Going on holiday, will my Aquarium heater be ok?

[Feral Boy]

I'm going away for a few days and while I'm gone I am planning to leave the
central heating in my flat turned off. And I'm wondering if my aquarium
heater will be able to cope with the temperature in my flat being at around
55f. the heater that I am using is a juwel automatic heater, that came with
my juwel 180 aquarium.

Does anyone think that it may put to much strain on the heater?

cheers
Scott

[Steve]

Feral Boy wrote:
> I'm going away for a few days and while I'm gone I am planning to leave the
> central heating in my flat turned off. And I'm wondering if my aquarium
> heater will be able to cope with the temperature in my flat being at around
> 55f. the heater that I am using is a juwel automatic heater, that came with
> my juwel 180 aquarium.
>
> Does anyone think that it may put to much strain on the heater?
>
> cheers
> Scott
>
>

This is not a good idea.

The aquarium heater settings heat the aquarium in balance with the room
temperature. Cooling the apartment like this will cause the aquarium to
be chilled.

Steve

[Feral Boy]

Are right, yeah I thought the heater worked like that rather than by using a
thermostat. Do you think 65f will be all?

"Steve" > wrote in message
.. .
> Feral Boy wrote:
>> I'm going away for a few days and while I'm gone I am planning to leave
>> the central heating in my flat turned off. And I'm wondering if my
>> aquarium heater will be able to cope with the temperature in my flat
>> being at around 55f. the heater that I am using is a juwel automatic
>> heater, that came with my juwel 180 aquarium.
>>
>> Does anyone think that it may put to much strain on the heater?
>>
>> cheers
>> Scott
>
> This is not a good idea.
>
> The aquarium heater settings heat the aquarium in balance with the room
> temperature. Cooling the apartment like this will cause the aquarium to be
> chilled.
>
> Steve

[Steve]

Feral Boy wrote:
> Are right, yeah I thought the heater worked like that rather than by using a
> thermostat. Do you think 65f will be all?
>
> "Steve" > wrote in message
> .. .
>
>>Feral Boy wrote:
>>
>>>I'm going away for a few days and while I'm gone I am planning to leave
>>>the central heating in my flat turned off. And I'm wondering if my
>>>aquarium heater will be able to cope with the temperature in my flat
>>>being at around 55f. the heater that I am using is a juwel automatic
>>>heater, that came with my juwel 180 aquarium.
>>>
>>>Does anyone think that it may put to much strain on the heater?
>>>
>>>cheers
>>>Scott
>>
>>This is not a good idea.
>>
>>The aquarium heater settings heat the aquarium in balance with the room
>>temperature. Cooling the apartment like this will cause the aquarium to be
>>chilled.
>>
>>Steve
>
>
>

If your apartment is normally 70f then 65f for a few days should be ok.
Your aquarium will probably get only moderately cooler. So unless you
have delicate fish such as Discus, you should be ok.

By the way, the heater does have a thermostat. However, because it's
combined in one casing with the heating element it doesn't work as well
as we'd like. If your apartment was 55f all the time, you could adjust
your aquarium heater for the correct water temperature - if it's
powerful enough. You'd need to be living in a 55f apartment for several
days to get the required, stable heater setting. Also, if you were
living in 55f, then you could use foam insulation on the bottom, sides
and back of the aquarium together with a glass cover under the lights -
all to preserve heat and allow a relatively low-power heater.

Sorry, I've never seen a Juwel heater. My experience has been with
various heaters contained in glass tubes, such as Hagen Thermal Compact,
Hagen Tronic and Ebo-Jager (sp??).
Steve

[Billy]

"Feral Boy" > wrote in message
...
> Are right, yeah I thought the heater worked like that rather than
> by using a thermostat. Do you think 65f will be all?
>


As an aside, unless the heating in your flat is VERY inefficient,
turning the heat off, then heating the flat back up will cost you
more than just leaving it on.

billy

[Jürgen Exner]

Feral Boy wrote:
> I'm going away for a few days and while I'm gone I am planning to
> leave the central heating in my flat turned off. And I'm wondering if
> my aquarium heater will be able to cope with the temperature in my
> flat being at around 55f.

That depends on how large your heater is (wattage), the desired temperature
difference between room and tank, and how well your tank is insulated.
Typically your heater box or manual will have a chart or list about which
heater is recommended for which scenario, e.g. 200W heater is recommended
for 65 gallon for 5 degree Celsius, 50 gallons for 10 degree Celcius, and 25
gallon for 15 degree Celsius. To sufficiently heat 65 gallons to 15 degrees
Celcius above room temperature you need 2x250W heaters.

> the heater that I am using is a juwel
> automatic heater,

How large, i.e. what wattage?

> that came with my juwel 180 aquarium.

How large?

> Does anyone think that it may put to much strain on the heater?

