Stable water temp / Removing heater

[ReeseADHD]

Heyo, I'm thinking about removing the heater in my aquarium this summer because it's big & bulky and doesn't look too pleasing. My heater is set to 73 but the temperature almost never drops  below 74. When doing research online I kept coming across people saying things like "You need a heater in the summer because it's important to maintain stable water temperatures for your fish" but don't fish experiance temp shifts in the wild? Typically the temp in my aquarium can range from 73 - 77 throughout the course of the day. What is considered "stable" when it comes to temp? 

[Streetwise]

I don’t keep Angelfish or Discus, and I stopped keeping Bettas, so I removed all of my heaters.

[Guppysnail]

I run dual heaters in anything 20g+ Three of my tanks when installing new coop heaters I realized for the spring summer and fall will maintain their 74-75 WITHOUT a heater. First year the fish room has been in only one room (now 2 🤫 don’t tell hubby 🤣) winter that room is over the garage so gets to 65 so I will need to run them but I’m going with 1 in all but the 40b. 
 

I allow my fish a 4-5 degree swing as I feel it is more natural. I have never seen adverse affects as long as it it not to cold/hot.  Sometimes it creeps higher but not maintained there also no Ill affects. 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Guppysnail

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'm low tech and don't run heaters but as @Streetwise said, I don't keep fish like Bettas (80-82 degrees) or Discus (80 and up) that REQUIRE heat for good health and longevity. I keep fish that can live in the temp range that my tanks can maintain without heaters and yes the temps flux- my fish do well and I have zero issues related to temperature. 

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 5/15/2022 at 11:55 AM, Lucid_Reese said:

Heyo, I'm thinking about removing the heater in my aquarium this summer because it's big & bulky and doesn't look too pleasing. My heater is set to 73 but the temperature almost never drops  below 74. When doing research online I kept coming across people saying things like "You need a heater in the summer because it's important to maintain stable water temperatures for your fish" but don't fish experiance temp shifts in the wild? Typically the temp in my aquarium can range from 73 - 77 throughout the course of the day. What is considered "stable" when it comes to temp? 

No, it is not necessary to keep a stable temp.

look up thermoclines as one example. 

I think if you don't have a controller or some kind of backup to turn off the heater if it sticks on then it is WAY safer to leave it out. 

It's been a while but I think I remember reading a study that the type of fish they studied (at least) lived longer with varying temps. 

It is for sure more natural for temps to change during the day/night, and pH too.

 

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by Wrencher_Scott

[lefty o]

if you have fish that require 80+ degr temps, then you probably want to keep a heater. most other fish can handle not having a heater, and it is perfectly natural to have water temp that goes up and down a few degrees. sudden temp changes are bad, a few degrees over the course of the day are not to be worried about. you will find even without a heater a tank will generally be a few degrees over room temp as the air pump, filter, lights, etc put heat in the water. in my 25+ years of fish keeping you can probably add up all the time ive had a heater in a tank, and be at less than a year.

[Torrey]

On 5/15/2022 at 12:55 PM, Lucid_Reese said:

Heyo, I'm thinking about removing the heater in my aquarium this summer because it's big & bulky and doesn't look too pleasing. My heater is set to 73 but the temperature almost never drops  below 74. When doing research online I kept coming across people saying things like "You need a heater in the summer because it's important to maintain stable water temperatures for your fish" but don't fish experiance temp shifts in the wild? Typically the temp in my aquarium can range from 73 - 77 throughout the course of the day. What is considered "stable" when it comes to temp? 

Once I stopped keeping/breeding discus, angels and bettas, I started having heater failures (most were over 3 years old) and I discovered that the endlers and guppies breed just fine in 50° F water.

I am getting the Co-op heater for the dining room tank, but my other tanks (including the turtle) are off of heaters now.

If my outdoor tubs don't need heaters, I figure I can save money for more plants😁

[Brian]

I guess it comes down to personal preferences.  I try to look at most things as risk and rewards.  
Good Luck 

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/15/2022 at 11:55 AM, Lucid_Reese said:

My heater is set to 73 but the temperature almost never drops  below 74. When doing research online I kept coming across people saying things like "You need a heater in the summer because it's important to maintain stable water temperatures for your fish" but don't fish experiance temp shifts in the wild?

I would use this as a reference.
 

I pull heaters out of the tank because it gets into the 110-115's here during the summer. Absolutely no reason to waste the tank space and give algae more surfaces. I do it to provide longer life for my equipment and hopefully for the fish.  I want them to have the day / night cycle whenever possible.  That being said, this is a tank and a box. Location of height in the room matters a lot more than people realize as well as the ambient temp.  If you're getting into the 30-50's at night, you probably want to add a heater for most species. If you're in the 60's at night, I would absolutely never sweat it.

When I decide to pull heaters, this was my process.
 

 

On 5/15/2022 at 8:53 PM, lefty o said:

if you have fish that require 80+ degr temps, then you probably want to keep a heater.

100%

Even then, you might "drop the temps" for the summer from 78-82 down 1-2 degrees if the ambient air is getting toasty.  It might help out for someone like me where the tank is roasting and it's 110+ outside.

If my fish want to be at 72. It totally makes sense to set a floor of 60+ on a heater and just leave it in.  It's a safety measure. I love the fluval E series because they are precise. I don't like how.... imprecise other heaters can be and have a range of +/-2 or something +/- more degrees. Asking for 70 and you have a range of 68-72 does work for me, but you might have more sensitive fish that really can't tolerate a wide range.

Know what your equipment can handle.  That's basically a big lesson here.

[Jawjagrrl]

My no tech lemonade jar swings as much as 10 degrees F daily. I unplugged the heater in my shrimp tank a month ago - have had a hard time finding a nano heater to keep. 2.5 below 80, so was glad to be able to unplug it. The room they are in can go as low as 58 in winter, 78 in summer, so will be interesting to see how both setups do over the next few months.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/16/2022 at 5:21 PM, Jawjagrrl said:

My no tech lemonade jar swings as much as 10 degrees F daily. I unplugged the heater in my shrimp tank a month ago - have had a hard time finding a nano heater to keep. 2.5 below 80, so was glad to be able to unplug it. The room they are in can go as low as 58 in winter, 78 in summer, so will be interesting to see how both setups do over the next few months.

If you run into issues, place the jar in a tank and run the heater in the tank to passively regulate the temp in the jars. Kind of like a sous vide or something.

[Jawjagrrl]

On 5/17/2022 at 4:03 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

If you run into issues, place the jar in a tank and run the heater in the tank to passively regulate the temp in the jars. Kind of like a sous vide or something.

Sous vide shrimp :) they don't seem to mind. I am trying to figure out how this jar is now running over 8ph all the time now when the rest of my setups are 7.3-7.4. Kh is good (80), so it's not swinging that I have been able to measure. I have neocaradina in there, so they are happy.