Normal heater temperature swing

[jasonrusso]

I'm setting up a QT tank for a new arrival. I bought a new Aqueon Pro heater (which I have on one of the DT tanks but it never turns on).

The threshold for the heater seems like it is about a full degree. 77.2 to 78.4 degrees. Granted, this takes about 40 minutes to move, but does that seem normal? On the DT, my fans drop the tank temperature about 0.5 degrees in 10 minutes with no adverse reactions.

The thermometer is on the other side of the tank, but I would think moving water would be pretty constant.

 

[rkpetersen]

To some degree it depends on the size of the heater vs the size of the tank. But assuming the heater's not undersized, that's a fairly wide range. The most consistent internal thermostat heaters I've found are in the Cobalt Neotherms, although I don't use them anymore myself due to risk of case rupture for the larger wattages. However for a small qt a 50W NeoTherm would provide very tight temp control, staying within 0.5 degrees F or less variance.

 

[jasonrusso]

To some degree it depends on the size of the heater vs the size of the tank. But assuming the heater's not undersized, that's a fairly wide range. The most consistent internal thermostat heaters I've found are in the Cobalt Neotherms, although I don't use them anymore myself due to risk of case rupture for the larger wattages. However for a small qt a 50W NeoTherm would provide very tight temp control, staying within 0.5 degrees F or less variance.

The heater is actually oversized, which I hate to do because of this effect. It is like putting a 15000 btu Air Conditioner in a small room.

That being said, I have to do it here. It is a 200W in a 10 gallon. The reason is that it is in my basement which is 48-50 degrees and the tank it 78, so it is a 30 degree temperature rise.

Do you think a slow 1 degree change is a problem? I mean, we temperature match the shipping bags in 15 minutes and that is likely more than 1 degree.

 

[rkpetersen]

I think a 1.2 degree temp range is probably ok.

 

[jasonrusso]

I think if it was back and forth in like 5 minutes it may be a different story.

 

[jasonrusso]

I swapped the Eheim Jager from my feeder tank. After watching both, I realized that it has about a 0.7 degree swing. I put the Aqueon in the feeder tank. I think it's negligible, but feeder shrimp are less important than my new lionfish.

The Eheim is rated at 150 watts, but I sincerely doubt it. It is bigger than the Aqueon and seems to heat the water just as fast.