heaters-not working??

[kattie23]

Hello everyone!

I'm a new fish owner 3 mollies and 3 bettas (betta in seperate tanks)
-all my fish are very healthy, I've had them for almost a month.

I just got a 10 gal tank for my mollies and I wanted to do right by my fish by buying heaters for there tanks

I have a "whishper" heater that came w/ my 10 gal tank and 2 junior heaters (no brand from walmart) but my tanks are not warm. The heaters feel a little warm and sometimes my 10gal tank gets "luke warm" but then back room temp again- my poor fish I know they are not warm enough.

It can't be all the heaters right? I must be doing something wrong. My Junior hearters for my 2.5 gal betta tanks don't have a setting knob and my whisper 10 gal is set all the way on the "+" side.

Any brand suggestions? I don't mind spending $$ I just want my fish to be warm.
I can return the others I got, it was just very easy to get everything at one store.

Please help. I'm still new at this so I will take any advice that you can offer, I really want to do this the right way.

thanks
kat

 

[aquarius]

The water doesn't have to feel warm for it to be warm enough for the fish. Right now my water is 82 degrees but it feel only luke warm. Do you have a thermometer in the tank? What does it say? For mollies, temp. around 76 to 78 degrees would be ideal

 

[MAM]

yeah, i have molly tank right now. currently no heater, as room temp has kept the tank at around 76 to 78 degrees (but man does it feel colder), though i plan to put one in a few weeks now that its getting colder. get a thermometer so you know for sure what the temp is. you don't want to overheat, mollies like the 68 to 80 degree range, with 76-78 being optimal.

 

[kattie23]

OOOH, so the water feels cold to me but not to them

I had a cheap strip thermometer but it does not work:

I'm going to buy a thermometer that I can put in the tank right after work- duh, why I thught a strip on stuck on the side of the tank would work?
)

Thanks so much!!!

kat

 

[Lithril]

I must admit I use a good 'ol mercury thermometer and just test the water temp once a day with it, I've tried strip ones and also one that goes into the tank but not a lot of luck.

 

[MAM]

i have one of those little glass ones with that attach inside on a suction cup (usually only a couple of dollars at the lfs). works great. originally thought it was bunk until i looked at it this morning and realised the temp had dropped a few degrees.
the strip ones, that say to attach on the outside, always puzzled me. how is it supposed to read the temp of the water, which is INSIDE the tank i would think it would be reading the room temp if it on the outside. go with the kind that you can actually put in the water.

 

[bettabuddy]

A great thermometer to use for fish tanks is a ditigal probe model. You can buy them from restaurant supply stores. Mine measures to one tenth of a degree and displays temp. in either F or C.
It only cost $14.95 and I've had it for over a year without changing the battery.
I have the temp strips on my tanks but I only use them to get a general idea.
Great tool to have when equalizing temps during water changes.

 

[kattie23]

I see the results vary from fish owner to fish owner. I did not have a chance to read your replies before I brought my thermometer. I got the glass suction one that goes inside the tank.
The temp of the water I thought was cold.........83? I'm not sure I believe it . but I did turn down the heater!! I'm going to try Lithril suggestion first....the old stand by thermometer.

the saga continues.......keep ya posted

Poor fish

 

[Lithril]

Kattie23 don't throw that thermometer away they're good as an indication especially if you use a more accurate to find out the error value on it, the trouble with me is I work in a lab and hate things being that inaccurate

 

[kattie23]

you know what is so odd is that I was a biology major...but when it comes to my own pets I lose any information from college that could be useful.
Its like I panick and I don't trust my judgement because its all so new to me.
Its one thing to read about something another to live it. My professors would be soo disappointed in me.
But I'm determined to get it right
kat