night). The tank temperature, however, is at 19C. The tank is away from direct sunlight, and not in the path of any drafts either.

When I first got into fishkeeping (living just below the equator), heaters were unheard of. However, the ambient temp never went below 23C, and during summers, as high as 40+C. I had a 20 gal with zebra danios, gouramis, and angels without any issue. However, these were fish who were 'hardy', in the sense that they were born and bred in those conditions. I don't know what would happen if I took fish that had evolved in temperature controlled tanks for generations, and tried the same thing here today. Just as I roll my eyes when people in Edmonton wear unbuttoned fall jackets in -25 temperatures while I'm shivering, I'd presume its no different for other lifeforms as well. Conditioning plays a part, whatever the 'native' habitat of the fishes may have been. The mean temperature of a stream in Barbados or Guyana during winter may be a far cry from the temperature in my tanks, but then again, the fancy guppies in my tanks are drastically different than their wild ancestors in those streams as well.

Just my thoughts....

Al.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Is temperature stability actually important? We add drastically cooler water to induce some fish to spawn. In nature bodies of water often have fairly (or even very) large daily swings in temp. When speaking to Dr, Ron Coleman, at our dinner, he mentioned rivers in Costa Rica where there were daily fluctuations between 20C and 28C. So, 18 F degrees is a large fluctuation in my estimation (his too).
Because the temperature setting on a thermostat is at 22C, it doesn't mean the entire building will be at 22C. It just means the area near the thermostat will be that. In my house during the summer, I will set the thermostat for 76 or 78F. The second floor will be around 80 to 82 and the basement will be 66. Consequently, the unheated tanks in the basement will also be 66.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

BillD said:


> Is temperature stability actually important? We add drastically cooler water to induce some fish to spawn. In nature bodies of water often have fairly (or even very) large daily swings in temp. When speaking to Dr, Ron Coleman, at our dinner, he mentioned rivers in Costa Rica where there were daily fluctuations between 20C and 28C. So, 18 F degrees is a large fluctuation in my estimation (his too).
> Because the temperature setting on a thermostat is at 22C, it doesn't mean the entire building will be at 22C. It just means the area near the thermostat will be that. In my house during the summer, I will set the thermostat for 76 or 78F. The second floor will be around 80 to 82 and the basement will be 66. Consequently, the unheated tanks in the basement will also be 66.


From my experience, I've had no problem with temporary drops in water temperature from water changes.

However, like I said, the only plausible explanation I could find for the sudden death of my white clouds is temperature fluctuation.


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

BillD said:


> Is temperature stability actually important?


I would think so. I think it is how rapid the fluctuations are. The peaks and valleys measured against time. In nature, I'm sure that because of the amount of water in the body, the fluctuations would be on a more gradual scale, whereas the curve would be more acute in an aquarium. Also, in nature, the fish have option of moving depths or positions to get to a different thermal layer, which is limited in an aquarium.

Just from personal experience, I have seen a 30 Gal tank responds differently to ambient temp changes than a 10 gal one. My 10 gal tank always heats up more rapidly than my 30 gal tank in the summer, with my 15 gal tanks falling somewhere in between the two. Extrapolate this to a huge body of water, and the changes would be even slower I'd presume, even if the range of temp change is larger than it would be indoors.

I'm sure that over time, the livestock could be conditioned to accept a lower stable temp range aquarium, if the change is done gradually, and if there is a way to shorten the range of fluctuations (like we try and do during the summertime by leaving the heaters on).

I remember a while back reading a post (not sure if it was this forum or another), where someone posted that they kept aquariums with just ambient light and ambient heat for years without any adverse effects. I have never tried anything along those lines, so my comments are mere speculation based on what I have observed. It sure is an interesting topic 

Al.


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## coldmantis (Apr 5, 2010)

My 50 cardinals are fat and going 3 years now in my 40g breeding, only heat is the t5ho lights.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

I have kept tanks with no added light or heating for many years. Temps will rise and fall with the room. In my basement the temp will range between 66 and 75F , although for most of the year it will be around 68F/20C. When I was a kid with my first tank, the incandescent light was the only heat source. There were daily temp fluctuations of 10 F degrees. 
In nature water temps can fluctuate fairly quickly. Locally, we have issues with rain being warmed hitting hot asphalt before running into streams that contain native cold water species. In the tropics, particularly the fore mentioned Costa Rica, the water can rise more than 10 m in one day, and this happens many times a year, not just once. On the other hand areas like the rift lakes, which don't have annual turnovers, are more likely to have stable temps, with perhaps marginal gradual changes. we do know that coral reefs have stable temps and when something happens to change that corals die.
For what it is worth, I often (usually) add much warmer water when refilling the tank during a water change. Even the unheated tanks will usually get water at around 82F, I have been doing this for years with no visible adverse effects.
So, I am not saying temperature stability isn't a worthy goal, just questioning how important it actually is.


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## Ryan.Wilton (Dec 12, 2012)

My basement apartment stays between 79-88F so I've never really concerned myself about the tank temps. Only tank I actually have a heater plugged in on is my SW. Most of the other tanks have heaters, but they've been left unplugged for at least a year now.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

BillD said:


> I have kept tanks with no added light or heating for many years. Temps will rise and fall with the room. In my basement the temp will range between 66 and 75F , although for most of the year it will be around 68F/20C. When I was a kid with my first tank, the incandescent light was the only heat source. There were daily temp fluctuations of 10 F degrees.
> In nature water temps can fluctuate fairly quickly. Locally, we have issues with rain being warmed hitting hot asphalt before running into streams that contain native cold water species. In the tropics, particularly the fore mentioned Costa Rica, the water can rise more than 10 m in one day, and this happens many times a year, not just once. On the other hand areas like the rift lakes, which don't have annual turnovers, are more likely to have stable temps, with perhaps marginal gradual changes. we do know that coral reefs have stable temps and when something happens to change that corals die.
> For what it is worth, I often (usually) add much warmer water when refilling the tank during a water change. Even the unheated tanks will usually get water at around 82F, I have been doing this for years with no visible adverse effects.
> So, I am not saying temperature stability isn't a worthy goal, just questioning how important it actually is.


Perhaps a drop from 75F to 66F isn't that big of a deal.

The tank that I have the white clouds are in my parents' house, and that place can get pretty cold without heating. 66F is about 19C. With heating turned on and in a *warm* room, I get 20C. Without heating and in the hallway, I think the temperature easily could have fell below 15C / 60F.

What's interesting is that white clouds are temperate climate species. It is supposed to be able to survive in water as cold as 5C. In the case where I lost a bunch of them, I think the daytime temperature would have been around 22C and the night time temperature could easily have dropped below 15C.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Makes me think that when my fans drop the tanks down to 70 or so, at which point I start worrying they are too cold, maybe I don't need to worry so much ? All of my fish are species that can handle cooler temps, so far as I know, and I do think excess heat is a greater stress than coolness is. Truly being cold is stressful too, but there's quite a few degrees difference between cool and cold, I'd think. Food for thought, certainly. Glad you posted this.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

*Info on Endler breeding wanted*

Sorry, somehow this ended up here instead of as a new thread. Kindly ignore it.


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## macKRAZY (Feb 15, 2012)

Ive got 8 tanks and only keep the heater on during the winter...
They are currently unplugged in all but 1 tank(rcs)...

The coldest ive seen it get in the tanks is 65.. thats when I turn the heaters on lol but its usually steady at 72-75


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