I'm getting a new heater and thermometer for my 5.5 gallon betta tank today, and I'm not exactly sure where to put them in the tank. Does placement matter? Where's the best place for them? :-?
Well, according to fluid dynamics (if I remember it correctly) you want the heater approximately halfway between the filter and the furthest dead spot for maximum heat dispersion. If your filter is in the back corner, then halfway down the back wall would be the spot for the filter.
That being said, from an aesthetic point, I place my filter in the corner (or a side where it can be hidden best) and place the heater at a point where there is water agitation.
All in all, in a 5.5 gallon tank, it doesn't matter a heck of a lot, I'd just put it wherever it can be hidden best or looks most pleasing and can fit (provided you get a little flow around the heater).
I believe they want Thermometer/Heater Veloran lol but good info too!
I place my thermometer on the opposite side of the tank from where the heater is so I can monitor the heat in the "coldest" spot of the tank more or less and adjust my heat from there.
See kids, this is what happens when you don't sleep all night.
My thermometer is at the diagonal opposite end of the tank. But you bring up a good topic, I do have an extra thermometer (or two), I should really check the temperature differential around the tank with the heater.
We keep our house around 75º or so but in my bathroom where the fish is, can often get very cold (especially in the fall/winter) and the last time I changed Sven's water, it was freezing and he was hanging at the bottom of the tank not feeling so good. So I want to make sure his water temp is okay which is why I got both the Thermometer/Heater.
Yeah, that's good. If you can you want to keep it somewhere around 76-82 is ideal but anything form 70-90 won't hurt him either if it happens to swing some You just don't want to go below 70 for a long period of time because he'll get cold and his metabolism will slow down and he won't operate at the level he should
Not generally, they like to root around in the substrate a lot but depending on your gravel size, it shouldn't be an issue. But did you get the heater yet or is it on order or something?
It should be delivered today. I hope soon, his water is cold again. I have to do a 50% water change today anyway but should I wait until the heater comes?
Can you move his tank to a warmer area of your house. If his temp is getting that cold there is a good chance he is going to fall ill and then you'll have an entirely new can of worms to deal with. I would move him to the warmest area available (but not over about 80 degrees.) Even near to a window with the sun shining in....but not directly in the sun.
Yeah, you can do a change and use slightly warmer water however when you add it to the tank do so with only a cup or so at a time every few minutes so he can get used to the different temperature slower, if you just throw it in you may cause some shock. Do you have any sort of thermometer to take the temp of the tank and the water you get from the tap?
*shakes head* Not yet It's why I was thinking of waiting until the package came today. According to Amazon, it will be delivered anywhere between 1:00 PM & 8:00 PM today.
Is there any other way to determine the temperature of the tank with other household type thermometers?
Yeah, that's what I meant, sorry. Kitchen thermometers work just fine generally, any type really that can be run underwater will work.
80 degrees kind of feels like lukewarm bathwater to us. I never thought of this when I first started (killed my fish because the water felt 'nice' to me, it was warmer than me to touch so it had to have been around 110 degrees) but our bodies are at 98.6 roughly so it's almost twenty degrees difference to what their water is 'supposed' to be so yes, their water is going to feel mildly cold to us. I've gotten used to what ~80 feels like and can just gauge it by the feel when I get it from the tap most days. There are still some days when I know my body is feeling really cold so the 80 is going to feel much warmer so it's not always very reliable of course, but eventually you'll be able to feel the differences too.
I know their water is supposed to be 76 to 86 but I'm just not good at gauging that by touch yet I hope he's not too cold right now.
We have 2 recessed flood lights in the ceiling in my bathroom and I have them on right now which should be producing some heat for him (I hope) I'm just so new to this still, I'm not sure if what I'm doing is right, or if I'm really hurting him without realizing it. :-(
It won't heat or cool the water fast enough to really make much of a difference so it's up to you. I'm sure he'll be fine until the heater and thermometer come in.
72? In AUGUST? Ah, I see you live in Pittsburgh! If I turned the air off in my house in August, my fish would be nice and toasty without a heater. But I would die. i always put my thermometer on the opposite side of the tank from my heater. I've discovered too, if you have a heater that can be totally submerged and can be at an angle (some can't), putting it at an angle for some reason gives you fewer cold spots.
Yeah it's been a real chilly summer up here!! It's about 79 right now here in southern RI but it's very comfortable out. I'll take a cold summer over a sweltering hot one any year! haha.
So would I! Sadly, the trade off is usually a freezing cold winter. I lived in Western NY for a couple years, and the summers were nice, but the winters? OMG they were BRUTAL! Months and months of below freezing temperatures! EEK! I can only imagine trying to keep the fish tanks warm in that!
In one tank I have the heater on the same side as the thermometer only in opposite corners as the thermometers suction cup acts weird with the acrylic and no longer sticks to the other side so it has to be there. the other two tanks have the thermometer and heater on opposite corners.
Seems everyone here has mentioned the correct placement of the heater for an ideal situation but have missed one detail, if your tank is set up so there is likely to be a draft on one side, put the heater on that side, and the thermometer on the other. That way if a cool breeze starts chilling the tank, the heater will turn on BEFORE there is as much of a temperature change in the whole tank, ant the tank's temperature will fluctuate less.
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