No heater in Uk

[Guyb93]

Ok sounds crazy but after some “research” iv found that tropical fish may not be so tropical for example almost all of my fish can be found in Colombia , the winter months in Colombian so December to March the average temperature is 8-10c so logically speaking these fish live at a similar temp during these months . Most households in the Uk will heated my thermostat stat is set at 25c unless it’s this time of the year . So asking as the tank in kept I. Your home do you actually need a heater ?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I have two preset Eheim 25 degree heaters. I don't use central or any other form of heating during the autumn/winter months.

Summer months I turn the Eheim's right off and even without heating within the home in colder weather, the Eheim's manage fine, infact since my room temperature never goes below 19 degrees all year round, the Eheims are not lighting up as much as I would expect them to do. That said, in the colder weather I did find that a single Eheim on its own did struggle, doubled up and no such issues

It really depends how well your home is insulated. I am lucky since I live in a local authority flat that has cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and double glazed windows.

If you have a really well insulated home, then you can perhaps get away without using a heater as long as the fish are able to handle that.....certainly no harm in trying to lose the heater, although I would recommend keeping it in the aquarium incase the fish do not tolerate it as much as you had hoped. or for when you get a cold snap.

 

[Back in the fold]

Yes. There are tropical fish that aren't so tropical. Most people are warm temperature fiends and go overboard with temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's Fahrenheit. My fish room is on the north side of my house above an unheated crawl space and gets cold in the winter months. I have a water storage container and one small aquarium that are unheated. The temperature never went below 66 degrees Fahrenheit . Watch your thermometers and experiment. There are nice fish you can have without heaters. The water will naturally be warmer in the summer and cooling off in the winter may offer a beneficial dormant season.

 

[Guyb93]

Honestly iv had power go out for 12 hours before without realising and the tank temperature dropped from 27 to 24 , my home is fairly well insulated and had a new roof and fibre glass less than a year ago , the tank itself is large .ish at 500l so hold temperature well and it’s not very far from my central heating unit in the front room , I wouldn’t want to try this with less hardy fish or with fish that like high temperature but a room temp of 25c falls into all my fished parameters and might just try out a day or two without a heater while we’re getting decent weather

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I have not used my heaters during the summer months...from late May thru late August....for years. Before I got the current 53 gallon aquarium I had 5 x 15-17 gallon and never used the heaters in warm weather cos the water temp was on the 25 or slightly above the 25 thoughout.

This early in the spring I would use the heaters overnight since dips in temp can still happen, but daytime, give it a go....you can always switch them on if needed or if the weather breaks again.

My thermometer is a Fluval that displays aquarium and room temp...room rarely ever goes below 22 in the warm weather, water often goes up to 28 without the heater in warm weather.

 

[emeraldking]

Ok sounds crazy but after some “research” iv found that tropical fish may not be so tropical for example almost all of my fish can be found in Colombia , the winter months in Colombian so December to March the average temperature is 8-10c so logically speaking these fish live at a similar temp during these months . Most households in the Uk will heated my thermostat stat is set at 25c unless it’s this time of the year . So asking as the tank in kept I. Your home do you actually need a heater ?

Actually, I don't use heaters in none of my tanks. A lot of fish that we call tropical are even subtropical. The mistake a lot of us make is that we call them tropical because they come from tropical countries. But you need to look at their habitats. Are they located in a tropical or subtropical area within a tropical country? That makes a huge difference. That makes them tropical or subtropical fish. And there are fish that are tropical but have a wide range of temperature tolerance.

 

[Guyb93]

Iv always been one for consistency’s iv always tried to keep my tanks the exact same temperature even during water changes but in reality these fish only live at 25+ for 7 months of the year and influxes of fresh water would only occur from rainfall which is going to be cooler water , I know that from weather reports temps can drop as low as 8 c in a Colombian winter but I’m going to assume that’s an average of the nation and the river systems will sit a little higher in temp So I’m guessing that if a temp of 20c is consistent for months that would be safe and possibly more natural for the fish

 

[Lynnzer]

Am I the only one thinking of this BUT heaters only come on when a preset temperature is hit. So most of the summer and warmer peiods they consume very little energy. However, here in the cold Northeast of UK it gets damn cold in the winter months, and even this last week we had a good frost covering the car.
OK, it wasn't icy inside but I could sure as hell feel the cold when I got up that morning. I say just reduce the temperature setting to the bottom limit of the fish's prefeences ..... JUST IN CASE

 

