Heating Issues: Too hot

[bahamut285]

Hello Ladies and Gents,

I recently upgraded Meilin's 2.5 to a 3Gal because it was leaking. In any case, I got the Marineland Crescent 3. Right now Meilin is in a 0.5 Gal while this one is setting up (don't worry I change her water often and she's in the warmest part of the house, her water is a steady 76, I check on her often).

So I have the heater from the 2.5G and for some reason, last night the temp was 30C, which is...uhh..86F? Unless the filter is producing massive amounts of heat, this makes no sense...I was actually fearful that my 10w heater would be underperforming (the box says 10w is for up to 2.6G...what a weird number).

At first I thought it was my laptop heating it up (playing games) but then even this morning after I went to bed, it was still at the same temperature. I put in two addtional thermometers (HongBo's and my digital one) and all three are reading in the 84-86 range.

I unplugged everything and I put an ice pack (in a ziplock) and it's floating right now. It's been in there for almost an hour and the temp is now down to 80F. I turned the filter back on about 15 minutes ago, but the heater is still off. I'm checking to see how much heat the heater produces...if it produces nothing then there is something wrong with my heater.


Sorry for the story, I just wanted to get my scientific method out of the way, usually works wonders but I'm heading off to work soon so I thought I would give you guys some of my thoughts to process while I'm gone XD

[Oldfishlady]

I have one of those Eclipse 3gal with the enclosed hoods an filter with bio-wheel (bio-wheel removed and poly-fill added to baffle) and I have never had to use a heater in it because it maintains the heat so well...one of the few tanks I have that I kept the hood and filter on...lol....and the temp is stable in the mid 80F all the time- year around...oddly enough......laffs....it just seems to retain heat really well....I think some of the heat comes from the filter itself along with the light since I am on 12/h/day photoperiod..

My Betta is not distressed with the temp so I don't worry about it and mid/upper 80'sF is the high end of normal for this species anyway....I personally don't keep mine on the high end except for this tank...lol......

I like the look of your tank and by reading the description on it...it has a clear acrylic lid with a feeding hole....correct....that may be keeping the heat in like mine is doing and then the filter-but LED lights I though were cool and not hot.....is your Betta distressed with that temp.......

[PewPewPew]

Mine do that, too. Youd be surprised with how much heat a filter can produce! Lights, too, unless theyre LED.

And what OFL said lol XD

[bahamut285]

@OFL: Yes it does have the clear lid, it's been foggy in there all day from the temperature...at least Lin's labyrinth will be happy about that. I came back after work today with NO heater but filter ON and it maintains 80F perfectly. Maybe I'll just use the heater in the winter-time >_<

Lin's NOT currently in the tank, she's sitting in a 2Gallon in my brother's room (because it's super warm in there). I'm just letting it do it's thing until I know that it's not going to burst into flames or cook my fish...good thing I did too (not that 86F would ever cook fish, but just on principle XD). I don't know if it will distress her or not. I doubt it, she's a fairly hardy one.

@P3: Yeah I guess I should have known the heater would produce A LOT of heat. I guess I Forgot since HongBo's filter hangs outside the tank. I used to have an in-tank filter that also heated it up quite a bit, but that was AGES ago XD

[PewPewPew]

I hear ya! Even my HOB filter heats up the water, probably when it circulates inside it before being let out.