Temperature advice plese

[FishRunner]

Hi, i put my first 3 fish in today after taking a water sample to my local Tropical house, they are two black and white striped Angel Fish and one Starlight bristle nosed pleco, my temperature is read off one of those liquid crystel sticky strips, but i'm not sure how to read it correctly it reads 26 (brown) is this right?

Many Thanks
Chris

 

[guppymonkey]

If the US had changed to the metric system I could help but *sigh* we Americans can be so stuck in our ways (also known as too stupid to figure out the metric system. But I think that 26 degrees Celcius is about 79 Farenheit, which would be a good range for most fish.

Oh, and I have one of those crystal strips and they are really inaccurate. Mine shows THREE different temperatures sometimes. But they are good enough if you just want to get it into a certain range.

 

[FishRunner]

thanks very much i can relax a little now

 

[FishRunner]

Could anyone advise me on a good temp gauge to buy, looked at a few but i would like to hear from experiance...

Thanks Again

 

[AquaNut]

Just as an fyi, angelfish like their water quite warm. 26 - 28 is great for them.

Edit - Sorry, your other question wasn't there when I went to post this. I have the liquid crystal strips on all my tanks, but I also have a couple of the floating glass thermometers around. In a large tank, it's a good idea to check the water at both ends of the tank and ensure the temp is the same everywhere.

I think you'll find that, with time, you'll be able to gauge the temp of your water within a degree by simply touching the outside glass of your tank. I pretty much always know the temp by doing this or by sticking a fingertip into the water.

 

[Alien Anna]

Could anyone advise me on a good temp gauge to buy, looked at a few but i would like to hear from experiance...

Thanks Again

I prefer the old mercury, glass thermometers. They are much less likely to go wrong (mercury can't wear out!). However, I trained as a nurse so I'm an expert at shaking down thermometers and reading them. You do tend to have to take them out of the tank to read, however.

 

[FishRunner]

Thanks for the replys, think i'll buy another strip for now for the other side and keep it around 26-28 range, until my experiance gets better. Hope my questions hav'nt been to trivial really want to do this hobby right lol

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> really want to do this hobby right lol

Good for you.

 

[thebulk]

Ive had those sticky thermometers before and they work just fine.

They read in decimal to half a degree

If it is green then it is the spot on that temp, if it is brown on 26'C then it means that it is between 26'C and 26.5'C, Well thats what i reckon anyway. My theory has not been argued yet, I cant remember what the other colour is.

Eg the colours on 26 could mean

Brown = 26.1 - 26.5
Green = 26'C
Blue = 25.6'C - 25.9'C

Thats the theory anyway, it may be complete rubbish but any colour on any number between 22'C and 25'C should keep you out of trouble