Water to hot

alexfevery · 02-21-2007, 12:05 AM

Hello,

I have a small tank of about 2 and a half gallons and The water is at a constant 85 degrees. The only thing I have to keep it warm is a heat lamp which is 4-5 inches above the water.

There is a minnow and a bullfrog tadpole in there, Will they be ok? and what are some ways to lower the water temp, asside from moving the lamp which can not be done because it is glued in.

gm333 · 02-21-2007, 12:07 AM

A small clip on fan blowing across the open top of the tank will bring the temp down a little.

jd@ga · 02-21-2007, 12:21 AM

85 is not too bad as long as you have good circulation.

alexfevery · 02-21-2007, 12:29 AM

Well the water is kind of stagnant. but the pool is pretty shalow, only about 5 inches deep so I think good gas exchange will occur, or do I need A bubler?

gm333 · 02-21-2007, 04:19 PM

I thought of another solution, replace the bulb with a flourescent, it will cut down the heat a lot.

alexfevery · 02-21-2007, 08:20 PM

I changed to a different bulb, I dont know if It was floresent, but over the day the water went to 103 degrees and the tadpole and the minnow died. Im going to look at covering half of the lame so not so much heat goes into the water. What kind of heater could I put in there that wont take up half the tank?

Tommy Gun · 02-21-2007, 08:57 PM

Sounds like you dont need a heater :-)

Many people use a heating pad to keep small tanks warm, although I have never used one and dont want to speculate on if that is a good option or not. However, that would obviously mean no heater is in the tank and no space needs to be allotted for.

Florecent bulbs, like GM points out, are the ones that look like this one:
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=5646244

I can attest to the fact that they give off little to no heat at all...I use them in my desk lamp and the lamp on my nightstand. They are as bright, if not brighter than incandecent bulbs (which are the 'normal' type of bulb with the fillament in the round glass globe).

alexfevery · 02-21-2007, 09:27 PM

Will they be warm enough to keep a 3 gallon tank warm?

jd@ga · 02-22-2007, 12:36 AM

Yes. What wattage are you using in the lamp?

alexfevery · 02-22-2007, 12:43 AM

right now I have a 150 watt bulb.