Cold Weather Discus

[Yassmeena]

So for all you hobbiests who live in cold weather areas (i.e. I live in MI), do you take any special measures to keep your tanks from losing heat?

This is my first winter with discus, and so far my 300 watt heater in my 55 gallon is cranked up all the way, and the water is at 86.

I know it's only gonna get colder, and even though we keep the heat on at home, the house can definately be cold! Should I do something extra for my discus?

[William Palumbo]

I live in Chicago so I know about cold!...I place 3/4" styrofoam on the outside of some of my tanks. Some other I tape a reflective insulating foam sold to wrap around heating duct work or hot water pipes. It comes in a roll and works well. Not sure of the name...but others on here use it as well. My fish tanks are in the basement so looks are not a factor. ALSO make sure you have a TIGHT fitting lid to hold in heat...Bill

[Dutch dude]

Hi there. I live in Holland and we have cool long winters over here but only several weeks a year a temp minus Celsius. I also glued styrofoam at the back of my tank. Currently I also put 1/2 inch thick styrofoam on the sides. I have a DIY hood made of wood that need some ventilation so I can't isolate that hood. On an other tank with a standard PVC hood I put a sheet of styrofoam on top or a blanket. I also keep the room temperature at 17C to 17.5 C ( 63 F) at minimum and higher temps during the day. Keeping the room at a moderate temperature will spill les energy as to heat the tank. Besides this a heated room will decrease the heat extraction from the tank. This can create a cool flow near the glass,.....just like the cool air near a glass in your house. When looking at energy cost on heating the room,....it will cost les energy to keep a room at a moderate heat as to heat it up from a low temperature. In the Dutch climate a room temperature of 16C to 17C when not present and 20C when present turned out to be the best economic and pleasant temperature.

[Eddie]

This is my first winter with discus, and so far my 300 watt heater in my 55 gallon is cranked up all the way, and the water is at 86.

Hi there Yassmeena,

If you don't mind me asking, what brand of heater do you have? A 300 watt heater in a 55 should be able to keep a tank at 92, even if the tank was in Antartica.

Add an eheim jager 200watt heater to your set-up...you will never look back. They are the HEAT! You could probably shut off the 300 and still keep the temp at 88 easy.

HTH
Eddie

[mmorris]

I always have covered the back, bottom and one side with reflectix. I have another piece to cover the front and side that I attach with velcro. Another piece covers the top. Before I go to bed I slide the top piece under the strip light (light off, of course) to hold it down and attach the other piece to the sides via the velcro. The tanks look like a big shiny Christmas present. I unwrap the front to feed and check in on the fish in the am and rewrap when I go to work. I unwrap when I get home. The fish don't seem to care.
Martha

[CraigG]

i use a titanium heater and have a stealth as a back up. I don't do anything special its set to 84.6 and it has stayed there since.

Even when the GF decides to lower the house to 70s when we aren't home. Sure does make it cold when I come in from work though.

[Yassmeena]

Hi there Yassmeena,

If you don't mind me asking, what brand of heater do you have? A 300 watt heater in a 55 should be able to keep a tank at 92, even if the tank was in Antartica.

Add an eheim jager 200watt heater to your set-up...you will never look back. They are the HEAT! You could probably shut off the 300 and still keep the temp at 88 easy.

HTH
Eddie

Hi Eddie,

I have a hydor heater. I bought recently 2-150 Watt Rena Smart Heaters.

Not sure now - should I replace my Hydor with both the 150 Watts or should I just add a 150 Watt?

Right now btw, the heater is cranked up all the way, and the tank is at 83!!!

One of the other options I am exploring is buying thermal curtains. The tank is in our great room which has a window that's 1.5 stories high. This is our first winter in this house, and I'm noticing quite a chill in this room which I strongly suspect is due to the window!!!

[Eddie]

Not sure now - should I replace my Hydor with both the 150 Watts or should I just add a 150 Watt?

I would add one of the 150s and you will be set. I have a 150 and 200 Ehiem Jager on my 55 and I can get temp hotter than bath water if needed. ;)

HTH
Eddie

[geleen]

:D:D:):) :angry::angry:
Here it will drop to -34 C tonight.....My house is steady at 21C. In my 110, 2 - 300 W heathers keep it easily at the right temp.
:)
John

[DaniDarvin]

I live in Anchorage, Alaska and we get a good 9 months of winter. The temp usually average about 20F. I have a 105G tank with 2 300W heater. I set the heater temp at 86F but the water temp can only go up to 82F. I don't put any other preventor to retain or lose heat and the inside of my house is 69F. All has worked out so far.

[Yassmeena]

Thanks all - I will add the extra heater!

[manatee]

Per my experience those hydor heaters seem to run with a govenor as they wil only heat to a certain degree in a certain sized tank ebo jagger heater will work in any tank and well its all i use.

