I think I figured out what's wrong with my heater in my main 29 g tank. Nothing! Looks like my thermometer is broken and not the heater. I raised the temp on my heater to the max, 96ºF and yet my thermometer said the water temp was just under 60ºF. I added an extra 50watt heater I had in another tank and slowly raised the temp on it but the thermometer still said 60º, so I raised the temp on it to the max also and still no change.
Well I was on craigslist yesterday and some guy was giving away 3 10gallon tanks complete with fish, HOB filters, stand, and a big box full of accessories. I called the guy up and had someone go pick the stuff up for me. I has hoping it included some heaters but there was none but I got a box full of goodies.
So anyways I cleaned one of the tanks that had the fish in it (didn't know what kind of fish I got, the water was really nasty, brown and cloudy), added some fresh clean water and put a thermometer (glass tube kind) I found in the box, btw the tank also had one of those sticker kind thermometers.
Later that night I noticed the temp on the 10g tank was 84ºF and I was like Wtf. There's no heater, how could the temp be so high? The tank has a hood that holds 2 incandescent bulbs and those things release a lot of heat but they where off for hours. I double checked both temp on the glass thermo and the sticker thermo and yup they both said 84ºF.
I started thinking to myself if this tank is at 84ºF in room temp then my main 29G tank should also have a high temp. I then put my hand against the glass and it felt cold but when I put my hand against the glass of my 29g it felt very hot! I looked at my thermo and it said 60ºF still so that's when I knew something must be wrong with it. I later found another glass type thermo in the box and put it in my 29g tank. Three hours later I checked the temp and it said 90ºF!!!!!!! :icon_eek: I instantly turned off the 50w heater and started lowering the temp on my main heater. If I would of still kept trying to bring up the temp I would of made fish soup! and all thanks to a faulty thermometer.
I'm glad I got that extra thermometer but I'd still feel a lot safer if I tested it with a digital one. I saw some on ebay for a good price. I could get about 5 or 6 for $36 (one for each of my reptile tanks as well) or I can get a used 55g tank. Hard decision... -_-
Anyways, on a lighter note. I got an awesome deal on craigslist! I got three 10 gallon tanks, 3 under gravel filters, 1 two tank iron stand, 4 HOB filters (some with biowheels), 2 glass thermometer, 2 automatic fish feeders, 3 airpumps, 3 wannabe python cleaners, 6 nets, a couple airstones and tube fittings/elbows, a bag full of fake plants, 3 big decorations (castles and such), a lot of food, and it was all free!
Oh, I also got some fish and a crab. One fish was a minnow, I put him in my main tank because I was afraid one of the other fish might eat him. The other fish was a common pleco about 6" long and the other fish is some sort of catfish. I don't know what kind of catfish though, he a silverish color with a lot of little black spots and yellowish eyes. He's about 4" to 5" long. I was going to take a picture of him but my digital camera's batteries ran out and I lost the charger. -_- The crab is about 1½" with a huge claw and a really tiny claw. The guy said he got it from the ocean like a 5 months ago but I'm not sure. I'm not even sure how a saltwater crab can live in a freshwater tank.
Anyways, I'll get some pics up as soon as I find my charger.
