heat fish's water in winter, brrrr

[dbrooke1]

anybody have any suggestions on keeping a betta's water warm during the winter?
i wrote another thread for a sick betta on here and mentioned adjustable heater keeps water at 78-80 normally, but temp was 73 this morning.
any tips?

[paloverde]

Try wrapping a towel around the tank to help retain the heat, looks ghetto but works every time.

[Shirleythebetta]

Adjustable heaters are a pain. You have to mess with them to get the temps right. That's why I prefer preset heaters. The trick is to adjust it little bits at a time until the temp is right. They have issues with being exact with the dial temps meaning you can't always expect it to be 78 if you set the dial to 78. You have to slightly increase it. But if you aren't careful it can jump to high. Hence the reason I love presets. But sometimes buying a preset is bad too since they are known to overheat occasionally and cook the whole tank. Are you using an adjustable heater?

[bamsuddenimpact]

My room is so cold in the winter (50-low 60s) that I use a stronger heater to keep my water temp up (Elite 50W mini heater in a 5 gallon).

[sainthogan]

My preset heater which is supposed to keep it at 78, keeps it at 76, and now lower now that it's 2 degrees outside, and it's running constantly. Grr... It doesn't help that this is a very old building with absolutely no insulation and stupid single pane windows which let all the cold air in. Grr...

[finnfinnfriend]

Adjustable heaters should keep the temp stable despite changes in surrounding temperatures. You might need to get a new heater...