Tropical tank temperature

[Oli]

Hi guys, so I am looking to convert my tank to tropical as I found out my Cherry barbs would thrive in 25c water as opposed to anything colder. My aquarium heater and thermometer arrived today and I was shocked to see my water at 30.2 degrees Celsius. Is this a fault with the thermometer? My apartment is incredibly hot a lot of the time but this seems crazy. It is displaying room temperature at 25 degrees which also seems excessive. I did notice that my LED light “Fluval spec 60l” is getting incredibly hot to the touch so I have turned it off and contacted them, perhaps it could be this?

 

[Myraan]

I think that's normal for non air conditioned houses when the weather is warm. And again in the winter. It's probably normal heat for your light too - but maybe wait till you are sure about that. The light and an internal pump motor will heal the water up a little I think. Either way temperature fluctuations are normal for fish, just not sudden changes.

The good news is unless you like a cool house in winter to save on bills, your aquarium heater will not be overworked.

That said 5 deg more than the room seems a little excessive to me. Is it warmed by sunlight maybe? My tank seems to stay about the same as the room; when I myself feel overheated is when I worry about the fish. In fact I am starting to worry my heater is broken, as the led light lights that show current temperature seem to be broken. Guess I'll find out if the room temperature reduces at night this winter.... and if so I will just replace the heater with the ugly glass cheapo spare one.

 

[Oli]

I am constantly very hot in this apartment, not sure why considering England is always so cold but it makes me think maybe I could just ditch the heater? I bought a 2 pack cheap thermometer from Amazon and they are both registering 30.4 and 30.5 degrees Celsius. Obviously if this is the case then there is no reason for a heater? Perhaps someone can recommend a reliable more expensive thermometer to confirm that it is correct?
Thanks guys!

 

[Myraan]

It probably gets colder at night unless you leave heating on (in the colder months of the year I mean), while you are wrapped up warm in a duvet.... The aquarium heater is to prevent temperature going too low during these times, and to minimise the size of fluctuations otherwise. I have seen people suggest a heater set at 15 or 18 for goldfish for this reason, I assume most people don't though.

 

[Oli]

I don’t use heating and it’s still very warm at night. I will check the temperature when I come home from work at around 3am and see what it is reading then. Is there a possibility both these thermometers are faulty? 30 degrees seems awfully hot and from what I’ve read could be dangerous for the fish. Can you recommend a reliable thermometer to have a look at?

 

[Myraan]

Sorry I'm a relative noob myself, my thermometer is just what was cheapest at amazon. I meant in winter months, I agree a heater at the the moment is unnecessary unless your research has suggested your fish want the water higher than room temperature or you want to treat ich or something. It may well get much colder at night in november or something is what I was meaning.

 

[Colin_T]

Can you recommend a reliable thermometer to have a look at?

I prefer the floating glass thermometers. If you go to a pet shop and line up all the thermometers, you can check the temperatures on them. If you see a thermometer with a different temperature to the others, it is probably dodgy and should be avoided. Then get one of the others.

30C is fine for most tropical fish for a few weeks.