Impossible to say without further details. You won't harm the heater, but
you may not reach the desired temperature inside your tank and therefore
stress your fish.

jue

[Bill Stock]

"Jürgen Exner" > wrote in message
news:qoYjf.1486$fY3.356@trnddc01...
> Feral Boy wrote:
>> I'm going away for a few days and while I'm gone I am planning to
>> leave the central heating in my flat turned off. And I'm wondering if
>> my aquarium heater will be able to cope with the temperature in my
>> flat being at around 55f.
>
> That depends on how large your heater is (wattage), the desired
> temperature difference between room and tank, and how well your tank is
> insulated.
> Typically your heater box or manual will have a chart or list about which
> heater is recommended for which scenario, e.g. 200W heater is recommended
> for 65 gallon for 5 degree Celsius, 50 gallons for 10 degree Celcius, and
> 25 gallon for 15 degree Celsius. To sufficiently heat 65 gallons to 15
> degrees Celcius above room temperature you need 2x250W heaters.
>
>> the heater that I am using is a juwel
>> automatic heater,
>
> How large, i.e. what wattage?
>
>> that came with my juwel 180 aquarium.
>
> How large?
>
>> Does anyone think that it may put to much strain on the heater?
>
> Impossible to say without further details. You won't harm the heater, but
> you may not reach the desired temperature inside your tank and therefore
> stress your fish.
>
> jue

I borrowed this from the blurb on the Juwel 180 package.

"Heater supplied with aquarium: The automatic heater from Juwel for 200 W.
This heater system is fully equipped with special holders for the Juwel
Filter System as well as for positioning at the aquarium glass panel. The
200W heater is particularly good for aquariums with a volume of up to 260
litres considering room temperature measures approximately 18 ° Celsius. If
your aquarium is bigger we recommend the use of a more powerful heater."



So assuming you have the same setup you should be very safe up to 18° C.

[Steve]

Bill Stock wrote:
>
> I borrowed this from the blurb on the Juwel 180 package.
>
> "Heater supplied with aquarium: The automatic heater from Juwel for 200 W.
> This heater system is fully equipped with special holders for the Juwel
> Filter System as well as for positioning at the aquarium glass panel. The
> 200W heater is particularly good for aquariums with a volume of up to 260
> litres considering room temperature measures approximately 18 ° Celsius. If
> your aquarium is bigger we recommend the use of a more powerful heater."
>
>
>
> So assuming you have the same setup you should be very safe up to 18° C.
>
>

18 C is 64.4 F. So is that the minimum room temperature for this setup?
Steve

[Bill Stock]

"Steve" > wrote in message
.. .
> Bill Stock wrote:
>>
>> I borrowed this from the blurb on the Juwel 180 package.
>>
>> "Heater supplied with aquarium: The automatic heater from Juwel for 200
>> W. This heater system is fully equipped with special holders for the
>> Juwel Filter System as well as for positioning at the aquarium glass
>> panel. The 200W heater is particularly good for aquariums with a volume
>> of up to 260 litres considering room temperature measures approximately
>> 18 ° Celsius. If your aquarium is bigger we recommend the use of a more
>> powerful heater."
>>
>>
>>
>> So assuming you have the same setup you should be very safe up to 18° C.
>>
>>
>
> 18 C is 64.4 F. So is that the minimum room temperature for this setup?
> Steve

It would appear so, but the blurb says that the heater is rated for tanks up
to 260 litres and his tank is only 180. This should make it safe down to 60°
F or so. But he should check out one of the aquarium heat calculators,
something like: http://www.kernsanalysis.com/HeaterCalculator.cgi

[NetMax]

"Feral Boy" > wrote in message
...
> I'm going away for a few days and while I'm gone I am planning to leave
> the central heating in my flat turned off. And I'm wondering if my
> aquarium heater will be able to cope with the temperature in my flat
> being at around 55f. the heater that I am using is a juwel automatic
> heater, that came with my juwel 180 aquarium.
>
> Does anyone think that it may put to much strain on the heater?
>
> cheers
> Scott


All depends on how much operating margin there is in your set-up with
that heater. A simple way to check it, is to watch the heater's pilot
light. If it rarely goes on, you have lots of margin. If it never goes
off, no margin. If it's on 50% of the time, you should have good margin
(ie: 10F). I let my house go to 64F and my tanks don't budge in
temperature from 78-80F, but the heaters are on longer. I wouldn't worry
about my tanks as long as the room was not below 60F. If you max your
heater out, then for every degree the room is colder, your tank drops a
degree. For extra stability, maybe you should drop the water temperature
a few degrees a few days before you go. Its the difference between the
water's set point and the room's ambient which the heater has to maintain
(lower difference and the heater works less).
--
www.NetMax.tk

[Dr Engelbert Buxbaum]

Feral Boy wrote:

> I'm going away for a few days and while I'm gone I am planning to leave the
> central heating in my flat turned off. And I'm wondering if my aquarium
> heater will be able to cope with the temperature in my flat being at around
> 55f.

This procedure has several drawbacks:
- Low temperatures outside may cause the water in your piping to freeze,
causing major damage.
- The walls of your house and the furniture will all cool down. Heating
them up again upon your return will take a considerable time and cost a
considerable amount of energy.
- The termal balance between your tank and the room is upset, causing
tank temperature to drop.

A better way would be to leave the heating on, albeit at a somewhat
lower setting (by 2 or 3 degrees). This will protect your house, your
fishes and give you a comfortable place to return to. The overall energy
cost will be not much higher than re-heating the place.