[Guyb93]

Am I the only one thinking of this BUT heaters only come on when a preset temperature is hit. So most of the summer and warmer peiods they consume very little energy. However, here in the cold Northeast of UK it gets damn cold in the winter months, and even this last week we had a good frost covering the car.
OK, it wasn't icy inside but I could sure as hell feel the cold when I got up that morning. I say just reduce the temperature setting to the bottom limit of the fish's prefeences ..... JUST IN CASE

I get what you mean , I’m thinking long term though say if my tank does drop to 18c that’s ok as it’s something that’s happens , do we just assume that 27c is tropical n yeah we set heaters and be done but from looking at the weather in Colombia it’s not to different from my front room

 

[emeraldking]

In general when the year hits fall, I get fish out at water temperatures between 10 - 15°C at day. But I've also harvested livebearers at water temperatures between 5 - 8°C at day. But those were goodeids. The ones outdoors can withstand such low temperatures when kept outdoors for at least two seasons. Same goes for WCMMs. If the water is even deep enough, those WCMMs can even stay outside during the winter. At least, the winters that we have over here.

 

[GaryE]

This thread can veer into bad info REALLY quickly.

I don't heat almost all my tanks. I believe we tend to overheat aquaria. But I also look at each fish species I choose carefully, and that includes habitat. Colombia, for example, is a huge country. Sure, there are mountainous regions where it gets cool, and the fish there like cooler temperatures. But cooler water generally means larger fish. They don't sell.
You have to check which region your fish comes from, and what its annual average temperature is. A Colombian Mikrogeophagus ramirezi comes from 27-30 degree water in the wild. Most exported tropical fish come from a narrow enough region within a vast country, and it's the warmer part of the place.

Beware of info that's what you want to see. Always cross reference with a site like fishbase.org to get data on the natural habitat, and always refer to a map.

I have Colombian fish here, and some are unheated if the room stays around 20. Some would do poorly at those temps. Some would up and die. Some need heaters, as much as I hate having heaters. If I want the species, I have to keep it correctly.

Research into fish and temperature is moving along as a result of climate change studies. One understanding coming out is that a dividing line between species in the same river can be temperature. Aphyosemion killies from 19 degree shaded water are replaced by different species in warmer lowland stretches of rivers, because their digestive enzymes are tuned to temperature. They can't colonize each others' habitats because their young grow too slowly, due to temperature related digestive problems, to compete. That's what we have to think about - phenomena like that.

 

[Lynnzer]

I did read some time in the last couple of years that the number of marine species, inc invertabrates, has fallen quite remarkably in the equatorial regions of the oceans due to climate change. Those species have now moved either north or south to more temperate seas. So the temperature that any species can tolerate is determined by the species itself. If those fish kept in our aquariums don't like the water temperature they are kept in, they can't turn it up or down a notch to suit themselves. They'll suffer.
Much like I did when I stepped off the plane at Abu Dhabi. I thought they'd left the engines running and the exhaust was blowing down the exit steps. I just can't stand the heat and even when visiting the likes of the Canary Islands I do my best to walk under the shop sun-shades all the time.

 

[DoubleDutch]

Honestly iv had power go out for 12 hours before without realising and the tank temperature dropped from 27 to 24 , my home is fairly well insulated and had a new roof and fibre glass less than a year ago , the tank itself is large .ish at 500l so hold temperature well and it’s not very far from my central heating unit in the front room , I wouldn’t want to try this with less hardy fish or with fish that like high temperature but a room temp of 25c falls into all my fished parameters and might just try out a day or two without a heater while we’re getting decent weather

Do I misunderstand your post or is your roomtemp 25 C ?

 

[Colin_T]

If your house temperature is set on 25C, then the tanks should remain on 25C unless there is a power failure. If the tanks are insulated, they won't lose heat as quickly if there is a power failure.

Water holds temperature much better than air does. So when the temp drops to 10C in Columbia, the water will be much warmer. Having said that, most aquarium fishes don't live in warm water all the time. The water temperature varies throughout the year.

A lot of tetras and barbs are found in water that varies between 16-26C.

Discus and Uarus are the fish that need warm water all year. Angelfish do to a degree but not as much.

I set my heaters on 18C and that is as cold as the tanks got in winter. In summer the water temperature would hit 30C+.

 

[AmyKieran]

Most modern heaters will measure the temp of the water. If the air temp is higher then the heater will turn off because it doesn’t need to heat the water as much and vice Versa for colder air temperatures