[doc3toes]

i have a 200g grow show fiberglass in my garage. -10C the last couple weeks. I have one 300W and one 250W going in there and keeping it at 27-28C. insulated with pink fiberglass behind, and 1" pink foam underneath and as lids. INSULATION is the key!

[Yassmeena]

i have a 200g grow show fiberglass in my garage. -10C the last couple weeks. I have one 300W and one 250W going in there and keeping it at 27-28C. insulated with pink fiberglass behind, and 1" pink foam underneath and as lids. INSULATION is the key!

I currently have styrofoam insulation behind and under the tank, but admittedly its barely attached to the glass like it needs to be.

I bought an adhesive that failed to adhere the styrofoam, so I just tucked it in until I had time to find a better adhesive. That was during the summer, so now it's winter and here I am looking for something better....

Any suggestions?

[Apistomaster]

Velcro tape should be a good way to hold the insulation in place as has been already mentioned above.

[CammieTime]

I live in Minnesota and this is my first winter with discus and my tank temp plunged 10 degrees overnight when it went to -20 degrees F outside and my basement where the tank is became really cold, like 55 degrees.

I had to add an extra heater as my primary was on full blast...in the summer it was turned way down low to maintain the same water temp.

[kenhappen2u]

i also have a 300 w heater on my 55 gal and it will not get any hotter than 84-86deg, depending on the room temp , i was thinking about adding another heater as well . these heaters must have a heat limit on them as to not exceed 86deg, it prolly came from to many heaters breaking down and cooking many of fish tanks , its a good idea but bad for us who need more heat ,

Ken

[Eddie]

i also have a 300 w heater on my 55 gal and it will not get any hotter than 84-86deg, depending on the room temp , i was thinking about adding another heater as well . these heaters must have a heat limit on them as to not exceed 86deg, it prolly came from to many heaters breaking down and cooking many of fish tanks , its a good idea but bad for us who need more heat ,

Ken

What brand Ken, should be easily hitting 92 if you had to. Go with 2 ehiem jager 200 watts or 250s. You won't be sorry. Once you go jager, you never go back. ;) I love them


Eddie

[William Palumbo]

Jagers do crank for sure. The few tanks of fish that I boiled in the past were ALL with Jager heaters...Bill

[Apistomaster]

There are many different schools of thought about the best way to heat aquariums. They always end up as debates.
School #1
Use 2 heaters of lower wattage. The intent is to prevent the fish from cooking if a heater fails.
If one fails, and heaters usually do so in the fully on position usually) the hope is that the fish won't get cooked.

School #2
Just use one heater and hope it never fails.

This thread is about cold weather and what are the best options. It is here where it is easier to show that whichever method you prefer, you must have a heater(s) capable of keeping the aquarium warm enough for the discus above the lowest ambient temperatures you anticipate in the room.
This is no different than choosing the correct size of furnace to maintain your home at comfortable temperature by anticipating the lowest temperatures that regularly occur in your part of the world. It takes the number of BTU's it takes no matter what kind of furnace or how many furnaces you have as long as there is sufficient capacity to produce the BTU's required to raise the house to the desired temperature at the lowest expected temperatures that occur in your location..
In cold areas you absolutely must provide enough BTU's it takes to raise the aquarium to the desired temperature. The greater the difference there is between the room temperature and your desired aquarium temperature you must provide enough watts to create enough BTU's to raise or maintain your tank at your desired temperature.
The only choices you have are to insulate the aquarium to help reduce the demands placed on the heater. But it is not that easy adding after market aquarium insulation and use enough watts it takes to make enough BTU's to keep it at the temperature you want.
Or use even more watts->BTU's to handle an uninsulated tank in a cool or cold room.
It doesn't take an engineer to see that there is no one solution for every situation.
Just one 100 watt heater can easily keep a 55 gal tank at 84*F in a room that stays at 75*F. I am doing that myself because my fish areas are kept at 75*F. It is also true that it may take 600 watts of heaters to keep the same 55 gal tank at 84*F if the room is kept at 50*F. I am not actually trying to work out the calculations it requires for a precise answer. I'm only trying to show how each situation requires a unique solution.
When you live in temperate zones where your winters are severe and you also can only afford to pay so much for winter heating. Most of us have to economize by keeping our homes as cool as we can and concentrate a heat source in the aquarium to cover the difference. If money is no object, you love warm rooms and keep them at 84*F,
then you might dispense with aquarium heaters altogether.
After figuring out the amount of aquarium heaters you need for your tank in cool rooms, eventually it is summer and then you can still have that 600 watts worth of heaters but they will hardly ever have to come on long to keep the aquarium at 84*F because your house may be 78*F. This is when the heaters usually fail, when you need them the least and as I said earlier, failure mode is general, is in the stuck on position and the fish may become boiled in short order.
Heaters are probably the least reliable piece of aquarium equipment we use. It has been my experience that even the most highly regarded brands are prone to failure at a discouragingly high frequency. Even so, I highly recommend that you do not scrimp on the quality of the heater you choose. Some brands are much more reliable than others but all brands have a lot of room for improvement when it comes to their reliability.
Aquarium heaters must be difficult to engineer. We expect and depend so much on them to be reliable in a difficult environment with regard to the limits of the present aquarium heater technology and available engineering materials.
I have had every type of heater fail. From cheap old style clip on to titanium submersibles.
Believe me, when I had the titanium heater fry a tank I was really bummed. I naively thought aquarium heaters may have finally reached their state of the art.
I have adopted the Visitherm Stealth heaters for myself but they have not been without their share of failures in the stuck on mode type.
From what I can tell, based on only my own experience over too many years, a 15% defect rate is not unusual.
Accuracy or ability to be maintain the desired set point is another topic for another thread but there is still a lot a room for improvement in this department. You need to watch your heaters by using an accurate thermometer to find out how well a given heater is able to perform.
I have a big box of fairly new heaters that have failed on me. I'm not sure why I have kept them except maybe I can use them in outdoor pools for extending the time I can keep some tropicals outdoors. I did do that 2 years ago with a bad titanium heater but the increased electrical expense of that project may have dampened my enthusiasm for trying to keep Tetras outdoors From April through September. I did enjoy watching hundreds of Black Neons glittering in the morning sun at feeding time. I really should just throw all those bad heaters in the trash.
Bottom line is that every one has a different situation requiring a unique solution.

