Heater or no heater for summer: 5g or less tank

[pippa]

I'm curious if anyone out there has ditched their heater for the summer. My apartment doesn't usually go under 77 degrees this time of year and I'm debating wether or not I should just take the heater out until the cooler weather comes back. What would you do? Thoughts?

[Gilligan]

I would probably just leave it in there unless it's really bothering you in the display area.

 

I guess it depends on what you like to have the heat in your tank set at. While 77 is an acceptable temperature, you really don't want to go more then a couple degrees lower if you can help it.

 

Maybe set it at 75 and see if it actually stays off. If so then you are good to go.

 

I am sure the bigger tanks can go without heaters, but a nano could cool down pretty quick.

I looked up the Climate data for Portland, July and August average ~80 degrees, so you might be OK for these two months, unless you open the windows at night etc.

[seabass]

Yeah, heaters are for stability. Air temps can vary quite a bit (check out record high and low temps for your area, not to mention normal differences between night and day). I personally think that heaters are every bit as necessary during the summer. Plus, sometimes you actually have to turn your heater up in the summer in order to maintain stability.

You want to keep the temp stable, but yet keep it below 84 degrees.

[malawian]

yea my goal during the summer is to see how hot the tank gets at its highest, then set the heater to that temp so that there is no fluctuation. For me that number is about 78.5 although I have had to set it higher at times, esp. with the BC29 and its closed hood. Having that tank plumbed into the 75g system should make that problem much easier to deal with.

[pippa]

I'm going to reset the heater to 75 and see what it does. I'm starting to not like these eheim jager heaters so much, the two dials keep me second guessing wether I set it correctly and then frustrated because I spend way too much time reading forums trying to figure out if I should be second guessing myself.

[jservedio]

I'm curious if anyone out there has ditched their heater for the summer. My apartment doesn't usually go under 77 degrees this time of year and I'm debating wether or not I should just take the heater out until the cooler weather comes back. What would you do? Thoughts?

 

My apartment has very tight climate control and the air temperature typically varies by less than a degree throughout the year and is very tightly sealed and I still use a heater on a Ranco. Basically, I set the heater down at 76 degrees just as a safety net and let the pumps do all the heating. With the apartment at 73, the tank sits comfortably right around 77 constantly - I very rarely hear the Ranco click on.

 

I wouldn't ever run a tank without a heater backed up by a controller - no matter how stable the temperature was. Accidents happen.