acphssrw@csuna.UUCP (Stephen R. Walton) (05/05/88)
In article <3765@gryphon.CTS.COM> richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: >In article <21623@pyramid.pyramid.com> csg@pyramid.pyramid.com (Carl S. Gutekunst) writes: > >>My second heater in six weeks is now dying > >Whats the heater for ? I didnt even use them in canada. > Oddly enough, I think heaters are more needed in S. Cal. than in colder climes, because houses in the latter usually have decent heating and insulation and thus smaller interior temperature swings. (People always looked at me funny when I said I slept under blankets in Hawaii until I pointed out that my house was unheated and uninsulated and that when it got down to 60 outside it was 60 in my bedroom too!) So, some numbers? Let's say your house gets up to 80 during the day and drops to 60 at night. What kind of temperature swings would you see in an aquarium of various sizes? Larger ones would be more stable, of course (smaller surface area to volume ratio). All of this reminds of a story of my own: I had a 29-gallon mixed tank (gouramis, barbs, corydoras, tetras, guppies, etc.) back in NJ. One winter day we lost power for most of the day, so no heat in the house (it was below freezing outside). Fortunately, we had a gas water heater so we still had hot water. Every hour or so I drew a gallon of hot water from the tap and added it slowly to the aquarium to keep its temperature up. It was still a fairly rapid swing from about 70 to 80 degrees, but I only lost one fish. Keep it in mind if you're in similar straits. Stephen Walton, representing myself swalton@solar.stanford.edu Cal State, Northridge rckg01m@calstate.BITNET
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (05/05/88)
In article <24179@bbn.COM> sjencso@cc6.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Steve Jencso) writes: > >I have recently discovered the discounts available through mail-order. >The magazine 'Freshwater and Marine Aquarium' has ads from several >mail-order houses. I was amazed at the markup in the retail pet stores. >For example, the Hagen AquaClear 200 sells in stores around here for >$28-$30, I found it for $15. Yeah, Diatom XL filter, locally $90, mail order $45. GAK. >As for heaters, there are cold winters up here in the NorthEast and without >heaters my fish would end up doing the back float. As a warning, I have had >problems with Supreme heaters. The thermostat occasionally gets stuck and >you end up having boiled fish for supper. The tank has to be monitored >closely when you use a heater to prevent this from happening. I guess the reason I got away without heaters in canada was that after an errant home made airlift outside filter dumped the contents of a 10 gal tank all over my hardwood bedroom floor and caused it to heave, dear old dad and I sectioned off a part of the basement, put up walls and piped in a heating duct. *poof* instant fishroom. The water stayed about 72 al year round, a little higher in the summer. Here in california, it's not unusual for the tanks to get down to 65 in the winter; nobody seems to mind. Indeed fish live longer at lower temperatures. -- You've always been the caretaker here. richard@gryphon.CTS.COM rutgers!marque!gryphon!richard