unplugging heaters in summer in warm climates

[andywoolloo]

it gets hot here but i keep the house at 78.

i have unplugged removed the heater from the goldfish tank after the malfunction, no one died, thank god. and that tank heater less in summer stays 76-78. i only had the heater in there for winter when we go to 68 on furnace.

so my question is, the big syno eupterus and commmon pl*co tank, it's been seeming warmish to me and shows 78 -80 so i unplugged the heater today and am going to remove it till winter.

good idea? yeah or nay?

[Mike_Noren]

Heated room? If so, no problem.

[apistomaster]

The heaters only come on if the water temperature drops below your set point. So if your room stays warm enough for the fish leaving heaters plugged in is not going to save you any money and are able to come on should the room temps drop lower than usual.
I keep almost exclusively warm water fish like Hypancistrus and wild Discus so my tanks are all set for 84*F. Even though it is hotter than that indoors now that can change quickly.

[Viktor Jarikov]

Hi Andywoolloo,

I've been mulling the same questions ever since the house temps got higher than the tank heaters' settings, which was back in late May. I've read about chillers, even. But that is too elaborate. So far, the tank temps have been fluctuating within 77-83 F (we have no central AC, just two window units upstairs, which are slowly cooling the whole house; the ACs are off at nights with windows open). The outside temps have been 75-92 F for highs and 59-75 for lows.

I still do not know if this is excessively stressful for the fish. Not that I can tell from their behavior, appetite, or health/vitality. Usually, the temp change occurs slowly, over a day at least.

The temp of the basement pond (2500 gal) fluctuates the least, although the small basement windows are always open and there is no AC, just two dehumidifiers (that do blow warm air). It's been a steady 76-78 F. But then, the pond is sitting only 3.5" off of the concrete foundation slab, which is at the very constant ~65 F.

[MatsP]

I've been known to turn the heaters on during summer to allow the temperature in the tank to get LOWER than the set temperature, so that when it heats up in the day, it's got a "lower start", meaning that the ultimate top temperature is slightly lower. I'm not sure if this is actually beneficial to the fish - but I'm thinking the that the top temperature being lower will help the oxygen levels and make the fish happier... ;)

--
Mats

[Carp37]

My house is moderately new (about 20 years old) and quite small, so it stays pretty warm in summer (the heating is switched off from mid-April to mid-September). Every time we get a heat wave (not that often in Britain) I have to disconnect heaters for a week or so. I agree with Larry that heaters SHOULD only come on if the water drops below a certain temperature, but personal experience suggests that they seem to prefer running a number of degrees above ambient room temperature (this doesn't make any scientific sense, I know)- thus I seem to have to turn heaters up in winter and down (off for certain periods) in summer.

[PlecoCrazy]

My whole thing with unplugging the heaters is this. Its hot right now. Wait till that one night when you leave the windows open and it gets down to 60 at night, then you have problems. I would set your temperature dial lower and leave plugged in so that you have some sort of heater in case something like that happens.

[Bas Pels]

I agree with Larry that heaters SHOULD only come on if the water drops below a certain temperature, but personal experience suggests that they seem to prefer running a number of degrees above ambient room temperature (this doesn't make any scientific sense, I know)-

It could make a lot of sense

I got a tank with a rather large pump, which is placed inside the innerfilter. Therefore all energy consumed will be put into heat or water movement. The water movement produces friction, and thus ultimately heat as well

Energy consumption is 38 watts, water goes 10 times an hour or more (I never bothered about the volume of the rocks, but yesterday I did need a rather large 'bucket' to store them all) and the water is ~3 C hotter than the room

The tank is as un-insulated as possible, as I rather have the water a bit less hot - in summer. In winter the temp is better, 24 C or so

[Viktor Jarikov]

I've been known to turn the heaters on during summer to allow the temperature in the tank to get LOWER than the set temperature, so that when it heats up in the day, it's got a "lower start", meaning that the ultimate top temperature is slightly lower. I'm not sure if this is actually beneficial to the fish - but I'm thinking the that the top temperature being lower will help the oxygen levels and make the fish happier... ;)

Maybe it's just me being dense again, but Mats, in the 1st line did you mean to say "...to turn the heaters on (off, down??) during summer..." ? All the rest makes good sense to me.

My whole thing with unplugging the heaters is this. Its hot right now. Wait till that one night when you leave the windows open and it gets down to 60 at night, then you have problems. I would set your temperature dial lower and leave plugged in so that you have some sort of heater in case something like that happens.

wise

Therefore all energy consumed will be put into heat or water movement. The water movement produces friction, and thus ultimately heat as well

makes sense qualitatively; all pumps, all movement produce heat; I wonder if anyone ever modeled this scenario to see if there is an indication of quantitative support in that this heat suffices to raise the temp a few degrees (true in my tanks too) but then the system is too complex, e.g., bubblers keep cooling the water, that is unless the air pump runs real hot - then, the incoming air maybe hotter than tank water... light absorption (colors in the tank) plays a role - black gravel will absorb a lot of light and convert it efficiently into heat while white gravel will reflect and scatter most light and add almost nothing to heating... same with water color (e.g., dyes will convert visible light into heat), decorations, etc.

[MatsP]

Good spot - should "I turn the heaters off" (in the UK, a plug-socket generally has a switch next to the socket itself, so you can switch things off at the wall without pulling the plug - very handy at times - and I build my own "extension lead" by attaching sockets to the frame of the tank-rack).

--
Mats

[apistomaster]

I have a small house and I did not buy a new air conditioner as planned this year so it is getting 95*F indoors late in the afternoon. It is 100*F+ outdoors.
My tanks actually remain about 86*F. They are all covered and have dual NO T-5 Aqualight strip lights. I have 6 watt power head in each tank and it does add some heat but the effect is only noticeable in my 75 and 125 gal tanks where my submerge MagDrive 9.5 water pump uses about 93 watts. It does raise the temperature but it is off set by the evaporation that occurs in my large DIY wet/dry filters. I have to add about 1-1/2 gal per day to the sump used on the 125 gal tank. Only when it gets close to 100*F indoors do my tanks exceed 84 and some higher tanks may run close to 88*F.
I keep fish which are all heat tolerant or heat loving.

It is possible to calculate all this out since it is a straight forward thermodynamics problem. You have to know what numbers to plug in but as a practical matter, evaporation will keep the temperatures within the zone the fish are able to tolerate and more importantly, how heavy your tanks are stocked because water has a fixed dissolved oxygen saturation point for a given temperature. If you allow enough evaporation and provide sufficient aeration your fish will be alright. It does matter what species you are keeping, of course.

My Discus actually like this heat. When the tank has little or no heat flow they are more comfortable than if the room is cool and the tank is being heated far above the ambient temperature.
All my Hypancistrus spp and Peckoltia L134 Plecos are from very warm rivers. I could not keep some groups such as Chaetostoma spp. without using a chiller in the summer. From the list of fish you gave I would think only the Goldfish would have any problems if your tanks were to stay close to 84*F for long. 84*F is the actual set point in all my tanks.