[Riche_guy]

wow, that last post was a long one, some people really take the time for others. To me it doesn't seem to matter what temperature is outside as long as what room temperature you keep the fish in!! If you keep it cool you can add that aluminum plastic bubble wrap around the back and side of the tank. Also two heaters in case one fails.

[CammieTime]

wow, that last post was a long one, some people really take the time for others. To me it doesn't seem to matter what temperature is outside as long as what room temperature you keep the fish in!! If you keep it cool you can add that aluminum plastic bubble wrap around the back and side of the tank. Also two heaters in case one fails.

Yes, my other option was to simply add a small space heater in the room, which would regulate and heat the air temperature around the tank. Problem solved.

I didn't do this because I don't have a space heater and they cost money, and I had a spare small 15-gal tank heater to use.

The issues with this tank temp situation are:
A) if the primary heater fails, the tank will go cold
B) if the small supplemental heater stops working the tank will go cold
C) if the space heater gets knocked over its a fire hazard
D) if the space heater is on and it gets warm outside, the fish cook
E) if the temperature outside raises to a tropical balmy 35-40 degrees the room will heat on its own, and the fish will get cooked in 100 degree water, even without the space heater. Remember, for me in the summer having just the primary heater on, set to 79 degrees, it heated the whole tank to the perfect stable 86 degrees. Right now its on full blast with a extra one. If this were summer, the water temp would be like 100 degrees or more.

I could move the tank upstairs where it's warmer and has more stable air, or, would a larger tank be better? Does a larger tank mean that it won't be succumb to the quick air temp swings, since water takes longer to cool and heat than air?

[Riche_guy]

Yes the bigger the tank the slower the change in temperature of the water. Is it not possible to heat the basement to 68 degrees? Heat rises and it would heat your upstairs too.

[CammieTime]

My house was built in the late 70's so the ventilation and heating ducts are poorly placed and constructed. Turning the thermostate up to get the basement to 68 degrees makes the upstairs a tropical furnace...as I cannot adust the temperature in each room other than shut the vents. Doing this to heat the basement would make our heating bills triple.

The other problem is that if I heat the basement, not only will the upstairs be too warm, but the second it warms outside (which it does from time to time during the winter) the whole house would become very hot.

The basement is the best place for the tank, its dark, dry, out of the way and not afflicted by turning lights on and off all the time like upstairs. I've discovered discus HATE that.

I think a space heater would be the answer, I don't have to make the upstairs tropical...I just am not so thrilled about leaving an electrical space heater on all the time while I am gone.

[Eddie]

I think a space heater would be the answer, I don't have to make the upstairs tropical...I just am not so thrilled about leaving an electrical space heater on all the time while I am gone.

Yeah, I don't think that would be a good idea either, they are one of the most common causes of house fires.

2 good aquarium heaters will surely keep your tank in the 82-92 range.

Eddie

[Yassmeena]

Yeah, I don't think that would be a good idea either, they are one of the most common causes of house fires.

2 good aquarium heaters will surely keep your tank in the 82-92 range.

Eddie

Yep - the two Rena Smart heaters I am now using have been keeping the temp stable! :)