maintaining water temperature in jars

[bundo]

hi guys... with winter on its way, i am worried that the water temp in the betta jars would drop esp at night....i live in brisbane... but some times it is still cold at night...

i know theres something called the heater.. but u know how the heater and the jar size dun really match...

so how do u guys keep the temp constant?

cheers

nick

[canary]

I haven't done it myself but... controlling the room temperature is one way and sitting the jars in a larger container with water and a heater should work also. :thumbs:

[Callatya]

I do it like this

Put jars in larger quantity of water and heat that water works brilliantly

At the moment I only have a few jars, so they sit on the lids of heated tanks, and it keeps them pretty stable (I may need tea cozies for them come 'real' winter though.)

[Beano]

oh that's so cute, tea cosies!! Show me!

[Chuckie]

I dedicate a room to just fish and have an oil heater running in there to keep the room at a steady 28* - 30* all the time. Obviously on hot summer days the heater is turned off. Shiona will probably be mad at me, LOL!! But look at it this way - it uses less power than individual tank heaters.

[Beano]

Does it? My oil heater takes 1200W. Though it does sound like a plan for winter, since I'll be using it anyway!

[bundo]

think i will soak them all in a huge esky!!! lol.....

dun have much place for such a huge tank....poor student u noe

[Em]

One year I put all my beanie boxes into a underbed storage container with water and a heater, I think it ended up more expensive though... and I had to refil almost daily cause of evaporation. Last year I used a small oil heater and wow the room was really warm! Not sure what I'll do this year though, maybe I should take them over to my mother who has her house always warm for their cockatiel :thumbs:

[shooshoo]

I dedicate a room to just fish and have an oil heater running in there to keep the room at a steady 28* - 30* all the time. Obviously on hot summer days the heater is turned off. Shiona will probably be mad at me, LOL!! But look at it this way - it uses less power than individual tank heaters.

heheh, no not this time even water restrictions have no bearing in my mind when it comes to the well being of animals. so heat away dear betta keepers!

i use those little net breeders than you can hang on the side of larger tanks so seperate juvies too, before they start needing more room of course.

i have a few <10L tanks which are too small for heaters, but they've been pretty good lately but i too and considering the 'whole room heating' method. theres just too many wires from all those filters and heaters lying around!

[Beano]

I recently bought a slimline heater off Leela - it's rubber and can be left on with no water without problem. It's a flat rectangle - I've got it in my 4 bay betta tank. It doens't have a thermostat control, it just heats the water up a couple of degrees, depending on tank size. It's probably not good enough for your guys that have hard core winters, but still if you have a small tank, might be worth looking into, it's easily hidden behind plants. The brand is hydor.

[Chuckie]

Oh that reminds me - some people use reptile heat mats or electric blankets under their jars.

[shooshoo]

I recently bought a slimline heater off Leela - it's rubber and can be left on with no water without problem. It's a flat rectangle - I've got it in my 4 bay betta tank. It doens't have a thermostat control, it just heats the water up a couple of degrees, depending on tank size. It's probably not good enough for your guys that have hard core winters, but still if you have a small tank, might be worth looking into, it's easily hidden behind plants. The brand is hydor.

oooooh i have one of those too, but i donit trust it enough with my fish so i use it to hatch brine shrimp, keeps the water warm enough for them ;)

[Bettarazzi]

I dedicate a room to just fish and have an oil heater running in there to keep the room at a steady 28* - 30* all the time. Obviously on hot summer days the heater is turned off. Shiona will probably be mad at me, LOL!! But look at it this way - it uses less power than individual tank heaters.

I'm not sure that it would be cheaper. For me the cost is in the initial outlay for the heaters. A 25w or 50w heater is only heating a very small volume of water and will work more efficiently. The 1000w column heater is trying to heat the whole room. Tanks on shelves also don't get heated evenly. Higher shelves are obviously warmer than lower ones.

I've had the column heater going in the fish room to see what sorts of temperature I get and with the heater at about 30% power, a 4 ltr tank which on a shelf about 4 feet above the floor, was 24*C this morning. Unfortunately the fish room is also my study and it's really uncomfortably warm in here.

[Chuckie]

my fish room is a small bedroom on the north east corner of the house. it maintains 30*C with a small column heater, no sweat. I imagine it's more of a challenge to keep the room warm in Vic than here.

I also prefer the column heater to tank heaters as (1) there is no way the thermostat will stick and boil my fish, and (2) fry won't rest on the heater between 'on' periods and get cooked.

[Bettarazzi]

It's possible for the fry to get cooked?? *Sigh* would it be asking too much for betta breeding to be a teensy bit easier? No wonder so many of us burn out.

[Chuckie]

:) - I know! the cooking hasn't happened to me, but it has definitely happened to other members.

[Ned]

you know your hooked on betta breeding when your thinking about dedicating a room for bettas just like Lilli.

[Chuckie]

yesss... join me in my madnesssss.... :)

[Beano]

I frequently describe myself to my friends as a crazy fish lady, like that crazy cat lady off the Simpsons...

[Bettarazzi]

Does it count as betta madness if you start referring to your study as the fish room? And spend the whole time thinking about bettas and how you can get more, more, more... And by "the whole time" I mean the same amount of time that teenage boys think about.... well, I'm sure you all know what they think about.

[Beano]

That's where my fish room is! I'm always thinking more about bettas too, than studying for work too...

[Betta_Endeavours]

LOL

I used to have a fish Room at the old house but I have a dedicated fish shed now . We got 2 fan heaters (1 for the shed and 1 for inside). We can't use the one out in the shed because it chews through too much electricity. When we had the shed with most tanks in use the electricity bill went over $1000. So it's going to be a slow restart which makes things hard.

[splendidbetta]

How expensive would 7 heaters ranging from 25 to 300 W be to run?

[Beano]

There should be a dollar amount per kilowatt hour on your electricity bill. Then if you estimate how long your heaters are actually heating for each day, you could work out how much per day, of your "cost per day" amount is taken up by the tanks.

[shooshoo]

mmmm, too much thinking there for me, but i'd rather pay the bill than have to deal with those cold water illnesses like ick all over again. yuck